March 13, 2010

If your life were made into a movie, what would the soundtrack be like?

I was thinking about that today. Here is what I came up with (starting the year my husband and I met):

I was 15, I had just returned from a summer in England/Scotland with my parents. We did a lot of touring while we were there, and I made my parents listen to The Pogues and Tracy Chapman the ENTIRE time.

I met Tom at the Georgetown fall fair, the night I returned from England. While I was away, my friends had started hanging out with his friends… and he was dating my friend Sarah. I dated his friend Jason, and that relationship would lead me to love the song Love Bites by Def Leppard.

Safe to assume that Jay and I broke up… so did Tom and Sarah. Tom spent that summer in Finland working with his dad, and I went camping with my girlfriend Leanne. There are so many songs to go with that summer, but the one that really stands out in my mind is Cecelia.

When Tom came home, we met up at a party. We danced to Every Rose has it’s Thorn by Poison. I was 17, he was 18… we started dating.

It was high school, we were young. We had a tonne of fun going to his cottage and partying with friends. We loved Jim Morrison.

Tom and I were together for three years; we even lived together during our first year of college. Those were the Soundgarden and Pearl Jam years. In my second year of college, I transferred to another school and Tom and I went our separate ways. I told him that I loved him before we said good-bye.

I was 21, he was 22. The Red Hot Chili Peppers were probably playing.

I’m going to skip a few years… say 14 to be exact, and make this the soundtrack of our relationship. A few marriages and a few kids later, Tom and I were both living back in Georgetown, newly single.

My daughter was 2 and she and I loved to dance to Stevie Wonder because she is The Sunshine of my Life.

When I heard Tom was single and back in town, I called to see if he wanted to have a drink. He did. The years fell away, and it was like we had never left each others side. Best friends reunited. Beyonce, To the Left, was the ring tone on my phone when he called.

I met his children. Eleanor loved Hannah Montana, but Ethan was more of an AC DC kinda guy. Tom met my daughter who liked to sing “I like to move it, move it”. Thanks Disney.

Last summer, Tom and I got married in a surprise wedding ceremony, and our first song was Wonderful World…. But our song is Better Together by Jack Johnson. I play it in the car when I drive to work for the baby to hear.
 

There you go; the soundtrack of my life... or rather our relationship.

Labels/Tags: maureen turner, we are family, soundtrack, relationship, songs of our life

Posted by MaureenT at 14:01:11 View Comments | Click Here to Comment

March 09, 2010

There are a lot of things to consider when packing up a family of five for a trip, even if it is just for one night… especially if you have a dog that is not coming with you. Add in the fact that you are going to a waterpark (in the winter) and the person who normally dog sits (my mother-in-law) is going to be with you, and it’s down right confounding!

Must pack warm clothes, swimsuits, towels, proper shoes, flip flops, PJ’s etc. Must leave a billion notes for my niece who is going to take care of the dog… even one giving her permission to use my Snuggie. Yes, I am an idiot, thanks for asking.

Must pack video games, Ipods, books and various other gadgets to amuse kids... it’s only 2 hours away, but that is long enough to cause riots in the back seat if proper entertainment is not provided.

Once everything is packed and ready, make sure you leave behind your purse… with your wallet, video camera and cell phone. Good job organizing everyone else mom, sorry you can’t get your own shit together!

Great Wolf Lodge here we come!!

It was all worth it! The kids had an amazing time... all 6 of them. (We were there with Tom’s whole family)

We spent 5 hours at the waterpark the first day. The kids were zonked by the end, so we had dinner and got them to bed.

Although not before I thought I had lost Rebecca at story time. It was one of those heart-stopping moments. I was waiting for story time to be over, thinking she was still sitting, watching, but once it finished and all the kids cleared out, she was nowhere to be seen. I had them call her over the loud speaker, they quickly got the whole staff on walkie talkie looking for her and then I called the room to let Tom know I couldn’t find her.

She was in the room. Eleanor, the eldest child, who was asked to help keep an eye on the younger girls had done exactly that and brought her back to the room. I returned to the room and had a good cry before heading to bed myself.

Day 2, we needed to check out, but we were welcome to stay until the park closed, so we packed everything up AGAIN, and while the other adults were packing the cars, I decided I would take all 6 kids down to the bakery for breakfast and then into the park.

Yup, me (7 months pregnant) and 6 kids at a waterpark… what could possibly go wrong?? I enlisted Eleanor’s help watching the younger kids and told Ethan and Cory they could go on anything that wasn’t deep. The wave pool was acceptable if they stayed behind the first black line until I had other adults to help me out.

I sent Eleanor up with the 2 younger girls on some slides and I stayed on the ground by the fountains with Austin (my 2-year old nephew). Seemed like a good plan, until I realized that Austin is WAY faster than me. Well, he took off in every direction. Under normal circumstances, I like to think I could keep up, but with my ever expanding belly and wet floors, I was no match for the little stealth bomber that he is.

When I finally caught up to him, I picked him up… much better. I rounded up all the kids and we hung out in the shallow part of the wave pool until Tom and his brother came to relieve me.

I needed a break, so I sat for a few minutes until the girls wanted to go elsewhere. We went on the lazy river, which is not so lazy when you are in a double tube with a 3 & 4-year old demanding to “go faster”. That lasted about 15 minutes, and I was done. I managed to dislodge myself from the tube and return them to the table.

Lunch time!!

After lunch, I was beyond tired. I figured it was no problem, I would sleep on the way home… and then I remembered that I was driving home.

I told Tom I was going to get dressed and hang in the lobby until they were done. It was perfect, I bought a smutty magazine, a tea (lodge size – that means BIG) and grabbed a giant chair in front of the giant fire place. Two hours of compete relaxation.

When they emerged, soggy and tired from the park, I was refreshed and ready to go… okay, maybe not refreshed, but I was still awake… and ready to go!

It was a quiet ride home; everyone was tired. Rebecca was asleep by about half way, and Ethan and Eleanor played video games quietly. Once home, we tucked everyone in, and I took part in the YMCOscars party on Twitter.

I didn’t make it to the end. Sleep seemed better than an Oscar at the time.

Labels/Tags: maureen turner, we are family, the wolf pack, great wolf lodge, family time, weekend getaway, indoor water park, packing

Posted by MaureenT at 22:24:01 View Comments | Click Here to Comment

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