So The Big One started high school last week, so I guess I'm supposed to post about how sad I am that my baby is growing up, and how fast the time has gone and how I only have so little precious time left with her.

All of the above is true, but being the slacker mom I am, I am more excited for her than I've ever been in my life.

She and her friends are in that really awkward stage where they need you, but don't want you. Although, when we did tour the school and do the walk-thru of her schedule, she did ask that I go with her.

She's in the marching band and I am soooooooo excited about that. Really. Actually not being sarcastic. I can't wait to see her in her over-sized polyester uniform and oatmeal box hat. I know she's going to be making friends she'll experience so much with and keep all her life.

Living vicariously, much?

More Fun with Crack and Coke Math

My future husband, President Obama, signed the aforementioned Fairness in Sentencing Act of 2010 on August 3rd.

The day AFTER our defendant was sentenced.

However, it would not have helped our guy, as the new law is not retroactive and the amount of drugs for which he was responsible was so huge that even with the 18:1 ratio, it would not have helped. I had to do another crazy algebraic formula, but it was a waste of time. However, we did get a very nice offer from the prosecution, so that reduced his sentence to a third of what he should have got.

Again, it was a huge amount of crack, so I think we did pretty well for our guy.

So The Big One says she's invited to a sleepover at Emily's* house and they're going swimming the next day and can she go?

I say sure.

We get to Emily's house and I ask Emily's dad "When do I pick her up?"

He says, "Six o'clock. Tomorrow."

"You mean 24 hours from now? For real?"

Turns out, the swimming was not at the local pool, like I assumed, but at someone's house that's about a 20 minute drive away.

Apparently, I have to learn to ask a few more questions in dealing with a high schooler.

*Collective noun for all The Big One's friends.

Nerd Love

My BFF since the 4th grade and her husband came for a visit last weekend. We don’t see each other much, but we are fortunate in that we can always pick up where we left off and that’s why we’ve been BFFs since we were 10. She and her husband were college sweethearts and will be married 24 years this December. And they still genuinely LIKE each other.

The BFF’s Husband is a big history buff, so we made visits to the National World War 1 Museum and the Harry Truman Library. The Husband and I had our first date there and our first kiss on the tower. Romantic, I know. I really do love the WW1 museum and find it very impressive and well-thought out as far as educating its visitors. The Truman Library is also worth a visit.

The Husband and the BFF’s Husband are also really into Civil War history. When I say “really” I mean that The Husband is writing a book about a specific battle and The BFF’s Husband is a re-enactor. My BFF and her family drove from Oklahoma to Gettysburg for a re-enactment of the Battle of Gettysburg several years ago, and it happened to fall on her youngest son’s birthday. When asked what he wanted to do the following year, he stated, “I don’t want no Civil War Birf-day.” She really loves this man.

So last weekend, I was grateful that the stars had happened to aligned when my BFF and I had chosen our spouses. I truly believe that some people are just meant to find each other, and my belief was affirmed with these two. They were in Civil War Nerd heaven.

The Husband got really excited when The BFF’s Husband invited him to participate in his re-enactment group. Snippets from their conversation: “I have a widget and an extra doohickey you could borrow for your uniform,” and “We re-enact the Battle of Some Famous Landmark at the end of September.” The Husband got REALLY excited when he found out there is an actual store in the metro area that supplies re-enactor gear. Guess where we’re going this weekend?

Re-enacting has actually been a life-long dream of his, so I have no problem acquiescing to this. Just as long for every dollar he spends for this hobby, he saves one for our trip to London with The Big One’s high school marching band.

Marching Nerds. I know. But I’ll at least get a trip to London out of it.