Exiting the information superhighway

Not long ago I unsubscribed from just about everything.

I did it when I realized I had more than 15,000 unread emails in my email inbox.

Then I went and deleted a bunch prior to a certain date, and trashed contents of entire email folders.

I am down to just under 4.000 in my inbox, which is still far too many but at least my email client works.

The main bonus for me is that I am not getting more emails in a day than I can read without having to scroll or search on my computer, or without having to "load more" on my phone (since it only shows the most recent 25 messages).

De-sensitized much?

The other day, my middle son and I found ourselves in the midst of an armed takedown involving not one, not two, but five police cruisers (and when we finally got out of there, we saw another en route).

I was immobilized with one hand over my mouth, stiff-arming the steering wheel. All I could say was "Oh my God" repeatedly and once "Hon, get a video of this." I had goosebumps on my arms and legs.

My son was also saying, "Oh my God," but in a less help-me-Jesus type of way. He was like, "Oh my God, look at their Glocks!" and "Oh my God, I wonder what that guy did!?" and "Oh my God, I have to post this on Snapchat!"

"Do you like her, Mom?"

My husband and I went on a double date with my son and his soon-to-be girlfriend (it was their first date). I didn't think about the magnitude of that until a day or so afterwards, i.e., who actually wants to go on their first date with parents?



My son had stayed home from his dad's that weekend because he didn't want to miss baseball practice. It was Saturday and he was just hanging around and my husband and I had been talking about going to a minor league ball game so I told my son, "Why don't you see if So-and-so wants to go to the game with us." I did not ask him if he wanted to, I kind of told him, assumptively.

"Oh, I don't know, I think she's in Boston with her sister..."

"Ask her when she'll be home and let us know so we can get the tickets."

Then I left to walk the dog.

When I got back, my husband and son were reviewing the stadium seating chart. I guessed she said yes. I let them figure out the rest of it. My husband informed me what time we had to leave and I went about my business.

Some time later, my son approached me and told me, "Mom, please don't do or say anything weird."

I joined a gym online

Now I just have to get there in person!

A new gym opened up so close to our house that I could walk! I stopped in when it was still under construction and got some basic info and told myself I'd sign up because they had a $1 membership fee special...but then baseball season happened.

My three kids plus my husband all play baseball. My husband is also a coach (for a different team than any of my kids). Altogether that is five teams. None of my kids drives yet so my entire Spring was a logistical nightmare. I love baseball but I saw a handful or less of games because all I did was drive kids from here to there. I only made it to two of my husband's games, which is a bummer because hanging out with the baseball wives is part of my social life.

That has been the story of my life for the past 16 years since I became a mom. It's usually all about the kids and then I am too exhausted to do anything for myself. I was a single mom for a long time, too. So, let me back up.

A year ago I had a major a ha moment