Independence

So now comes the attitude of gratitude. I know it's seriously overdue. I also know whining can be tiresome. My apologies. It bothers me to say this now, since I've been such a grump-ass for the last two months. The strain of getting through the hell that is graduation season, which ironically is supposed to be a very happy and joyous time of year (if you're not a lei-maker), was, as you well know, taking a toll on me. Now that I've had a week to decompress, I'm grateful. Grateful to have survived. Grateful to be out of pain. Grateful to have a job. I find it embarrassing to say these things now. But I'd be even more embarrassed if I whined all this time and never looked behind me to say, at some point, how grateful I am.

With that being said, there are some other things I'm really grateful for. I'm grateful for awesome family and great friends. Sometimes, those things turn out to be one and the same. For example; Charlie and I consider my sister Lokelani and her hubby Phil to be our best friends. This isn't news, I know. It's just that we haven't had as much opportunity to spend the kind of time with them that we'd like to. Our lives have changed in the sense that both my sister and myself now have these jobs that interfere with our fun. They aren't your typical 9 to 5ers with weekends off. She works weird-ass vampire hours which sometimes include weekends, and I have been working Saturdays. Not to mention she lives 95 miles away. As one of my demonstrative children would eloquently say; "That sucks donkey balls."

However, here comes the weekend. Along with it comes a brief glimpse of our independence. How perfectly perfect! Kids have plans, and lo and behold, so do we. I am SO out of here. My brain checked out of the OC yesterday. At precisely the moment my boss said to me; "So do you have big plans for the weekend Pua?" To me, I took that to mean that she did not need me to work on Saturday. I had been hoping, but my deal with her is that she has "first crack" at my time on Saturdays.
You know that chicken-skin feeling you get? That adrenalin rush that gives you goosebumps? That sensation that happens when...okay, okay, you get the idea. Well, that's exactly how I felt the second my boss asked about my weekend plans. I actually needed a cigarette. ::wink::

The cherry on the cake is that not only do we get to see our best friends, BUT the Lokelani-Phil package comes with a bonus. Rick and Trent are Loke and Phil's "besties". They let us borrow them as our BFFs too. Most weekends, when we're in Sandy Eggo, we have at least one day where the six of us get together. This weekend is a special weekend for the boys because it's their birthday weekend. I don't know if they already have plans, but I hope we're part of them. If so, my gratitude meter is seriously off the charts. Happy Birfday Boys. We love you and I hope I get to give you birthday hugs.



So, Happy Independence Day everyone. Hope it's safe, fun, and you get to spend it, in joyful gratitude, with your best friends. Oh, and thanks for putting up with my bitching since May. In the spirit of freedom...I release you!