Randomness

Man....switching shifts has played havoc on my sleep. I was up at 4:00 am this morning and couldn't sleep. Bummer. The thing is, I LIKE 3rd shift. The kiddies are sleeping. It's quieter at work, and I can get a lot done. And the downtime gives me a chance to read more.

But on the con side of things, I'm having trouble sleeping. In a perfect world, I would be able to come home and go right to bed. Sleep while the kiddies are at school, and wake up in time to pick them up and spend the rest of the day with them. But I'm not able to sleep when I get home. And when I do sleep, it's not a solid 6 - 8 hours at a time. Which is giving me some serious baggage under the old green eyes. I keep thinking my body will figure it out, and I'll adjust. But here I am, wide-awake when I should be sleeping.

Actually today, it's not so bad. Wednesday was Ana's birthday and I'm having a "family" party today. Family means our friends. Mike and I have a rather eclectic group of friends that we consider our family. There's Aaron, my best friend. He's the kids godfather. An actor, chef, drama queen and all-around phenomenal guy. Ana's godmothers....Pat and Dee. They are a couple, and have been together for 15+ years. (Hence the term "fairy" godparents. Their term, not mine!) Dave and Jeanette and their kids. Your typical all-American family. Troy, the professional poker player and all-around badass. Tony and Wendy, the couple that keeps getting together, breaking up, getting together. Gina and Angie, another couple. Gina's one of my best friends ever. Love her so much!! So, it's not your typical backyard bbq, but we all love and respect each other, and that's what's important.

Actually, what's important to me, as a parent, is to show my kids that there are differences in people...and it's not a bad thing. They don't "see" color the way some people do and I'm so proud of them for it. Chad's best friend has a black father, and so does Bella's best friend. Ana's best friend is Chinese. I've known people that are bigoted and it breaks my heart. Aaron and I have been out on more than one occasion, and get 'funny' looks from people that assume we are a couple. I hate that. There was a local production of Jesus Christ Superstar a few years back. And Aaron had one of the leads....Judas. He was amazing. I took Chad to see show. He was SO proud that his Uncle Aaron was the star....he just beamed. He told everyone around us at intermission that HIS Uncle Aaron was the Star. The lady sitting next to us said, "Oh...is he an uncle by marriage?" I don't think she actually meant any offense by the statement, but it really bothered me. Does it matter that we look different? Certainly not to me. Aaron has been there for me in the worst of times, being the best friend he could possibly be. He loves me and my family unconditionally. THAT is important. Not the fact that he is black. Or gay. It just makes him unique.

Why am I off on this tangent? Who knows. Maybe sleep deprivation. I was watching something earlier on the election, and they were talking about Barack Obama and how it would be such a coup if a black man could be elected President. People, it's the year 2008. Surely we have gotten to a point in our culture that we should be able to look past color and pick the person that would be best for our country. But race is an issue. I don't know why Americans have to put that kind of spin on things. But we do. And it saddens me.

I was having trouble getting in touch with Aaron this week. He always bakes the birthday cakes for our parties, and I was worried. I finally talked to him yesterday and he already was trying to decide what to bake. I told him, I was afraid I was going to have to get a cake from Walmart this late in the game. He said, "Honey, there is NO way I'm letting my God-daughter eat a Walmart Cake for her birthday!" See why I love him so much??

Hopefully, I'll have some good birthday pics to post later. For now, I'm off to the grocery store, and maybe I'll get a little reading done before everyone shows up. I picked up Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman last night, and I'm in love already. Magical is the only way I can describe Gaiman.

Later!!