Author: Jen Rios

Okay, so I wrote a little while ago about Leia being called and answering to, “Little girl.” She’s really cute about it and anytime my Mom calls me, “Little girl,” (Which is often), she is right there, wagging her tail and then sitting down and waiting for my Mom to tell her what to do. My Mom calls her, “Little girl” and Sean calls her, “Pretty girl.”

I am a 38-year-old woman. I’m totally okay with my Mom calling the dog, “Little girl.” I have no problem sharing the title and it makes me laugh to watch her react to me being called, “Girl” because she thinks that my Mom is talking to her. Last night, when my Mom was getting ready to help me into bed, she called me, “Gorl” and head to add, “Not you” directed to Leia because she was talking to me.

I think that mixup is funny but yesterday morning, I had to share my titles and I don’t think it was so funny. I need to explain a little background before I explain what happened yesterday morning.

Background that any of my brothers can attest to:

Whenever my Dad was directing my brothers to complete some tasks, (Yard work or something) he would give them jobs to do and I would ask him what I could do because I want to do a help as well. His answer was the same every single time, he told me to just, “Sit there and look pretty.” My brothers still make jokes about that, even to this day!

So yesterday morning, my Mom took Leia out and gave her breakfast. She was in the doorway of my room and said, “You just sit there and look pretty, girl.” I was still laying in bed waiting for her help to get out and into my wheelchair. I remember about seven years ago I explainEd what my Dad used to say to my colleagues. I told them about what my Dad used to tell me and what I was going to do at parent teacher conferences because I did not have a classroom or students like that.

I remember my colleagues being amused at what my Dad used to say to me but that memory is very dear to me and when my Mom said it yesterday morning, I just answered, “I will!” because I assumed she was talking to me. Well, turns out, she was NOT. She was talking to the dog!

I am not going to lie that I felt a little bit bruised for a while realizing that I had to share my title I have never had to share that title! I think it’s crazy that I am 38 years old and now, I finally have to! It was it is startling realization I came to yesterday morning but I have come to that realization. I will willingly share my turtles with the dog!

Because she is so cute, I shared this video on Facebook a little while ago and I absolutely love it!

https://www.facebook.com/100007997082061/posts/2700603406882869/?d=n

Sean took this video out in the yard and I have watched it over and over again. I can’t believe that I am, “A Dog Person” now but I am accepting it and I will share my titles with her because she is so darn cute and she is part of my family now!

I’ve written before about the fact that I cut my hair short on my 26th birthday. It had been down to my waist all of my grade and high school years.

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I cut it at the end of my senior year and then let it grow out to just past my shoulders.

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On my 26th birthday, I cut it all off! I haven’t had hair on my neck since then.

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I have kept my hair this short for the last 12 years. That is, until now. It’s not like I want to grow my hair out but I haven’t had a haircut since the middle of February. I am kind of slow today after coming off of two days of rain but as I blow dried my hair in its normal, “Three act play” format end it got me thinking. My hair is really long by my standards right now and it made me think of Atreyu from The Neverending Story.
more specifically, his hair:

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I thought about it during both intermissions is a dried my hair. I asked my Mom to take a picture of my hair and she did:

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It’s exactly like I thought as I ran my right hand through my hair as my left hand held the blow dryer. I look like Atreyu!

Yesterday, my brother, Dave, FaceTimed to my Mom as I was getting situated in the bathroom to get my hair washed. My Mom talked with him and somehow, Dave asked me if I remembered how I was made. I burst out laughing uncontrollably and my Mom had no idea what both of us were laughing about.

Because I no longer can control my emotions, I kept laughing uncontrollably which forced my brother to explain the cruel joke he and my brother, Jimmy, used to torment me with. My Mom was completely aghast at what my brother told her as a continued to laugh! Before my Mom started to wash my hair and just as my brother was hanging up with her, my laughter continued and he told her to ask Jimmy about it. He knows!

