suped up on sudafed

With a nose drop chaser.

I have one of those summertime colds. And its really got me down. I'm pushing through and I'm making it, but I'm pretty miserable. It has made me realize how healthy I've been for a pretty long stretch. And for that I'm thankful. Mostly, I just want to lay around and whine. Fat chance when you've got three kids who can out whine you with one lung tied behind their back.

So even though I didn't feel like it, I loaded up the gang and headed off to the Y for my kickboxing class. Because who am I kidding? Am I really gonna be all, "Mommy has a stuffy nose, I'm going to go lay down, you kids play quietly together for a while." You saw pictures of the great butt paste caper of 2010... I think not. At least at the Y, someone else deals with the million "Why?" questions for an hour and a half.

Right now I'm decompressing and hoping the Sudafed kicks in soon so that I can get a wee bit of air through at least one of my nostrils before we head off to the pool. The clock is ticking on our outdoor pool outings and quite frankly, its about time. Don't get me wrong, I've loved EVERY MINUTE of our trips to the pool this summer. It has been a blast to watch my kids get braver and braver and barely need me. (Not to be misunderstood, it's not like I'm in a lounge chair reading a book sipping Margarita's or anything, but they are a bit more independent than when we started at the beginning of June.)

It's just that we've reached that point in August when I take a look at the large, over packed beach bag that goes along with us to the pool and give it a heavy sigh. Swim diapers? check Barbies? check Squirt guns? check Goggles that need to be in there but are NEVER used? check. Sunscreen that's almost empty but do I really need to get more with only 3 weeks left? check Snacks? check My mind? gone! Its been lost for weeks.

But we press on. Because I know by the end of September and CERTAINLY by the first of December I'll be regretting every missed opportunity these last weeks of August. Especially in February when our house seems to shrink by at least 1,000 square feet and the "I just have to get out or some body's gonna die" feeling takes over.

This summer I've realized that I'm definitely a warm weather girl. I never considered myself that in all my 38 years. Maybe it's having older kids. Maybe its the fact that our latest *heat wave* hasn't made me want to drown in a pool of my own sweat. I kind of enjoy that suffocating feeling you get when you leave the air conditioning. I enjoy it much more than that death defying cold slap you get when you leave the yummy warmth of a heated store and trudge out into the subzero temps with minus obscenity wind chill factors. Who knew there was a southerner trapped in this Midwestern body?

Or maybe it's just my over-medicated mind playing tricks again. We'll see, Y'all, we'll see.