feliz cumpleanos

How did I celebrate? Well, I bought a package of Reese's and two blockbuster videos and got into my hotel bed at 7 pm. Try it.

While watching Giuliana & Bill on Style.

Giuliana: Baby, those lamps are too big for our house.

Bill: No, they are not. I will bet you an Hermes scarf that they are not.

Giuliana: You're on.

...there's no surprise that she won. I need a husband like that.

Thankful Thursdays

The scriptures.

Thursday being close to Friday which is close to Saturday.

Bargain shopping.

Pictures of mexican orphans.

Phone calls from boys.

My tightest jeans are loose today.

Grandma being back in Texas.

$5.50 shirts from Forever 21.

my Iphone.

Jason's Deli.

My family being so wonderful.

Mexico

All I kept thinking about was how they didn't know anything different. For the most part, they didn't know what it felt like to be held by a mother and father at the same time who are both vying for your attention and telling you they love you. They don't know what it's like to work all week and get a pay check and blow it on a pair of Tory Burch wedges because they are perfect. They have never experienced a mall or shopping or wakeboarding or eating at a nice restaurant or any of the other things we think are regular necessities; Any of the things we think make life fulfilling. They get fulfillment out of making craft from scraps people have brought by, or joking with the other children or learning how to sing "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" in English. Initially they watched in awe, as though they'd never been served by anyone. Once they felt more comfortable, they were uneasy standing aside and tried to pitch in where they were needed.

Last week I went to the mall because I was bored and I bought a dress because I thought it would change my life and sure enough I had forgotten about it the next day. Then I watch as these children wear clothes someone had dropped off in a box and they weren't given choices of size or color and they hand wash them because that's the only option. They wake up knowing that if the Americans come today they might get a Capri Sun and if it's the blonde one handing them out, they will get two. They laugh as I try to speak their language. They ask for my hat because they have never had one. They sleep on plastic mattresses with dozens of other children. They cry themselves to sleep because they know something is missing but it's not something they've seen so it confuses them. They have never dreamed of anything beyond what they have because they weren't raised to have high expectations.

There is no way for me to believe that I deserve the privileges that I have become accustomed to. There is no way I will ever be able to describe the love that I have for them. There is nothing different about us on the inside. We are all trying to make the best of the situation we were dealt, and after seeing another man's cross, making the best of my load is a lot easier.

We are all the same

Have you ever thought how horrible the gym is? You all thought it was a place for self improvement and lifestyle changes. Wrong. The gym is a forum of people gathered together so they can look at the themselves in oversized mirrors and pretend they hate what they see. It's like you pluck all the nonjudgmental people out of the world and pull together the men and women who take a second glance at everyone they walk by to see if their thighs are bigger, regardless of gender and always leads to awkward eye contact because why would you be at the gym if not for the same purpose as the rest of them?

Don't even get me started about a Lifetime Fitness. Due to the high rates we pay for monthly dues, you not only take out the nonjudgmental group, you also knock out the lower class resulting in a group of wealthy, narcissists who have fake books and die their hair to look like mine and could handle a cheeseburger every once in a while.