So, this morning, Jimmy brought over milk to my house. I was still trying to wake my body up and I told her to ask Jimmy about Dave and I laughed about yesterday. He practically said what my brother, Dave, said to her verbatim. I laughed and my Mom asked how that started. Jimmy couldn’t remember either but I came to the door and we both continued to laugh.

He commented that my, “Rios eyebrows” we’re coming in nicely and that my eyebrows look like his eyebrows. He was completely correct in saying that! But when we laughed about the joke they used to play on me, it was really fun to see the laughter on his face just like it was fun to see the laughter on Dave’s face yesterday. As Jimmy laughed this morning, he looked at me and shook his head that he is 41 years old and we are still laughing about it! Dave laughtrr about it just as equally and he is 40. I am 38 and I found it hilarious! I can think that now that I am 38 but when I was five, it wasn’t so funny!

I bought Sean and me mugs to make hot chocolate one Christmas, I think he was 11 or 12. Now, these mugs are EXCELLENT! I got them from signyourname.net and I purchased hot chocolate packets for him and me. I had dark chocolate and he had milk chocolate. It worked out well because his mug has his name on it and my mug has my name on it. They were mugs for my family!

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And:

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The mugs worked out for me as my hand strength worsened and now I only drink any beverage out of mugs. It’s easiest if I hold the mug with two hands. I think it was just before Mother’s Day when my Mom told me that Sean and I have our own mugs but she doesn’t have one. She has been staying with me since March 14th and when she said that to me, I HAD to order her a mug immediately! Sean likes his mug for coffee and my Mom would use mine to drink out of because I still don’t drink coffee. Her mug arrived yesterday. It says, “Abuela” because that is Spanish for, “Grandmother” what does what Sean calls her.

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Now, both of, “My 2 Sacreds” have mugs and I finally I have a complete set!

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And this fact makes me happy! It’s all about the #SimplePleasures man!!!

So, late this morning, just before my Mon and I started a routine, she asked me if we were washing my hair today. I used to wash my hair every single day when I could but now I have to settle for getting it washed every other day because it’s a lot of work and I can’t do it by myself anymore. When I let my Mom know that we are washing my hair today, she grabbed a towel from off of the dryer in my room. She came out of my room with the towel and called to me, “Come on, girl!”

When she told me this, I started adjusting my wheelchair that was in a reclined position to get it to be able to move. I had just finished adjusting it and was about to move when, just as sweet as you please, Leia jumped up from her bed in the living room and ran to my Mom and sat in front of her in the bathroom doorway. I started to laugh and looked earlier and told her that, “She’s not talking to you! She’s talking to me!”

My Mom reached down and petted her head and laughed. My Mom has been calling me, “Girl” for as long as I can remember and I know I have written about that fact here on my blog before. Well, both Sean and my Nom call Leia some variation of girl. Usually it’s, “Pretty Girl.” I told Leia to move aside because I need to get my hair washed. I’ve never had competition before being the only girl in my family but I guess I do now!

My first tears of the, “Stay-at-home” orders were warranted, I think. It was too warm in my house and my air conditioner was not set up in my room so I couldn’t handle the heat. Think that was the primary cause of my tears.

However, I cried yesterday as well even though Sean ordered B dubs for us for Mother’s Day which was absolutely delicious! I was even able to have leftovers for lunch today. But I had an uncomfortable feeling gnawing at me and I couldn’t understand it.

I saw this video on my YouTube feed today:

I shared it on Facebook and I think that my hair will look similar to this (even though I am NOT a redhead like I have always wanted) when all of this is over. I have no idea when all of this will be over and it will be safe for me to leave my house!

I actually think that my tears were because I’ve said before that not much in my life has changed with the, “Stay-at-home” orders. The rising death toll in the United States scares me so I don’t plan on leaving my house anytime soon but one thing that is really making it difficult for me is my overgrown hair and my one eyebrow.

It’s gotten like that now and I think that depresses me. I have always made sure that my eyebrows were well-groomed and even on a fixed income, I still managed to make that happen. But now, I have not gotten my haircut nor my eyebrows done since the middle of February. I think I will say that that is what has made me cry so I don’t have to think about all of the horribleness going on around me!