A Royal Victory

“He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not,

will be victorious.” - Author Unknown

The past 5 days have been quite monumental for millions of people, all over the world. Since Hurricane Katrina, just a few natural disasters have occurred, and, in those, only a handful of people had died. This week we mourn hundreds who were lost in the Tornado that hit Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Mississippi. This Tornado was the worst recorded, and the largest in scale since 1966. The aftermath of this is devastating. Millions of lives are changed. I pray for them all.

The very next day the world momentarily broke their shock and outrage of the tornado, to celebrate, swoon, cheer and envy the wedding of the century - Prince William's marriage to Kate Middleton. Now, if any of you women are like me, you all wished, even in a dream, that Prince William would be down to earth enough to fall in love with you. He'd come to the US to "sow his oats", he'd fall for your humble American ways, and then you'd be a princess someday!! Maybe I've watched Coming to America one too many times. Lucky for me, I found my prince a decade ago and married him a few years later. But, on this day, the world gathered and watched on as Prince William took the hand of a "commoner" as has been said over and over again. It's almost as if those royals want us "commoners" to know that some of us are actually worthy of royalty, despite our past! Well, that was a mission well accomplished. And, I believe it all. I believe the love, the rise to royalty, the story and the humbleness. As many horrible things that are happening in this world, it is so nice to sit back and revel in a good story for a change. I sure hope this lasts - Cause', if it doesn't, Prince William is gonna have to fend off a lot of women who would die to be his future queen.

And, the biggest news of all - Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon finally had their babies!!! Oh, well, I suppose that isn't the BIGGEST news, but she finally popped on Sunday.

The biggest news would have to be that Osama Bin Laden was killed in a US attack on his private quarters on Sunday. I watched the news in awe, not sure whether to cheer, or just stay frozen with my mouth wide open until Corey knocked me back to reality. It's surreal - After nearly a decade of searching for the man responsible for the 911 attacks, he's finally caught. And dead. I watched the news, read articles and saw pictures of people celebrating nationally. And then it dawned on me: Osama Bin Laden was the top - But, what about his followers? Without Bin Laden to regulate and coordinate attacks, I fear that our country will now have to live in fear of retaliation attacks by al qaeda. I'm sure all of us level headed people have thought about this before, but, now it's real. Now, Bin Laden is gone and who's to say that there wasn't a "just in case" plan put in to place years ago? I know, I know...Don't poo poo a good thing. I am a very realistic person. I try to think of all aspects, and at least, for your own sake, consider the possibility. I do.

Now that I've babbled on about how much news I've watched over the past few days, I can tell you that, before I watched the news about Bin Laden's capture, I was out gardening for several hours on the most beautiful Sunday I'd seen in months. Leave to me to go out on the first warm, sunny day of the year, in a tank top, with no sun block, for 4 straight hours. Can you say lah lah lah lahbstah? Seriously, how can one be so stupid? I spend months inside, while my skin faded to an ill stricken looking white and then, one fine day, I just decide to strip down and beg to be barbecued! I did this last year, and I suffered immensely for days. I anticipate the same this week. And, if my boobs weren't so big, I would have opted to go bra-less for at least today. That just can't happen anymore.

All of my girls are quite dramatic in one way or another. Katie likes to triply express her anger in a Hannah Montana kind of way. You know, the act of yelling in anger that is so overboard and so obviously an attempt to "act" like she's really angry at us. Instead she just looks ridiculous. To her dismay, Corey and I both laugh when she does this. Not only does she sound ridiculous, she looks ridiculous. For Pete's sake - She's not auditioning for the role of one of the wicked stepsisters. Maybe one day she'll get it.

Rayla likes to say "no." Even when she really wants something, there seems to be something fascinating to her about the word "no." It's used more often, by her, than any other word she knows. "Rayla, do you want me to hold you?" "No." "Rayla, do you want to play with Mackenzie?" "No." Rayla, would you like some juice?" "No" "Rayla, do you want mommy to leave?" " Uh huh." It never fails, the one thing I try to get her to say no to, she changes and says yes. Such a typical girl!!

Mackenzie is my little princess. Really, if you ask her where the princess is, she'll point to herself. She calls herself princess. She dances and prances like one. When she dresses up in a pretty top or a pretty dress she calls it her princess dress. And, she's very protective of her princess dress. Last night after dinner the girls got a popsicle - Kenzie's was red. She was wearing a white eyelet "pretty princess dress" and dropped some of her popsicle on it. She hung her head, and teared up with such sadness that it would break any mother's heart. She slowly lifted her head, and in her sweetest, most loving voice says "Mommy, I messed my princess dress. I so sorry. My pretty dress. My poooooooor princess dress." I reassured her that it was really okay, and that mommy has special magic powers to take out the messes on her dress. It's been soaking for a day, and will be washed this afternoon. I'm a little excited to FINALLY get to share with someone how cool it is that red dye CAN come out of white!!

So, I drifted off into subject oblivion for a while - There was a point, I promise. Of all the drama that fills the world, good and bad, there isn't a soap opera more entertaining, more comedic than my own little life. The drama that happens in my home is honestly as much drama as I ever need. This past weekend Osama died, the Carey-Cannon twins were born, hundreds were lost in a tornado, and the prince married his true love - That's a busy weekend for news stations. My kids were able to play outside, I had a date with my son and husband, I gardened my heart out and laughed until I cried with my whole family. That's not just a busy weekend for me; That's my life. This sweet life that I wouldn't trade for even a tiara or the title of Duchess. Besides, I'm already the queen of my castle......:) Who would want to trade that?