Dawn Is Me

For the record, it’s nine months later and I am still a non-smoker. W00t!

I feel I have walked through the burning fires and emerged a stronger woman. And all because I got Kimmie to clean up her room last weekend. We did all her laundry, got all the clothes off the floor, threw away all the trash and put everything away.

There will be more year-end cleaning over the next couple of weeks.

I sent out the final issue of my newsletters for the year today and now I am ready to use the next three weeks or so to rest, play and look ahead to the other side.

The Other Side??? Is this where we insert spooky music or something? (Oooo-eeee-oooo)

No, nothing like that. I’m just talking about the New Year. Like some other folks I’ve talked to lately, I look forward to 2010 because I figure it couldn’t possibly be any worse than 2009 was.

I need to make plans. All sorts of plans. I’ll fill you in on what they are as time goes on, when it is safe for me to do so.

A number of people seem to think they know me.

I’m beginning to think maybe nobody does.

Well, evidently, this guy wasn’t:

That’s gotta be the funniest football frock-up I’ve seen in a long time! And props to Da G for sharing.

I haven’t been in here in a little while, so I haven’t told you yet that we’ve had something of an event in the Baker household.

Gina has had a birthday.

Not just any birthday, either. Gina turned 20 last Saturday.

Now, compared with either 18 or 21, you may not think of 20 as all that big a deal. Ah, but you see, turning 20 (as Gina herself pointed out to … somebody) means you are officially no longer a teenager.

It’s funny, we notice things like the “official” beginning of teenagerdom at the age of 13. I’m sorry to say that I,for one, had never considered its natural end at age 20.

This is why I need children, to teach me these things.

As events have unfolded, I soon had real and tangible proof that Gina is, indeed, no longer a teenager.

You see, a couple of months ago, in a moment of sisterly initiation, I happened to see her carefully instructing her younger sister. “Rule number one of being a teenager,” she told Kimmie. “You must have your cell phone with you at all times.”

So, the day before yesterday, when I heard Kimmie yelling at Gina (who had just gone downstairs) that she’d gotten a text message, I realized that she really truly had passed beyond teenagerdom.

Welcome to the world of the Grown Up, Gina!

Anyway, I’m about to head into the kitchen with my teenaged daughter and my no-longer-a-teenaged daughter to start baking pies. That’s ’cause TOMORROW IS THANKSGIVING AND DIETING BE DAMNED!

-ahem- Excuse me.

Happy Turkey Day to anybody who might stumble upon these ramblings. Do stop to ponder things you are thankful for between bites. I’m sure there’s something …