Words and phrases I now repeat throughout the day (I'm a full-time nanny for two kids: a 3-year-old boy and an 18-month-old girl).

1.) No

2.) Don't do that

3.) Don't do that EVER again (ie. Billy, don't EVER run outside without me again)

4.) Don't hit/push your sister

5.) That's not nice

6.) Let's change your diaper, Mackenzie!

7.) Did you wash your hands?

8.) Do you have to go potty, Billy?

9.) No, you can't have an ice pop right now

10.) I don't know, sweetie

11.) Let's play!

12.) You need to get dressed

13.) We can't go outside until you get dressed.

14.) I'm going to count to three

15.) One... two...

16.) You need to go sit in time out

17.) Do you know why you're sitting in time out?

18.) Baba? Do you want a baba, Mackenzie?

19.) What do you want for lunch?

20.) Come here

From Chris McCulloh's blog:

I’m very much an optimistic person, always trying to see and reach for the barely visible goal off in the distance. But at the same time, I try to remain pragmatic. Each time I walk a bit further than I had in the past, it’s a very strong emotional high. One year ago at this point in time, I couldn’t even move a toe. Now I’m walking with a walker and no assistance from anyone. So even adding just ten feet to my own record makes me feel amazing. In a sense, I’m very much bouncing from each high to the next.

Now, I realize that every day can’t be a record breaker. And I realize there will be down days along with the up. So I don’t sweat it if I have a couple bad sessions where I’m not able to walk as far as I had in the past. Even if it’s significantly less, it doesn’t matter. My focus is always on the continued upward trend.

Home is where one starts from. As we grow older
The world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated
Of dead and living. Not the intense moment
Isolated, with no before and after,
But a lifetime burning in every moment
And not the lifetime of one man only
But of old stones that cannot be deciphered.
There is a time for the evening under starlight,
A time for the evening under lamplight
(The evening with the photograph album).
Love is most nearly itself
When here and now cease to matter.
Old men ought to be explorers
Here or there does not matter
We must be still and still moving
Into another intensity
For a further union, a deeper communion
Through the dark and empty desolation,
The wave cry, the wind cry, the vast waters
Of the petrel and the porpoise. In my end is my beginning.

Along with a copy of Jon & Kate Gosselin's book, "Multiple Blessings" (which is a bit nauseating to read because every other line pertains to 'God's will'), my parents sent me the requiste silly birthday card. But they've never written a message quite like this...

Mom: Happy 23rd birthday Pee Wee. We all LOVE and miss you! You're my special girl! Love, Mom.

Dad: Happy birthday Poody, it's hard to believe you're 23! Maybe someday you'll even graduate! HA, HA ... I guess I shouldn't have had that 2nd beer before dinner. I love you, even though sometimes you can be a pain in my asteroids, you know what I mean jelly bean? Dear old Dad.

P.S. (From Mom): Don't listen to your father, the FOOL! Idiot.

The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords.

Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and He shall sustain thee: He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.

 - Psalms 55:21-22

I wanted to believe and I tried my damndest to believe in the rainbow that I tried to get over and couldn't. So what? Lots of people can't...

- Judy Garland

I have been blessed with someone who feels made for me. Life is so incredible.