Erica has adjusted well to high school!  Adrienne has been really busy as the head intern for the Ron Klein re-election campaign.  Yesterday she called us from work and told us to head over to Carlin Park for some delish BBQ.  All of the candidates were there at the AFL-CIO Labor Day picnic  (quick, what does AFL-CIO stand for?  ummm, even people I asked who are members of the AFL-CIO didn’t know what it stands for….oops!  great question for “Cash Cab.”)

I love BBQ food.  I especially love BBQ food that I don’t have to cook.  BBQ food at the beach is even better because it has all of the salt air mixed in with it.  Yum!!!

Here’s a photo of Adrienne and her friend Sophia with our current governor, Charlie Crist.  Turns out my uncle held a fund raiser a few months back for Charlie Crist at Mar-a-Lago.  When Adrienne told the governor who she was, he whipped out his cell phone and gave my uncle a call.  Hey, that’s politics for you.  She has quickly learned how to play the game.

I keep thinking about what I would have blogged about if blogs had been around when my girls were babies.  I would probably tell you stories about how they used to play with dolls and pretend that the couch was their cruise ship or their airplane.  They would pack their bags, grab their dolls, and every day they would go on a different adventure.

They had flannel vests that they used to call their “Mary Kate and Ashley vests.”  They would wear them outside in the backyard (before we had a pool) and pull weeds.  They didn’t know they were actually pulling weeds…in their minds they were gathering vegetables for the harvest to feed to the dinosaurs.

They used to make up dances and games while they were swimming, including a fun song that I make them sing for me at least once every summer called “Tango Mozzarella.”

I used to dress them in matching outfits all the time.  I wouldn’t be able to function if they didn’t match.

On Saturdays they used to go into Neil’s office with him and write on his white board…that was the highlight of their lives!

Well, we all blinked, and now Agee will be home for around 330 more days, and Erica is a high-school pro.

Life certainly is going on, and on, and on….

P.S.  In case you’re ever on a game show, AFL-CIO stands for “American Federation of Labor – Congress of Industrial Organizations.”  You don’t have to give me a cut of your winnings, just buy some cards from eWillow.com. 

I’m wishing I could set up a permanent I.V. that would shoot caffeine straight into my bloodstream.  It really has become almost impossible to function with a blood pressure of 80/60 (and that’s when I’m sitting.  It goes even lower when I’m standing.)   I finally have all of my medical records gathered and over the weekend I’ll be faxing them to Vanderbilt.  I’m hoping to be selected for their on-going studies in the area of orthostatic hypotension.

(I’m sure some people out there would like to take shots at me as to why I might have this problem, but pooh on you. You are wrong, so get over yourself(ves).  Go bully someone else.  One thing that this problem has done for me is to make me become brutally honest.  I don’t have the patience to put up with crap, so if you throw your judgements and daggers at me be prepared.  As Jack Nicholson said in one of my favorite movies, “I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself.”)

All I can say is that the problem has become exponentially worse over the past couple of weeks.  I’m happy that I have eWillow.com to keep me busy.  It’s something that I can work on while I’m sitting or laying down, which is good because standing up for more than a minute is next to impossible. 

I have always had low blood pressure, but doctors have always brushed it off and told me how lucky I am.  It wasn’t until I came down with mono last year this time that I was finally diagnosed with this problem.  I never recovered from the fatigue, which led my primary care doctor to send me to a cardiologist.  The cardiologist did all of the necessary tests and my heart is fine; it was just a “oh, by the way, stand up and let me check your blood pressure” second-thought type of thing that led to the diagnosis.

Can I just tell you, though, how happy I was to finally have a diagnosis?  Finally, all of the things in my life that made me feel inadequate were given an explanation…why do I hate going to Disney World?  because standing in the lines KILLS me…why do I hate cooking?  because standing in the kitchen is IMPOSSIBLE…and on and on.

Just pray that I get accepted into the program.  I want to find out the reason why this is happening…there is a neurological misfiring going on somewhere/somehow.  I’m not opposed to taking medicine, but I want to find out the cause of the problem before I cover it up with a band aid.

Even though my blood pressure has always been low, the orthostatic part hasn’t always been there.  I know that for a fact because I never would have been able to get through life as a model.  I was on my feet all the time, carrying heavy bags to and from jobs, standing still, etc., and I never had a problem.  I also never had a problem when I worked as a substitute teacher. 

It started about four years ago I guess.  I remember that I would start saying, “I need to sit down” whenever I would be standing and talking to someone. 

So, please keep your fingers crossed and keep me in your thoughts and prayers because I really want to get accepted.