movin' on up, to de top...

A girlfriend of mine - Elyse - recently graduated Officer indoc for the Navy... it's been a tough climb for her, and I'm proud to count her amongst my increasing circle of friends.

Braxton and I met during boot camp back in the early days of our enlistment in the Navy... she was the med yoeman, I was landry PO - she carried my Midol and "GI meds" around in her bag, and in turn I cleaned her uniforms. It was the perfect partnership.

She was one of the few people who wrote me when I crossed over to the Army, and managed to bring a smile to my otherwise frowning face when no one else could.

She's got a killer sense of humor and is one of the most gorgeous women I've ever met in my life - she's got brains and brawn and ethics out the wazoo... I seriously want to be her when I grow up. (If that ever happens, that is.)

Here's her, in all her glory, on her graduation from indoc - she's on the far right:

You go, girl.

I'm effin' proud of you... now go fix the broken bones and save lives and all that "boring" nursing stuff.

Love ya, girlfriend!

hitching family

Recently, my kid nephew got hitched, and I was honored with the privilege to bear witness to such a sacred event. I didn't know how much he idolized me and apparently overlooked my shortcomings (and apparent mistakes) he asked me moments before he tied the knot if I had any advice for him.

When I advised him that I was the last person on this planet he wanted to ask for advice, he simply said, "No, Aunt Tami, you're the first person I want to ask... you've been through this enough times to know when it's bullshit and when it's for real."

Damn, that's love right there.

I love my baby nephew, even though he's 24... he's still going to be my baby nephew.

I'll share a couple of candid shots we took before the ceremony... that is, if you're game. (Well, if you weren't, you wouldn't be here, would you motherfucker?)

Here you go. Enjoy.

oh wow, i just had a thought

Could this be?

Could the gods of matrimony be smiling on me?

I think my "marriage" to Spanky was invalid... and I have proof:

Our marriage license was issued only two days before we got "married"... and the minister, who had been ordained only moments before, was not only drunk off his ass, but he initially put the actual date on the license, before literally scratching that out and replacing it with the next day's date.

Holy shit on a popcicle stick.

Could Christmas really happen in October?

marriage and the yellow bus

Tonight, my kid brother/nephew married his sweetheart... it was a beautiful ceremony, and it was more than touching, to say the least. I managed to keep the tears to a minimum during the actual ceremony, thanks mostly to my niece, The Shanster, keeping me occupied for the most part - for those of you that have experience with adults with MR (think short bus/Special Olympics/fill in the blank), they do tend to keep you entertained most times.

And with The Shanster, there's never a fucking dull moment.

The only time I lost it was when they had the first dance... watching Chris and Janet dancing to - who else? - Al Green's "Let's Stay Together", it was one of those moments that I had a sudden flashback to when he was 2 and I was 12 and we were dancing to a whole bunch of old R&B 45's in the living room where we lived, and my mom was playing DJ the entire time. Our old dog, Marmalade, kept nipping at our toes and he was laughing his ass off - then it fucking hit me: he wasn't 2, he was 24. And I was at his wedding.

Holy shit. My baby has grown up.

The whole evening was one beautiful moment, prolonged to the point of being overwhelmed with the love in the room... yeah, I know it sounds corny as hell, but this is my story, dammit.

My date got to meet my family, and well... he's still around, full knowledge of the crazys in my family and all (ie: my sister). Even after experiencing The Shanster up close and personal. You see, let me get back to The Shanster - she's a toucher. There is no such thing as personal space or NOT touching one's face when it comes to dealing with my niece. She's not only MR, but she's autistic, too... which makes life interesting when she's in the room. You never know when she's gonna go "AAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNHHHHHHHHHHH" or simply start getting pissed off because you're not letting her play with your eyes. It's fun, because you get to go into her world and experience life through her eyes once in a while. That, and she's totally full of love, because that's all she's ever had in her life... she's a good kid, and a beautiful young lady.

Even if she does poke you in the eyeballs.

Needless to say, it was a full evening... and now I'm going to bed.

bruno, blue, and fishface walk into a bar...

My son, The Boy, has a very unique stuffed animal - most children have stuffed teddy bears or penguins, mine has a stuffed rat named Bruno.

He clings to this thing like there's nothing else to cling to - he loves his rat, god bless him.

He also has a few pets here at the homefront... a few rescues from when we all went fishing a few weeks ago: big, fat, slimy earthworms. They live in a styrofoam box in our fridge. There are about eight of them, and he's emotionally attached to every single one of them.

Two of them have names: Blue and Fishface.

Yesterday, we went to the Halloween store and went decoration shopping. After about 20 minutes of his freaking out the rest of the shoppers by chasing a battery operated zombie through the store, I finally got him to pick out some decorations for our yard. Allow me to share my personal favorite:

Now, I really don't know what all this means for my son in the future... will he need professional help?

Nah... he's normal.

I hope.

blurb

Man, it's been a busy couple of months for me... I mean, super busy. I haven't had time to really concentrate on writing anything more complex than a business email, or the occassional blurb here and there - it's killin' me.

My divorce is almost final. Thank God. I've been trying to shake this jerk since February - or actually, since November - and it's finally coming to an end. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and Elvis and Gramma are standin' there saying, "It's almost over honey, just keep focusing on the ball.." or whatever the fuck it is that they say in order to inspire you.

In other words, I'm a very happy girl.