Forties Are No Laughing Matter

The weekend went by in a flash.  Seriously, I crawled in bed last night wondering where in the world it went.  I think after finishing a long week and then staring another long one in the face, the weekend never really stood a chance at being 'just what we needed'.  It was just too short.

I'll stop here and say something that needs to be said.  Hormones after forty are no joke.  Like really, no joke.  They are significantly different than say, two years ago or even two months ago.  I told Eric repeatedly last week, along with a few friends, that it was quite possible I may die.  Or kill someone else.  And so really the fact that everyone was present and accounted for on Friday was a real wonder.

I have never (hear me say never!) felt like I have over the past ten days.  And the joy of all joys is that not only are things more intense, but they are also more frequent.  So, it's looking like I have about seven more good days before I'm back to wanting to hide the knives.

(Incidentally, I can remember sitting on Cathy's sofa when we were in 8th or 9th grade and her Mom walking through the den and mumbling something about how horrible things would be when the two of us were older.  She even gave a description that I'll just keep to myself at the moment and I remember thinking "Well, really, how bad could it be?")

As it turns out, BAD.

Okay, I'll stop talking about the hormones (for now).

Saturday morning (maybe out of guilt), I got up and fixed a monstrous breakfast.  Eric runs on Saturday mornings with a group of guys and I knew he would be starving when he got home.  I usually cook a special breakfast on Valentine's Day, but since that really won't benefit anyone on a weekday, I decided to do it Saturday instead, which is a real treat compared to the cereal they normally get from me.

I cut out hearts and made everyone write at least three nice things they love about each person.

My favorites were Olivia writing to her Daddy about how much she loves it when he massages her head.  We're not sure when that's ever happened but it sounded good.

Eric and I got the girls a few little Valentine gifts they've been wanting.  We spent the rest of the day cleaning and running errands.  We came back home, piled on the sofa and watched a movie.  I seriously thought I may cry looking at the three of them because suddenly, I had never loved them more.  Especially over the past ten days.

I'm serious about this hormone business.

Yesterday, we went to church, ate lunch with some friends, went back to church for a funeral and then had evening church service.  This is when we all started to get a little antsy because we knew my brother, JP, was more than likely arriving at my parents during preaching.

Needless to say, we all headed straight there after service.  You would have thought the president was rolling into town, which honestly would have been a cruddy comparison to how we felt seeing my brother.

Right before we got to Mom and Dad's, Olivia said "I just can't wait to see JP.  I have so much I want to share with him".

The first thing she did? She played Anchors Away, ofcourse on the piano .... since she has been practicing to surprise him for weeks.

Good times.

And more to be had.  He'll be with us three weeks, so we'll soak up all the time we can.

I have a feeling it's going to fly by.

And let's pray the day he leaves I'm not in another (new) hormonal state or well, I'm documenting now I can't be held responsible for my actions.