Unrequited Love

Like a ribbon that adorns a special gift
I wrap my love in pretty words for you
Delicate and amorous thoughts transfer to paper
From scribes within the depths of my soul

Each word handpicked like a flower from reverie
Tenderly placed upon your heart
Will you keep the flower alive?
Will you care for it and nurture it?

Consider my smile and playful nature
They mask deep feelings of sorrow
Deficiency in rapture manifests in taciturnity
Petals fall to the earth as I await your reply

Silence fills my ears and ruptures my heart
I ache with the pain my love has inflicted
My words rejected, evaded and neglected
Alone, unread, they wilt and weep

Will you fight for this as I have?
Will you run after me?
Will you rage against the dying or go gentle?
Will you travel to the ends of the earth for me?

In faithful pause awaiting echoes that don’t ring
Clinging to hope for words unspoken
See me...for I am nothing if your eyes look away
Unclothed of hard exterior, unveiled to you

My words and love are your moments
To covet, to hate, to share
I cannot love them for you
Though I try and it tears me apart

I cannot give another what I have given you
For just like every flower is unique
Every word is exclusively yours
Birthed from my soul and mirrored in yours

Let the moments carry you through your darkest days
May torrents of love spill from me and fill you
And should you find room in your heart for more
I pray that you trust I am an endless wellspring

©2008 Michelle Hix

Clean or Go Back to Bed?

I’m washing dishes in waves. There’s something comforting about washing dishes by hand. Especially china. It’s delicate and you have to take your time. It’s not necessary to be rough, rush through it or scrub too hard. A metaphor for life I guess.

Today is the day after Thanksgiving. My husband just took the kiddos to see a movie. I am alone for the first time in days. Breathe. Thoughts flood my mind today and honestly I just want to go back to bed and not think of anything.

I think I'll do some more dishes and then go try to take a nap.

I Can't Convey The Auditory Pain I'm In

Husband. Karaoke. Boy George. Tony Bennet. Gloria Gaynor.

Peeing my pants.

Pre-Thanksgiving Meal

A couple weeks ago we received an invitation in the mail to share dinner with friends. To celebrate the Harvest Festival/Thanksgiving in 1621, the Wampanoag Indians and the Puritans had a week long feast. Our friends decided to adopt the tradition, invite all their friends to pick a night to join them, and feast every night for a week. Tonight was our night.

We dined casually with 15 others at 3 tables spread between kitchen, dining room and family room. We passed food, shared stories, and laughed a lot.

When we excused the children from the table, the adults sat together. Then the husband and wife (our friends) asked us to sit quietly and not say a word. They said we couldn't laugh, poke fun, disagree or talk back. And then they each proceeded to address each adult at the table by name, one by one, and tell us all what they admired and appreciated about us. It was unexpected, personal, and surely an unforgettable and special moment for each of us.

I am thankful for my friends tonight.

I Love Having Lunch With My Kiddos

Mom: Let's sit down right here and have our lovely King Soopers deli lunch girls.

Older Daughter: I wonder what humans taste like.

Younger Daughter: I ate some skin once.

Older Daughter: Yum.

Younger Daughter: I just burped and it came out my nose holes.

Mom: I'm full. Thanks for lunch girls...always a pleasure.

Powerpoint Presentation

This is a Powerpoint presentation that my daughter did in kindergarten that I found on my computer today. Just thought it was funny. She did this on her own and I found it saved to my desktop and have just kept it for all these years.

(Slide 1)

Abuot My

flamley

(Slide 2)

My flamley

My mom is nise. she sumtimes gives me candey and cack.

My dad is nise cuz he gives me a lott uv candey and cack.

(Slide 3)

I love my flamley.

It is all about candy and cake when you are 5 isn't it?

Where Pleasure Meets Pain

Have I failed to mention that we’ve joined a new gym? Not just any gym…we’ve joined the new super gym that is only 7 minutes from my house…Lifetime Fitness. And it is not a gym, it’s another planet. We’ve been meaning to join for some time now…we watched the building go up and it just kept getting bigger and bigger.

