And you thought I was obnoxious about my hair?!?

My favorite single male friend (and yes, I do really like the few that I have, it's just that I don't want to add any others right now) mocks me a bit for how in love I am with my hair. And I concede that I am a bit obnoxious about my hair.
I think its great.
But, I have spent most of my life with not-so-great hair.
And when you spend time without something and then you finally get it, you (or rather people like me) tend to be a little more passionate, yea even obnoxiously passionate, than others who've had it for longer.

Let me explain.

In addition to thinking I have really great hair, I also think I'll be a really killer mom.
Now, I know all you-who-have-previously-married-and-had-children-who-yell-"MOM!" think that people like me have this really fairy tale idea of how great motherhood is. But, I've been around enough moms (and kids) to know that it's NOT always great. And it's certainly no fairy tale.

But, it will be for me.

I've spent the last few days hosting my sister Heather, her husband Harvey, and my oldest nephew & niece, Isaac and Hannah and it's been deeelightful.

I love having a reason to sing loud in the car with the windows rolled down and embarrass the kids.

I love having a reason to go to Boondocks and play Ski-ball.

I love having to play Ticket to Ride (the Europe edition...which makes the States edition really lame).

I love having a little family to cook Sunday dinner for complete with my newly famous-known-round-about-the-land MarionBerry Cobbler (with homemade Magic Shell...I'm not kidding! I discovered a much yummier (and all natural) Magic Shell....btw, when I was in 2nd grade, I was a taste tester for Magic Shell. Truly. If it weren't for my passing it with flying colors, it's very likely it would never have ended up on your local grocery store shelf and then none of you would get to currently enjoy the so-chemicalized-you-probably-shouldn't-be-eating-it conconction...so, really, you should thank me...but back to the post...)

I love getting up on a holiday to find this super yummy healthy pancake recipe. (and to make is even yummier and healthier, add a tablespoon of wheat germ and 2 tsp. flax seed. I substituted the honey for brown sugar...because it's a holiday...well, that and I discovered this morning my honey was really old...I used rice milk instead of buttermilk...to counteract the brown sugar, of course...and used real vanilla extract instead of almond. Also added 2 tsp of cinnamon). Add some strawberries (the kind from Costco right now? HOLY COW. They are AMAZING. My cousin Jake turned me on to Costco. Jake really loves that place. You know how when we were little and someone would say "I love pizza." and then you would say "Well, why don't you marry it then?" Yeah, I don't say that to Jake because he really truly would marry Costco if he could...and in light of what recently happened in California with the marriage mockery...read my little brother's great post about that... it might even be legal!...but where was I?)
Oh, the strawberries....anyway, it was a delightful breakfast.

So, my point in all this is that it's been SO nice to play "mother/hostess/housecleaner/chef/chauffer" for the last few days. It's a life I could really get used to.
And I know my friend Tammy is SO looking forward to joining me on my business trip this week (I'll be gone most of the week to Toronto for our event there), so much that she texted me a few days ago saying "Calgon take me away"...She needs a break. Being a mom can be overwhelming...I get that. I promise I do.

But, I think when you wait so long for something (like having amazing hair), you just appreciate it in a little different way....and maybe you are able to be a little more passionate about it...a little more excited about it...yea, verily, a little more obnoxious about it.

And so, I think I've earned the right to be obnoxiously passionate about this.

Come on over.
I'm barbequing and having "arts & crafts" later this afternoon.

(PS this might be the place to add one of the sweetest experiences I had last week, while visiting the Kapps again. We were talking about my prayer of being a mom and Heber said something SO interesting...and for those of you who don't know, Heber & Ardeth were never able to have children of their own and made the difficult decision that adoption was not right for them...if you want to read a truly inspiring book, read Ardeth's Biography...WOW...so anyway, Heber was talking about all the things Ardeth was able to do because they DIDN'T have children...the nights she spent at the YW offices until 11 p.m. working on things that have never been done before or since...that she couldn't have done if she had had to worry about being home with her own children...ways the Lord used them to be parents to other children...anyway, he said something that was so beautiful: "We are much more possessive than the Lord is." Think about that...and I'll post more about that later. Really I will...)

(PSS...since it IS Memorial Day and since I never use the blog to make political statements, I'll take one liberty. Consider this: "The lesson of Vietnam, I think, should be that never again will young Americans be asked to fight and possibly die for a cause unless that cause is so meaningful that we, as a nation, pledge our full resources to achieve victory as quickly as possible." Gov. Ronald Reagan, 1974)