"Meet the Kids!"

Ranger Donna releasing Kemp's Ridley sea turtles in Corpus Christi at Padre Island National Seashore.
Copyright (c) 2006 Wendee Holtcamp

"Meet the Kids" could be a great new movie, starring Ben Stiller - LOL. Instead of "Meet the Parents," it's a single dad introducing his kids to his new girlfriend (or in my case, a single mom introducing kids to the new boyfriend). Seriously though, it went much better than that. :) There were a few burps, giggle fits, kids wrestling and not listening to me in their silliness, threats of poning, etc. But all in all, a great evening. It was funny before Doug came over, I was talking to him on the phone and I'd told Sam Doug likes to play video games and he was good and Sam says, "No adult can beat me in video games" LOL. He says, "I'm gonna pone him." Huh?

Now mind you, I was one of the first people to have an Atari and was quite good at Pacman, Frogger, Asteroids, and all those classics (and I'm very proud to say, although this shows my complete and utter geekiness - that I sold SO many Girl Scout cookies I won the freaking Atari on TOP of the sales pyramid... I think I sold like a thousand boxes or more...) but I must admit I'm not into video games anymore... so I had no idea what "pone" meant. But apparently it means, essentially, "kick one's butt." But Doug held his own! Sam did still win, but for his first time playing that game on the Wii he did pretty good. I, on the other hand, completely sucked ass (pardon the French). :) Of course I didn't even know what buttons did what, and I"m using this little steering wheel thing and apparently pushing the wrong button to release the super mushrooms and rockets and all that jazz...Anyway we had fun. We also played Cranium kids edition which is pretty fun too.

The kids had been gone for a while (2 weeks) and that allowed Doug and I to have a lot of uninterrupted time together which was really special too. It's great to have the kids back home though, I missed their hugs and laughter! The kids had seen pictures of Doug but had not met him yet. I was going to wait until after he returned from offshore this next time, but yesterday Savannah said she wanted to meet him.... so I invited him over and made lasagna. The whole meet the kids thing is really big for me, because it's been over 5 years since my divorce and although the kids know I've dated a few people here and there, they've never met anyone I've dated. I've been hesitant to introduce anyone into our life. But I feel that this one is different, and we were ready. I've even brought him to my church which is another big deal for me. I don't introduce people into my life casually. I think it's why I always dated people long distance! Ha! (Doug lives here, yay!).

My kids have been in Mississippi with their dad and grandparents for the last couple weeks. I used to love going there. I love the relationship that they have with their grandparents, who run a cattle ranch. And they have lots of cousins who just moved there in the past year too. I like that they have that type of country life to take part in - driving tractors, shooting guns, hunting, baking, playing with cousins, fishing in the ponds, digging up dinosaur bones and archaeological artifacts. It's the kind of childhood wonderland every child should have to build their character and imagination. For 13 years of my life, we spent nearly every Thanksgiving, Christmas and at least a week or more of summer there. We didn't spend much time with my family; M's family became my family.

And in my divorce I lost them too, which was very hard for me. They basically disowned me after it and stopped talking to me. I became the scapegoat for the divorce even though in my mind there's no simple reason it ended, and there were two parties involved in the dissolution and falling apart of the marriage. These days, my kids sometimes get upset because his parents can talk negatively or make faces when my name comes up, which is not healthy for anyone. In fact it quite ticks me off! I used to call and ask to talk to my kids and they would not even say, "Sure, just a minute let me go get them," but would simply set the phone down without saying a word. They'd go get the kids but would not even say hello. I find it very ironic that I can be good friends with my ex (their son) but they are not able to be civil to me, or even talk respectfully about me to my kids. But such is life.

Sam shot his first deer this year! It's funny, when I first met Matt I was a vegetarian and sort of anti-hunting and anti-gun but as we got to know one another we moderated one another's views by learning about the other perspective. He became a bit more progressive and I became a bit more understanding of hunting and guns and other more conservative issues. I'm not at all opposed to hunting now. I don't think I could ever kill an animal... but I know that it's necessary for moderating deer populations given that we've wiped out all the top predators... and so long as the meat is being eaten I don't find any problem whatsoever with it. And M is a very conscientious hunter. I even learned to shoot a gun during my marriage.

Oh and I promised to tell the Bangkok Emergen-C story. So Emergen-C is a packet of vitamins and Vitamin C you put in water and it's fizzy and boosts your immune system. I always take it when I start to come down with a cold or a tickle in the back of my throat and it reduces the severity and intensity. It's also great when you fly, since all those nasty germs are circulating! So on the way back from Nepal, I had "one night in Bangkok" & I started to get a sore throat, so I stopped in a pharmacy, which just sells medicines, on Khao San Road where we were staying (and the whole street is out and awake, with people selling food and wares, like 24/7). So I ask the guy, in English of course, if he has Emergen-C. He says, "You pregnant?" Taken aback I was like, "No.....why?" to giggles from Jon and Tim, the guys from the film crew who were also in the pharmacy. I try to explain what it is, a packet of vitamins but he didn't seem to get it. Finally we figured the guy was trying to sell me the "morning after pill" which is legal in Thailand (I think...) and thought when I said "Emergen-C" I meant "Emergency." LOL. Not!