A big HOORAY for my Maxx

Last night we attended Maxx's track team banquet at her high school. This was her first year on the team, and she really enjoyed herself. She tried a number of different events, but in the end settled on long jump, 100 meter, and 200 meter dashes. When it was almost time to leave the house, all three of us were just dragging . . . I think if Maxx had said, "We don't really have to go . . . " Mike and I would have jumped at the chance to just stay home.

First off, she wasn't sure if she had lettered or not, and other than handing out certificates to those who did letter, we didn't know what else they would be doing.

But we went. It was supposed to start at 7:00pm. We got there around 6:50. And we sat. And sat. And sat some more. I don't know what the problem was, but the actual awards distribution didn't get started until 7:30pm. The coach spoke first and while I think he is a nice enough guy, he is not a good public speaker. So that droned on for a bit. And then letters were handed out to the varsity team members. Then they got to the JV team. The first name called off for the girls' JV team was MY BABY!

She lettered!

We were so excited for her! I think she was pretty shocked herself. Then, as the awards went on, she was also presented with a certificate for being a student athlete, meaning that she maintained a 3.0 or higher throughout the season.

So now she has two certificates, and the evening isn't even over yet!

Each of the four coaches presented an award to a student of their choice. Maxx's long jump coach got up and started talking about who he had decided to present his coach's award to, and as he talked I just *knew* it was her. I was even poking Mike, but he looked at me and shook his head. He really didn't think a first-year member of the team - and one that is only a sophomore - would get that type of award.

But she did! When he said her name, she immediately started to cry! And of course, when she started to cry, I started to cry! She went up and accepted the plaque, gave her coach a hug, and then came back to sit next to me - shaking like a leaf! She was so shocked, and so embarrassed (because she so does not like getting up in front of a crowd). It was just awesome.

But what was really cool was the reason her coach chose her to give the award to. She got it was because she always gave 100% with every event she tried, whether she was any good at it or not. And when she wasn't competing, she was helping. While other kids would go sit in the stands and hang out with their friends once their events were over, Maxx would be down helping to rake the long jump pit in between jumps, or doing whatever the coaches needed her to do. So she got the award for just being an awesome kid.

So yeah, it was awesome, and we cried. Mike was fighting the tears! I'm just so glad we didn't take the lazy way out and not go or we would have missed an incredibly special evening in our baby girl's life.

Sometimes . . .

Sometimes I look at his pictures and I truly cannot imagine going through the rest of my life without him. It scares me.

Latest Published Articles

My latest article to be published on Associated Content can be found here:

This one is a little silly, but what the heck - it was fun to write!

My Life in a Shoe Box.

This one was a gut-wrencher to write, but I needed to write it. I hope that it will actually be read by a few people because I doubt that I am the only one that has truly valuable friendships with people they've never met face-to-face.

Online Friends - Weird or Wonderful?

Happy reading!

Writing for money . . . who would have thought?

I started this new blog as a place to write about things that weren't necessarily appropriate for my other site. I thoroughly enjoyed writing my "Why I Hate High School Reunions" post last week, and received some very nice feedback on it. That's when I remembered something . . . I wrote an article three years ago and submitted it to Associated Content. It was called, "What Not to Say to the Parent of a Child with Cancer". Amazingly, it actually got published! That's when I thought, "Maybe I could write more articles that could be published."

I submitted the high school reunion post, and it DID get published! Of course, because I had already published here, the potential for income on it is far less. But that motivated me to want to write articles and submit them for exclusive publishing. The other thing that motivated me was this:

Mama needs a new . . . . laptop!

I want to start writing Keeghan's story. But I've figured out that I need to have a place - be it a room, corner of a room, whatever - that is my place to do nothing but write. No internet to distract me. No email coming in. No phone. Therefore, I need another computer for that space. While I love my Macs and would love to buy another of those, I think a PC is more feasible. Especially if it isn't going to be connected to the Internet at all.

My way to raise money to buy this writing computer will be . . .well, by writing. So while I will continue to write blog posts here, I am planning a number of articles to submit to Associated Content. The more traffic the articles get, the more money I make and the closer I am to having my new computer. More articles will mean that much more traffic, right?

Let's hope so!

So, here's where the blatant plug comes in. The following are links to the articles I have written so far. Please feel free to read them, share them, post them on Facebook, MySpace, anywhere you like. Or not. I'll still love you all anyway.


Why I Hate High School Reunions.

Camp Song Memories - the Sweetest Things.

What Not to Say to the Parent of a Child with Cancer.


I have two more articles submitted and waiting for approval, and a few more cooking. So please feel free to check back and see what's new.

Shannon's Articles.