Introspect

So, here’s a little fun fact about me… no, I’m not going to tell you what it is right away.  Let’s see if you can guess it…

I was sitting here at my desk, and realized that the sweet carbonated drink I’d had earlier did not satisfy the thirst brought about by the salty and greasy fast food I had for lunch (yum).  I reached over a bit mindlessly towards the place where I stow water bottles I drink from and turned up the bottle in my hand to let the fresh water inside saturate my dry throat.  Unfortunately, there was only enough left to allow me one sip – clearly not enough to refreshen me!  Again, I reached mindlessly for the next water bottle in reach, turned up the bottle, and took a gulp.  Again, only one sip!  It was only in the last water bottle I had that I found enough water to quench my thirst.

Anyone figured out my quirk?  Perhaps not, as you don’t have the context of my life to draw from.  I can almost guarantee that my mom caught it: she’s the one who brought this odd habit to my attention… time and time again…  due to the fact that she was in direct opposition to it.

For some reason, I always leave “one last sip-ful” of my drink in my cups.

I almost never finish drinks.  If a cup is empty then I am probably still thirsty, in which case I fill it up just as much as I think I’ll need and then drink all but that last sip anyway.

Every Saturday when our family had breakfast together, I would bring my drink glass to the counter and my mom would look at it and say, “you have one more sip! Just one more! Just drink it!”  For awhile, if she did not see me bring the “one-more-sip” glass to the counter, she would hold up the offensive cup and say, “whose cup is this? It has just one more sip in it!” Usually I was able to recognize it as mine and (sometimes…) I fessed up to it.  Until enough time passed for my intelligent, pattern-savvy mother to catch the trend so that she stopped asking but instead called me into the kitchen to finish the “last liiiiittle bitty sip!!” (Mom was always very good-natured about these things; she was hardcore against being wasteful but she kept her scoldings light-hearted in varying ways.  You can imagine her saying “liiiittle bitty sip!!” in a high squeaky voice.  It almost always brought a begrudging smile to my face as I took on the painful task of actually swallowing ONE WHOLE SIP.)

Saturday morning family breakfast in my childhood.  Water bottles at my work desk.  And, now that I think about it, the orange juice glass and tea cup sitting on my dining room table at home this very moment… almost finished, but not quite.   All evidence points to a weird little habit I seem to have unintentionally developed over the years.  Why do I do this?  I’m not really sure, but I have a theory… I do NOT like when I run out of drink.  I don’t like when I’ve finished my food and do not have enough drink to wash it down.  I think the worst feeling is when you need just a little bit more and it turns out it’s not there.  So perhaps, subconsciously, I plan ahead for these unpleasant scenarios by drinking almost all my drink but leaving a last little bit “just in case”.  Who knows.

Today started out rainy and monsoony, but it cleared up and became SUNNY!!

The warm and the sun make me deliriously happy these days.  It feels like it has been such a long winter and I’m so ready for summer.  Even through March we’ve been struggling to make it up to 70 degrees, and here on the 29th I think we’ve managed to hit it.  Days like these are all I can think about recently, so much so that it’s all I can talk about… weather has always been reserved for surface-level conversation, so I’m sure everyone who I’ve talked to about the weather thinks I have nothing more interesting I’d like to discuss with them.  But I can’t help it; if it’s a rainy or cold day all I can do is dream out loud about the kind of weather I’m anticipating, and when days like today come, all I can do is chatter endlessly about the glory of it!

Just wait till summer comes… 80 and 90 degree weather is my favorite: hot days that beg for a blanket on the beach, a couple good books, a cooler of sandwiches, a couple snacks and drinks, a boogy board for lots of play time in the ocean, and a smile on my sun-kissed face!  If only I lived a bit closer, I’d be adding the delight of riding my bike to and from that beach trip, possibly including a stop for dinner at PT’s Grille on the way home (you can always justify a greasy burger when you’re biking; I think Lindsay mentioned that one time).  And yes, all the best beach trips would include lunch on the beach and dinner only when we’re finally heading home… an all-day event.

For now, I’m already smiling at this weather, bringing with it a comforting warmth and a bright, promising sun… it will be here to stay for awhile soon!

This morning, I was sitting at the dining room table just finishing up the morning’s journal entry.  Mike had the TV on, watching Saturday morning cartoons.  This is a tradition he’s enjoyed since childhood and has carried on into adulthood.  To be honest, I do not find the same pleasure in watching these cartoons as he does, though I did have my share of them as a child (they are different now, after all!)  I therefore cannot say I had any interest in paying attention to the TV whatsoever.

But then, it happened!  Suddenly on the screen there appeared bright colors and fast-flipping scenes with spastic and energized music jingling in the background… there were children smiling and squealing in delight as though they were having the time of their lives… and then there were the objects of their affection themselves!  In some scenes, they were being shown in a cartoon-like way, talking and laughing and encouraging the audience to “come and play with us!” as though they were real, and in other scenes, they were being shown in the giddy children’s hands, put to play against cardboard backgrounds or perfectly decorated rooms, with all accessories included.

And I was mesmerized by the sights, by the sounds, by the giggles and squeals of the children, and deep inside me, the little child desire that has been stored in a treasured corner of my nostalgic heart came bursting through.

Which made me realize that no matter how old I get, I am still enchanted by those colorful commercials for children’s toys!