Vanity

Plates, that is. Vanity plates.

As I drive from here to there on my rounds around town, vanity plates present themselves to me like little puzzles meant to entertain and challenge. Some are no-brainers. Like VRRRM on a Corvette. Or SHUTTLE on a minivan. But others present more of a challenge. Like TBDBITL (OK, I know this one - but it would be a challenge for anyone not from central Ohio). Some are just personal and are not really meant for public deciphering.

I want to join the throes of those-who-advertise-who-they-are-on-cars!

The challenge is creating just the right message, using a combination of only 7 alphanumeric characters, to wear like a name tag wherever I go.

But in today’s world of text messages and Twitter updates, meant to communicate entire messages in 160 characters or fewer, it’s not that much of a stretch to consolidate further to 7 characters. A challenge, perhaps, but doable.

So, what type of plates do I want to display?

In my research (hey, observing plates whizzing past me as I drive counts as research!), I’ve noticed that vanity plates typically describe one of three attributes of the driver:

1. What You Do

BABY DOC
DAY TRDR
MAD PTTR
WRITER

2. Who You Are

MIMI
PEETS
BRIT MUM
HUMANS
MOM OF 3
KKECLP (initials of family members)

3. How You Think

VRRRM (onomatopoetic)
OUT A TYM (harried)
BIG WEEN (goofy)
HAD 2 HVT (honest)
DONT TCH (possessive)

Or sometimes it’s just an obscure or private reference...

HONIG (a term of affection in German, meaning “honey”)
TBDBITL (OK, I’ll tell you… The Best Damn Band In The Land, referring to the Ohio State marching band, of course!)

I've got a few ideas brewing, but no decision is made! Got any good ones?

Ginger and Me

Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, except backwards and in high heels.





















It wasn't dancing, but I did move furniture with my dad tonight - also backwards and in high heels. Even had to back-step up a couple of steps with those heels!

Sorries

A little more than a year ago, I took up playing tennis.

During that time, I've had countless lessons, in the form of clinics and private sessions with a pro. I've certainly improved much since the first time I picked up a racquet. In fact, I'm looking forward to league play starting in the fall.

But one thing has consistently puzzled me: Whenever I make a mistake - especially when playing doubles - I can't help but yell out "Sorry!"

And I'm not the only one... The other women do it, too.

Funny thing is, when my partner makes a mistake, I don't even consider that she should apologize for it. I mean, we ALL make mistakes! That's part of learning and, in fact, part of any game. Apologies are unnecessary.

Yet we keep apologizing to one another.

I never hear men apologize to their partners if they miss a ball or lob it to the next planet.
Just the women.

So I'm going to be more like a man: No more apologies for garden-variety errors!

Now, if I whack my partner with my racquet, that's a different story...

The Absolutes of Parenting

Yes, the kids are getting older. They're gaining independence, becoming more self-reliant. These are wonderful developments in the lives of children.

Yet, as a parent, these developments can be bittersweet. What happened to my babies who needed me?

Never fear! In my extensive experience of raising three children - a cumulative 31 years - I've found that there are three occasions when the kids will always need me. Immediately. Urgently. And without exception.

1. As soon as I step into the shower
2. When the phone rings - for me
3. During hanky-panky with hubby {wink-wink}

There you have it. The irrevocable, absolute law governing the necessity of parents.

Gross

There were these unidentified bugs that appeared to be floating, rather than flying, through the air. They were everywhere, wandering aimlessly. And they didn't have the sense to get out of the way of my car.

Actually, at first they seemed like the cottony seeds of dandelions. Yet upon closer inspection, we saw they had wings and were, indeed, insects.

They came and went in one day. Strange. And gross.

I'm going to go clean my windshield now.

Summer of Journeys

Summer's promise of long, light-filled days of leisure can be thwarted by vacations, camps, appointments, lessons, programs, and other time-seeking missives.

Before I knew it, what I thought would be an endless June was supplanted by what my heart imagines will be a long, lazy July. Yet my mind counters that soon July will meet June's fate, succumbing to August's litany of last-minutes and back-to-schools.

And then it will be over.

The summer of my son's 11th year, and my daughters' 10th, will vanish. And once this one's gone, I'll have scant few left before summer jobs, college road trips, and girlfriends/boyfriends usurp their summers.

But - I argue with myself - the camps are important for expanding their horizons and allowing them to venture out on their own within a safely managed environment. The vacations allow us to live a little differently for a while, somewhere else. The academic lessons are essential to stem the "brain drain" that would otherwise occur. The athletic and music programs help them to develop the discipline to meet a challenge and to find enjoyment in reaching goals. And the appointments are just conveniently scheduled in the summer to reduce the time they must be pulled out of school.

Yet, amid all these need-to-squeeze-ins, the journeys of the planned sort, it's really the unanticipated journeys that give us pleasure. They make us smile, they give us stories to tell, and they're what we'll remember about the summer of 2009.

{What unanticipated journeys, you may wonder? I could tell. And I thought of telling. But they'd get lost in translation. So I'll keep them in the Peet family memory vault, to be resurrected around future dinner tables. And for those difficult moments, after the kids have left home for good, when it will help to recall those times when they were young and all mine.}

Suffice to say we've felt the joy of some of these unplanned journeys this summer thus far - and many this week alone. I know that you are also enjoying some unanticipated summer journeys of your own. And that some will be shared, but others will be safely stored in your memory vault, to be recalled later. You don't have to share them all.

Simply enjoy the summer journeys of 2009!