We have the family membership. Which has already proven to be a blessing. While we drop our younger daughter off in the kids camp (equipped with Mac Computers, a full kid size basketball court, huge big screen televisions and a monstrous jungle gym) older daughter joins us for a complete workout. The cool thing being to her that her friends also have memberships so we can have the mother/daughter yoga workout and even the dads join in sometimes. We also see several of their teachers working out. This building is like the size of a mall. It has a restaurant, a full salon, several swimming pools, sauna, steam, etc….an outdoor water park...workout equipment enough so that I’m sure the entire population of Thornton could simultaneously be on a treadmill…basketball, volleyball, rock climbing that makes rock climbing gyms jealous, rooms full of every type of exercise equipment imaginable.

While in the past I would have described myself as more of a “get in, get a work out, get the heck out of there” type of person…that’s just not the case here. This is like being at a resort. There’s really no reason to ever leave this 24 hour world of working out, socializing, eating and playing. It is not just a workout. It's our entertainment!

One of the things I love best about this gym is that all the activities are included in our membership. Rock climbing…included. Kids club…included. Yoga…included. Kick boxing…included. You get the point. It gives you a chance to do a little of everything…which is what we’ve been doing…which is why I am TOTALLY EXHAUSTED AND IN PAIN!

By the way, there’s apparently nothing more entertaining to my children than watching me climb a 30 foot rock wall with a wedgie.

Starting to Love Facebook

I forgive you Facebook.

You are becoming my close friend.

You have reunited me with people I never thought even thought about me. It is so wonderfully pleasing to come home after a hard day at work to find an email from you that says somebody wants to be my friend. And not just somebody...not just anybody...but somebody that I'm genuinely interested in connecting with again.

You see, in helping to plan my 20 year high school reunion, I found and connected with tons of people from my past. But that was me finding them. That was me tracking people down (more like hunting them down in many cases.)

But on Facebook, others are looking for me! People from old places of employment...people from other classes and other schools...people my age and people not so my age...moms and daughters of people I know...parents of kids my kids know...neighbors I never even knew used computers...even a guy that once cast me in his low budget movie found me...blog friends are on there...teachers I know...even my babysitter from when I was in kindergarten...throw in a few ex boyfriends and we've got a party folks!

I think my favorite part about it is that many of these people I would have never gone out of my way to send a formal email (email is formal?) to. It's just been way too long and conversation would be awkward. But on Facebook...you see them...they see you...and you just say hello...how are the kids...etc.

Yes, I'll admit it...I love Facebook. I fought it for way too long. I'm now officially addicted.

Time To Reflect - I'm Thankful For...

1. Family - awesome parents and a sis that's going to be having me a niece or nephew in a matter of weeks! 2. Friends - holy heck I love my friends. 3. 4. Kids - keep me on my toes...the younger one beats me at chess while the older one teaches me to use text messaging on my phone! 5. Health - no sick days here...I wake up feeling great every day and I'm so thankful! 6. Teeth - been seeing my dentist every 6 months for 12 years now...says I have shiny good teeth and gums...all my own and sparkly clean...thanks doc. 7. Obama - can't wait to do this. 8. Good eyes - I think about how much I love to see all the time. 9. My new washer and dryer - they make me happy 10. My neighbors - really, they are my friends too but I still thought I should give them their own category for being so good to us. 11. My Good Luck - I'm a lucky person. So far. No, I take that back, not so far. I'm just lucky. No matter how you look at it. I'm just lucky. 12. School - I'm thankful for my girl's school, their wonderful teachers, and the dedicated parents. It has been a really long year for us all and we made it through some tough times together. 13. My digital camera - it goes everywhere with me. 14. Coffee - one cup makes me happy all day long. 15. Youtube - because I don't watch tv shows...ever...so Youtube is my window to the outside world I guess. 16. My bed - my bed is so lovely...I'm not there very long but it is such a good place to be. Well, I could go on. Not an all inclusive list...just a few things on my mind. Not getting all sappy on you this year. I can't wait for Thanksgiving!

Because Cheese Makes Me Happy

Dear Jane Letter

Oh you guys...this is so sad and funny at the same time. So, I belong to a few hiking clubs. Good times. Love it. One of the clubs is rather large...over 350 members. Now that's not to say that there will be that many people on any given hike...there's not...usually only between 10-40 people. Anyway, my point is that the club is large and we usually receive weekly emails announcing our next hike. If you hit reply to one of these emails, your reply automatically goes out to all 350 people. Get where I'm going with this yet?

