Author: Jen Rios

Quirky Memories

Last Sunday, two days after Valentine’s Day, Sean came into the living room where I was seated and sat on the couch. Once he sat down, I looked at him and asked if he remembered, I think he must’ve been about 10 maybe 11, and we were at CVS by our house and I was tired. We had to get something that we always got and he knew what to get so I asked if he could pick it up by himself and I would wait in the car. I gave him my debit card and he knew what to do. Just before he got out of the car, I asked him to get me some dark chocolate, like a candy bar or something.

When he was 10, I was dieting pretty hard and I very rarely ate any kind of sweets, but as I said, I was tired. Well, he went in and got whatever we needed, Band-Aids or something and he came out with this:

I gave him a crazy look because I couldn’t believe that that was the chocolate that he chose. He got in the car and told me that it was, “Like a dollar?!” it was probably five or six days after Valentine’s Day. I saw his face and I kind of laughed and told him, “ Well, you know I am going to have to eat it! I will need your help!” He laughed and I’m sure that is what he was banking on.

When I asked him if he remembered it, he did and told me that it was, “Like $1.30.” I laughed and told him that he has some crazy memories from growing up! As he was sitting on the couch, he asked me if I remembered changing the radio stations in the car. I looked at him quizzically and knew that he was going to tell me something from his childhood so I waited for him to speak.

He told me that whenever we were in the car, I would constantly change the radio stations trying to find a good song, actually, the best song that was playing. I would start changing stations and if I liked a song, I would still search the other preset stations. If I found a different song that I liked better, I would yell, “Trumped!” and the song I liked better would be the song we would listen to.

I laughed when I heard him tell the story because he vividly remembered me doing this all of the time. You need to learn that there is a hierarchy of songs that exist in the world! I appreciate that I taught him that! He told me that I need to do that again. I told him that I no longer drive and am very rarely in my car so it really doesn’t work! I like hearing that he remembered that I used to do this! He told me that I have always been good for some, “Quirky memories!”

Kite

Sean got me out of bed this morning and kissed me on my forehead when he left for school. I was feeling rather nostalgic and decided to listen to my U2 playlist on shuffle as I brushed my teeth. That playlist is so good!

Ny phone gave me the alert that it was on low battery so I went into my kitchen where my charger is plugged in and plugged it in while various u2 songs were still playing. My clean Yeti was on the counter so I decided to fill it with water.

Last Mother’s Day, my Mom purchased a 30 ounce Yeti cup with a handle for me. I use it every day. That’s for me to stay hydrated. I need to drink at least 30 ounces of water each day so my kidneys don’t hurt. I choose to drink it in the morning before I get ready for the day.

So, this morning, as I filled my cup in the kitchen sink and added the lemon essential oils to it, it was nice sitting in my house all by myself. I decided to sit in the kitchen because the sun had started to rise in such a way and I could see it through my kitchen window that faces my backyard. It was kind of gray but the sun was peeking out from behind my neighbor behind me’s really large pine tree. As I sipped my water, it glinted off the lid to my cup.

Because my playlist was on shuffle, I thought of everything from my first year teaching, to being in college, to going to the concert with my brother and some colleagues, and so many other memories for each song. I really enjoyed listening to it as I watched the sunrise in my backyard and slowly sipped my water.

I know all of the words to u2 songs but I can no longer sing them so I occasionally would mouth them along with the music. I enjoyed the silence and listening to songs as I was by myself in my house. I heard many of my favorite songs to start my day off well but there was one song I did not hear and I have not heard in a very long time.

It is this song that I played for the kids I student taught on my final day there. I think my commencements were that following weekend. I think I saw one student who was getting her bachelor’s degree at the commencement where I received my masters degree. I haven’t thought about this song for a while but I really wish it was one of the songs I heard this morning well I stared at the sunrise in the silence of my house. Since it was not, I am sharing it here:

#TeamMalcolmandDani

So Sean and I successfully binged 14 episodes of Prodigal Son when he was home sick from school with pneumonia. The final episode of the first season aired last night. Sean was at work so I specifically did not watch it and waited until he got home from school to be able to watch it with him.

Pretty soon after he came into the house, I wanted to watch the episode! It really stinks that I have to wait until March 16 to watch the next episode. I did come to some very clear conclusions during this episode though! I think it was in the first episode when I saw this and knew they were destined to get together. That’s when I first got on team Malcolm and Dani!!!

It was a completely messed up encounter but then I saw them together in the following episodes:

Sean wants Malcolm to get with Edrisa but I am all about Dani!

Edrisa is the medical examiner with the shorthair but once I saw Malcolm bring Dani Earl Grey tea, I knew it was about them! Especially, when he let her know that he wants to be friends. And then this happened:

There are lots of crazy things that are going on in these particular scenes but I still believe they are destined to get together in the series! Maybe, that’s just my wishful thinking…

🎶I’m Still in my 30s🎶

I was reminded of this day and decade ago when my Mom sang “Happy Birthday” into her phone because she was sending my brother, Dave, a text because is his birthday. It’s not just any birthday, it’s his 40th birthday! All four of my older brothers are in their 40s now.

So, a decade ago, we were both seated and my Mom’s dining room table today. He was quite upset at being 30 and he sat in my Dad’s chair and I think I was sitting in my Mom’s chair. He stared off into space and kept repeating, probably five or six times, “I’m 30,”

Being such a wonderful little sister as I am, each time he said that he was 30, I chimed in in a singsong voice, “I’m still in my 20s.” He is two years in a little under a month older than me so when he was 30, I was still 27. So now that we all are a decade older, I feel like I should let him know that, “I’m still in my 30s!” because I am 37 now that he is 40. I won’t be 38 until next month.

