You know those Military homecoming video clips where the Soldier, Sailor, Air person, Marine surprises their loved ones? Yeah, the ones that require a box of tissues?

Well, if you’re like me at all, you watch one because you saw it on Face Book or Yahoo or someone sent it to and when it’s over, there are links to other videos like it. As you watch, you start off smiling, then crying, smiling, crying and an hour later, you have gone through an entire box of tissues and your face hurts from smiling and crying and your shirt is wet because you started off using it and then realized you had tissues and then you’re out of tissues. Sound familiar?

I admire anyone who is in a military family and has loved ones serving on foreign soil, I don’t know if I would be as strong, but you never know how strong you are until you are in the same situation, walk a mile in their shoes.

Here is one link that was on Face Book today, I hope you enjoy it and I dare you not to click on all the links that come after it!

http://themetapicture.com/soldier-disguised-as-scuba-diver-surprises-his-family/

It feels like you almost have to take out a loan when you go to a sporting event!

Do you remember going to baseball games as a kid? It’s professional I’m talking about now, please keep in mind.  I know it wasn’t always cheap, but I remember when I used to go to Yankee Stadium to see the Yankees and sitting in the bleachers.

Being a “Bleacher Creature” was cheap! Give maybe five or ten dollars a ticket and five dollars got me a pretzel and drink and change! Now…not so.

Today, KLS and I drove into Chicago to go to a Cubs game.  Guess who they were playing….The Atlanta Braves! What are the odds!

We decided on the bleachers. Sounds good, I’ll get the tickets.  What happened to those prices? $67 plus taxes and fees! Huh! Then we get to the game and is time for food…

Two pretzels, chess sauce, one water and one beer…$24! What?

To be honest, unless you’re going knowing you’re not getting food, you’re mentally prepared to spend cash on food. It’s part of the charm, right?

I’m not sure if I’ve told you about my lead foot, but I have one and it’s gotten me into trouble.

I have had a speeding problem since I was a newer teenage driver, I would go years without an issue and then bam…speeding tickets and a few of them, then nothing for a few years and then…yup, you guessed it, bam.

It was bad in Atlanta, well, I lived there for almost twenty years, so that’s where the bulk of the problem was. I even got one taking SDL and her sister, DJL, to the airport to bring Miss A back to the states! That one, I would say, was totally worth it!

I have been doing really well over the last 3 years, but I have to ask…Why oh why does driving on the highways in Atlanta compel me to want to driver faster? Probably because everyone else is doing it, but…I don’t necessarily want to speed, it feels good to go fast, but I don’t really need to do that! But I want to…somebody stop me! [this was a holiday weekend, it could have been bad!]

There are roads in Colorado that are 75mph, wahoo! Give me more of those and I’ll be happy.

I started setting the cruise control on the car and that saved me a lot, I use it no matter what city I’m in, it so helps, but do you know what got me to stop speeding in Atlanta this trip? I left! I’m back in Michigan and no speeding! Whew! 

Friends.. Today was very full and exhausting and that’s just what I am…exhausted.

I hope you will forgive me but I need to pass out now. More tomorrow!

I hope you all had a great holiday! Happy July 4th and g-d bless America!

I grew up on an island in New York City, Staten Island to be exact.

There are five boroughs that make up NYC and I thought everyone everywhere had to know what they were, even in the south, not so. You have Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staten_Island.

There are a lot of good qualities about Staten Island and some not so good qualities, but can’t that be said of everywhere? You’ve got Snug Harbor, the Staten Island Ferry, The Staten Island Yankees, the Arthur Kills Dump [at one time Staten Island claimed to have the largest landfill in the world, it is now on its way to becoming NYC’s largest public park, oh goody!

Two of  my favorites and almost anyone else who grew up on Staten Island know, Denino’s pizza, established in 1937 and has, by far, in my opinion and most everyone else from Staten Island and possibly the planet, ha ha, one of the greatest pizza joints ever! They make an amazing white pie [ricotta, mozzarella, garlic and olive oil, yum!] and a killer garbage pie, for those of you who eat everything and of course, regular pie. They only take cash, so be prepared, but not to worry, there is a cash machine by the front door. This is a Staten Island landmark and I was lucky enough to grow up near it, within walking distance. There are now several locations throughout the NY/NJ area, lucky dogs! I even have Statenopoly, which comes in a pizza box and I bought from Deninos.  http://www.deninos.com/

One of my other favorites on Staten Island, which happens to be across the street from Denino’s is Ralph’s! Ralph’s Famous Ice and Creams. They opened with their first store front in 1949 and it has been a huge hit ever since! On a nice spring or summer day, you can stand in line, 5-10 deep, even waiting 30 minutes, but it is so worth it!  Besides, it’s another NY institution, people come from all over the world to have some of Ralph’s famous ice cream. http://www.ralphsices.com/ 1949

The reason I am telling you this is I was at a restaurant in Charlotte, NC, discussing with two friends, who also happened to grow up on Staten Island and while we were talking about Denino’s, one of my friends hadn’t been in a long time, but you can take the girl out of NY, but you can’t take the NY out of the girl. Then the woman sitting behind us said “They’re talking about Denino’s!” and that sparked an entire conversation, where are you from, what brings you down to the south, stuff like that.

So, how small is the world? Three former Staten Islanders meet up with three more ex Staten Islander in a restaurant in North Carolina! The world is small and keeps getting smaller every day!

Anyone else hungry? Meet me at Deninos!