Oh man...this is bad. So anyway, somehow this guy and this girl had emailed back and forth privately and then somehow he "accidently" emailed the entire group his Dear Jane letter. Oh, it wasn't good. Not pretty. This is what it said:


Dear Jane:

I won't be able to meet with you on Thursday or anytime. I am not ready for any type of relationship of any type. I have met a lady that I enjoy having a friendship only relationship with. I much rather have a lady friend who I can just hang out with and go places without any commitments. I'm not good at this so please let it be just that. I can't be in a committed relationship any time soon
Take care and be good to yourself,
John


Oh...did I mention that John (obviously not his real name) is the captain of our group? So, as he should have, he emailed us all an apology and resigned. Many people wrote in and asked him not to resign. Here's what I wrote:

Dear John:

I'm thinking that since you have now abandoned all prospect of ever dating again within an earshot of any woman who read that email or anyone she knows, maybe you might find that you have extra free time for hiking now. OKAY....I'M SOOO TOTALLY KIDDING. Just thought I'd lighten things up a bit. Seriously, it was an unfortunate and sucky thing (especially for her I'm sure) and I hope you can make it up to her in your own way (she might suggest something like taking a long walk on a short plank but might I suggest a private heartfelt apology to her...from a distance of course just in case she has a sharp object in her purse) but as for the rest of us, it seems we are all pretty forgiving (cuz we don't have to date ya). Don't beat yourself up over it...we've all been there. Okay, not really, you're on your own, but that made you feel better for a second right?
Michelle


OMG! First of all...can you believe how bad this guy sucks at breaking up? I didn't think it was possible to suck that bad. I wish he would have called me before writing that. Dude!!! Are you kidding me? Seriously? I could have written you a really good break up letter. Jane would have thought you were a great guy despite breaking up with her...now she just thinks you're an idiot. Men!

Damn. You. Facebook. And your little dog too!

“Someone has added you as a friend on facebook”

Oh yeah? Whatever. I’m ignoring it.

“Someone has added you as a friend on facebook”

Caaaaannn’t heeeaaar you!

“Someone has added you as a friend on facebook”

Fine. I’ll take a peek. But I’m not joining anything. Nope. No way.

Poke! Pokey-poke-poke!

Okay fine. I’ll join. But just to see who is on there. I’m sure I don’t know anyone on there.

2 days later…

You have 16 notifications and…….

You have 18 lil green patch requests
You have 1 cupcake requests.
You have 4 (lil) blue cove requests.
You have 2 animal gift requests.
You have 1 their/there/they’re invitation.
You have 1 Christmas tree request.
You have 3 drinking requests.
You have 1 hug request.
You have 1 breast cancer awareness request.
You have 1 knighthood invitation.
You have 1 official Bush countdown invitation.
You have 2 plant gift requests.
You have 1 christmas ornament request.
You have 1 birthday request.
You have 1 chrisamas stocking request.
You have 1 moods invitation.
You have 2 hopia requests.

Damn. You. Facebook. Damn. You.

Status Update…
“Michelle is… changing the bag in her vacuum.”
“Michelle is… feeling happy.”
“Michelle is… hungry.”
“Michelle is… going to go read a book.”

Damn. You. Facebook.

I’m a blogger. I’m not a Facebooker. I don’t have time for you Facebook. Well, maybe just a few minutes won’t hurt.

Facebook...it can happen to you!

Anyone Feel This Way?

Fired Up? Ready to Go!

I think I've been basking in reflected glory. Not to say that I sat back and did nothing...I made my phone calls as an official "Campaign for Change Volunteer", I bought and displayed my yard signs with pride, I dedicated a fair share of blogging to the cause, and I challenged my friends and family to get involved. But I feel like it's the day after winning a big football game or the morning after watching a hit broadway musical, or maybe like I'm just crawling out of bed in the afternoon after camping out for concert tickets and getting front row seats to watch my favorite band live...where even though I wasn't the star quarterback or part of the chorus line or even a real groupie, I want to put on that t-shirt that says "I was there".

As I expected, although not to this extent, the McCain camp and even Fox News are throwing Sarah Palin under the bus, driving over her, and backing up to do it again and again (luckily for Sarah McCain's Campaign ride the short bus). Do I dare say I enjoy watching and reading it? She has been our comic relief throughout the campaign...why stop now?

This morning I read an article about Obama's new Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel. It is safe to say that he is a passionate man...to find out how he rolls with it, read this awesome article from Rolling Stone.

He he he... this is so funny.