Thank You

Today, Sean returned to school after his two and a half week absence with pneumonia. He came into the house to change before he left for work. As he walked in, I stared at him as I seem to be doing a lot these days but raising a child for the past 18 years and seeing him turn into a young man is difficult to believe most times!

He always catches me looking at him and will give me a moment before he asks what I am looking at. I usually just answer with, “I love you!” Today, he reciprocated and told me that he loves me too. After he said that, I smiled and said, “Thank you!”

He started to laugh and asked me who responds with a thank you when someone tells them that they love them. Of course that queued the Bon Jovi song in my head!:

I replied with a simple, ”Bon Jovi”. So I had to raise my arms next to my chin and clenched my fists and did my best to sing the refrain! I told him that it was exactly how it sounded from Bon Jovi and I told him I would send the video to him while he was at work.

I sent him just the lyrics because given that he is my son, a bride burning through the city isn’t exactly applicable. Here is the lyric video I sent him:

So, of course I had to listen to this song a few times. I was taken back to a time when I was 18, naïve, able-bodied, and seemingly in love that ultimately did not last. I remember seeing this video on the TV when I was in Kalamazoo during my freshman year at WMU. It all seems like a lifetime ago! But, the point is, and what I conveyed to Sean, that you can thank someone for loving you as I thanked Sean today.

Sean just returned my text to him with, “Exactly alike.” When I included with the video that is “ Sounds exactly like me.“. I replied to the text in all caps, “I KNOW, RIGHT?!”

Impressive Body Control

So, sleep does not come easily to me. end it hasn’t for a while I usually end up finally getting to sleep at about one or two in the morning. After I lay in the dark for a long time, I tend to scroll through Facebook for a little while. Last night, a Facebook friend posted this video that I HAD to watch:

I watched it a couple times because I was so impressed with their body control and their artistic use of that body control. I watched it a couple times and then I thought of this specific version of Simon and Garfunkel’s song, I remember that Nyle and Peta’s used the same song and Disturbed’s version of it as well:

By the time I was finished watching both of these, it was about 2:30 in the morning and I needed to get some sleep. So, this morning, of course I had to rewatch both of those videos! As I watched Nyle and PETA, I thought of when Von Miller was on Dancing with the Stars if we’re talking about shirtless guys:

Phil Collins’ song is also iconic but I just wanted to see Von Miller without a shirt! But seriously, this all was some seriously impressive body control!

I’ll post videos of both of these songs here as well:

Disturbed:

Phil Collins:

“You Nerd!”

I think this commercial is absolutely hilarious! I can’t even count how many times I have been called a nerd! I’m totally okay with it because I AM a nerd and I am NOT ashamed at all! How could you NOT be called a nerd when you read 100 books in the summer before kindergarten or read a Babysitters Club book a day in the summer in like fourth grade. Or even if you were in college for a decade! But, hearing the mucus guy say that makes me laugh every single time I see it!

Under Pressure

So, Sean and I just completed a successful binge and we are caught up with Prodigal Son and now I have to wait until Monday to find out what happens to Martin Whitly!:

With that being said, one of the episodes I watched with Sean yesterday had this in it:

I am a huge fan of Malcolm and Dani getting together in this video clip illustrates that! But then, is song started to play just as Malcolm is thinking of a plan;

This song has been in my head since that episode and I can’t wait until Monday! Actually, I’ll probably watch it Tuesday when Sean is home.

Bleach

I made the decision very early on in my first apartment that I would not have bleach in my house because of it’s catastrophic results with clothes! It had done damage to clothing when I was growing up and with me only using natural cleaners, the smell is kind of crazy! When Sean was growing up and when he played peewee football, I should have invested in stock with Shout! because I used so much of it and so often!

But then, Sean got sick. With my motorized wheelchair, it is extremely difficult to maneuver around my kitchen. I can no longer wash dishes and that really bums me out! Because my Mom was vehemently trying to prevent me from getting sick as well, she started washing the dishes with a little bit of bleach.

This morning, just after my Mom got me out of bed, she had to run to her car and she told me to wait to wash my hands. I figured I could just do it myself at the kitchen sink. I use Palmolive Free and Clear dish soap.

It is clear. I turned the water on so it could warm up and I grabbed the small bottle of my dish soap. I poured a little bit onto my right palm and realized that it was extremely watered down. I put it back by the sink and saw a different bottle. When I squeezed some into my hand, it was just soap. I proceeded to wash my hands and rinsed them and I was wondering why I smelled the pungent smell of bleach.

it was sometime later when I finally realized where that smell was coming from. The first dish soap bottle I squeezed into my right hand was not dish soap but in fact, bleach. I found out it was bleach because it bleached my shirt!:

Sean let my Mom know why I was so upset once I discovered this. I was wearing my favorite shirt! My GMFB shirt!

The picture on the right shows how much this shirt is loved because I wear it all of the time! Sometimes, two or three times a week. When I saw the bleach stains, I was completely devastated but I still have to wear the shirt! Bleach stain and all!

As my Mom and I completed our morning routine, I kept saying, “Roont, roont, roont!” like my Dad used to! But, can it really be roont even if I still plan on wearing it?! This was the exact reason why I did NOT want bleach in my house at all!