(Excerpt from the book "The extraordinary life of an ordinary woman")
June 4
I was rummaging through my storage closet drawers trying to find some paperwork that I needed when I hit upon the photo album drawer.
This is the drawer where I keep all our family photo albums. Any time I go near this drawer my family heads for the hills because as they say, "Here comes Niagara Falls!"
Okay, I have been known to get misty-eyed when I see old pictures of the kids when they were little.
Alright, already, more than misty-eyed, it's a regular cry-fest!
But today I was so focused on finding my missing paperwork that I did not stop to look at the albums. I almost made it safely out of there until I lifted up some papers and the picture you see below fell out!
Mel and I had been married about three years when I took this picture on one of our frequent trips to go food shopping!
A buddy from work got a bunch of old BDU's that the surplus store was getting rid of, and since most of them were really small sizes he gave us some for our kids and our boy scouts troop.
Jess and Chris took it a step further and would always wear them with matching green shirts.
They would always wear them the same day so they could match.
Was it any wonder that these two were always mistaken for twins?
From the moment these two met they decided to be inseparable! Jess would tell Chris what to do and he would nod and go along with it!
For the most part they were good about not getting into trouble. I said for the most part!
I remember one day shortly after we had just gotten our first dog Sadie.
The kids were playing in the back yard and Sadie was running around with them. Somehow Sadie decided that the best place to play and roll around was under our blackberry tree! The ground underneath the tree was covered with all the berries that had fallen off the tree.
I was in the kitchen and could hear the burst of giggles coming from the kids. There are two types of signs that set of the Mommy-radar.
One is total silence. This is the most ominous because it usually means the kids are elbow deep in mischief.
The second one is the uncontrolled fits of giggles! This usually means that the kids are knee deep in something messy, sticky or downright gross!
I walked out the back door to see what was up when I saw our beautiful white and light brown puppy looking like she had been in a Stephen King horror, slasher flick!
At first I panicked because it looked like she was covered in blood. What kind of morbid kids was I raising, laughing at the sight of a bloody puppy?
Upon closer inspection I realized that it was berry juice, which Sadie was licking off herself with a big puppy grin!
I swear she looked like she was in puppy heaven!
Chris and Jess looked at me and swore up and down that they tried to stop her. Sure you did!
I grabbed Sadie and brought her in the house and gave her a bath. After twenty minutes she was clean, buffed, dried and smelling good!
As I put her on the kitchen floor Alexi opened the back door and Sadie bolted right out to the back yard again.
I ran after her to pick her up before she headed under the berry bush again. Luckily she did not head there this time instead she headed right into this hole that Chris and Jess had dug in the back yard and filled with water from the hose!
In jumped Sadie into the muddy watering hole and as she landed Chris and Jess got splashed from head to toe by the mud!
I had to ask them why they felt the need to dig a hole and fill it with water.
They looked at each other and busted out laughing and they looked at me like I was daft.
Because mom, the reason Sadie went under the tree was because she was hot! We made her a swimming pool to keep her cool!
Oh, really, how dumb of me to not see the obvious!
I watched in amusement as Sadie slopped around her "swimming pool" and the kids were having so much fun playing with her.
My first instinct was to get angry at the mess and at having to give the dog another bath, but I am glad I didn't get angry.
Jess and Chris had so much fun with the dog and later on they had even more fun running under the hose to wash off as much of the mud as possible.
When Mel got home from work he walked into the backyard.
He took one look at the muddy hole, the pile of muddy clothes, shoes and soggy kids. He just shook his head and said, "I don't want to know!"
We looked at each other and just started laughing!
Throughout the years until they went off to different colleges the "Blended twins" would continue to be close.
They shared a lot of the same friends, they helped each other with school work, Jess was Chris' personal planner and Chris was her bodyguard.
I picked up the photograph and put it back.
After I had found my paperwork I went downstairs and looked up at the picture of the two of them at their senior prom hanging on the living room wall.
Normally this would have created an opening of the flood gates of mommy tears.
But not today, I just had a good belly laugh remembering all the adventures those two got into growing up.
I was also extremely grateful that I had been blessed enough to be able to share in their adventures.
And as Jess so quickly pointed out that summer day so many years ago, rich people pay a lot of money to get mud baths because it's good for your skin!
I wonder if that applies to dogs too?
