My city by the bay...

I am listening to Journey's Greatest Hits album.  "Lights" has always been my favorite Journey song.  I decided a long time ago that it was appropriate and would always remind me of my own city by the bay, LaPorte, Texas.

I wasn't born in LaPorte, and my family didn't live there. I moved there in the summer of 1984, when I was almost 10 and ready to start the fifth grade. Naturally, like any kid, I hated the idea of moving to a new school, away from my family and friends. But, my dad got a better job there (the job he later retired from some 20 years later) and we had to go.  At first, I hated every single thing about LaPorte. I hated the smell (a unique combination only experiencing can do justice), I hated the apartments we had to live in while our house was being built (they hated children, and we weren't allowed to make ANY noises), and I hated even its name.  My sister and I called it "La Port-a-Potty," a description that was not far off, as far as the smell was sometimes concerned.  But, move we did, and though it was hard adjusting to a new city, a new house, new friends, and a new school. La Port-a-Potty grew on all of us.  So much so that my parents still live there, and it is still, after more than 15 years of living elsewhere, what I refer to as home.  

Next weekend, I'm going back to my "city on the bay," to see some friends I have seen little or not at all in that fifteen years I've been away, for various reasons.  My heart is full just thinking of heading back to the place that put me in such a tizzy almost 25 years ago.  Sure, I've been back to visit before, but for some reason this time is different.  This time I really feel like I am returning home instead of visiting; this time I feel like I want to be there, on my city by the bay.

When the lights

Go down

in the city

And the sun shines on the bay

Ooh, I wanna be there

in my city by the bay

Oh, oh, oh

So you think you're lonely

Well, my friend, I'm lonely too

I wanna get back

to my city by the bay

Oh, oh, oh

It's sad, oh

There's been mornings

Out on the road

Without you

Without your charms

Oh, oh, my, my, my

New Trend: It's Friday, Let Me Tell You Why I Love...

New Tradition for this blog.

Fridays are now officially "Let Me Tell You Why I Love ..." days.  This is the part of the show I like to call "touchy-feely".  My goal is to tell someone different every Friday just why I love them and what I love most about them.  This week's victim is.....

My husband, James.

For the obvious reasons (duh--I married him!) I will skip all the traditional hearts and flowers and butterflies, the wherefore art thous and the let me count the ways, for a far less traditional set of reasons why I love my husband.

Yes, he's handsome, he's smart, he's talented and he's sweet.  He's also at times a real pain in the ass, but that's part of the package.  There are a lot of reasons that I love him, but these are just a few:

1. He has actually made me pee my pants laughing before.  Sometimes he knows exactly what to say to send me off into a never-ending fit of gut-busting laughter.  Not many people get my sense of humor, sometimes not even him.  But he is comic genius with the litany of fart jokes and bodily functions that pass for high comedy around these parts.  (Hey--admit it, you laugh at it too.  Come ON...it's funny) Sometimes he can just look at me and I start laughing, and he usually knows why.
2. He thinks pirates are way cooler than ninjas, and vikings are cooler than everyone.  Which is the obvious logical choice.
3. He parents my children with me, and sometimes for me.  This in itself deserves both a trophy and a withering look of pity.  He gets why we can laugh at them, but God help someone else if they do.  I also know that he would give his life for any one of us, no questions asked.
4. He has survived 9 years of living with me, which can only best be described as taking a tornado, tying a rope around its heel, and then expecting it to live a civilized adult life in captivity. Not an easy task, and one that many have not been brave enough to try for longer than a few seconds at best.
5. He has a natural way with children that is something you cannot be taught.  Kids flock to him like he is the Pied Piper of XBox or something.  He coaches basketball, and everywhere we go you find kids that he has coached, even some 7 and 8 years ago, that call him "Coach".  He is the best kind of coach there is, because he teaches kids not just how to play the sport, but how to be a good winner and a successful person through lessons learned on the court.  He's fair, he never yells at them, and he never talks down to them like some people do to little kids. They respond by affording him rock star status in the streets of Burleson.
6. He likes what he likes and no one can sway him otherwise.  Sometimes that drives me crazy about him, but I admire that he sticks to his guns once he makes up his mind about what he likes, and never for a moment lets someone else tell him otherwise. He doesn't take crap off of anyone, regardless of who or what they are to him.  For someone who is about as brave as a church mouse, I envy this quality in him so much.  It would have saved me years of heartache if I had ever mastered it.
7. He is, hands down, the best salesman I have ever seen in my life. He could sell cars to Henry Ford, ice cream to eskimos, and snake oil to even the wiliest carnie.  This is something that can't be taught, is hard to learn, and does not come easy to a large percentage of the world's population.  
8.  He cries any time there is a dog or a soldier in any movie or t.v. show.  Any time. And he thinks we don't notice, but we do.  He is as macho as they come, but he does little things that give away what he really is--a giant ball of mush.  Ok, a very hairy, manly, macho ball of mush.  (He would really insist that I added as much).

There is nothing I have said here that I wouldn't, or haven't, told him to his face a million times. He knows how I feel because I am pretty good at telling him, good or bad.  One thing I can say is that we always know where we stand with each other, which in modern relationships puts us pretty much a step ahead of everyone else.  We have a relationship that no one but us understands, but it works for us.  All this because we had a shared fondness for Sammy Hagar and room in our hearts to, despite all the complete crap life has collectively thrown at us, try and find love again, against all odds.  All this because he was the only person maybe in my whole life that I ever felt I could be completely, 100% myself with and not worry about losing. Because he loves me too, and that's enough to ask of anyone in today's world. 

Welcome all my friends, to the show that never ends...

Hey.  I'm Kristi.  If you don't know me, you will.  If you do know me, you might learn something new. And if you know me and just don't like me, you can just use this for fodder for making fun of me (as if I don't give you enough ammo already).  

If you're still reading, then thanks for that.  Obviously you are, if you are reading this...but I digress.

I am a mom, a wife, a sister, a daughter, a friend, an employee, and (mostly) self-deprecating human being.  Two things you should probably know about me up front: I am nothing if not completely a smart ass, and, I am the first one to admit my own shortcomings, faults, boo-boos, mess ups, etc.  This makes an interesting combination most days.

For a long time my friends and family have told me I should write a book.  I'm not there yet (basically, I am clearly just too lazy to do the work involved), but I do have an amazingly inordinate amount of strange and interesting things happen to me every day of my life, and it usually makes for some pretty sweet stories.

In advance, I would like to thank the following people:

• My parents, for creating me, and for not killing me
• My husband, also for not killing me, and for giving me wings
• My kids, for putting up with a lot of "mom" junk, and for giving me endless interesting  anecdotes with which to regale people at any cocktail party  
• My friends and the rest of my family , for loving me despite my many obvious flaws
• and, God, for making puppies, Tom Jones and lemon flavored candies.

Also, here are a few promises I'll make up front:

• I won't use this blog to air my or my family's dirty laundry. 
• I will not in any mean-spirited way use this as a way to abuse or humiliate someone. If that happens, it certainly wasn't intended.
• I will try to be positive and uplifting, and not use this to spread hate or intolerance in any way.

That said, welcome to the adventure that is my life.  Please keep your hands, feet and any unsecured articles inside the ride at all times.  Buckle your seatbelt, hold on and pray we don't crash.