How Do I Taste, Moby?

The evening of August 18 BigB & I watched a movie with Rush, Finding Nemo to be exact. She knows ALL the words; she can recite them perfectly even without the movie playing. It sparked some interesting conversation.

→ Rush wants to be able to sit in the mouth of a Blue Whale but only if it won't eat her. Why? So she can say "How do I tast, Moby?! Huh?".
→ This lead to a conversation about how horrible it would be to be swallowed by a whale and die due to digestion.
→ She wants to be able to eat Blow Fish because one wrong cut or mistake during cooking and it "could" kill her; she thinks that would be a thrill. However, she thinks people who play Russian Roulette are idiots. Odd...
→ She wants a salt water tank with all the main characters from Finding Nemo.
→ She named the log in her terrarium "Logwannahawkaloogie".
→ She thinks it would be great to have an animal that "could eat me walk past me, as long as they can't see me so they can't eat me."
→ Rush's comment on Darla (the dentist's niece on Finding Nemo), "If she keeps killing fish, why get her a new one? Why not buy her a hamster?"
Huh??????????
→ Quote from Rush, "I'd like to go sliding with the Polar Bears...if they can't see me. I could wear a polar bear costume!"
→ She thinks that the babies Marlon and Dory would have, if they were to have babies, would be very cute. She imagines them orange with blue stripes. "Can you breed fish?! Here, you guys, now have babies!"

But, I think the most memorable thing I got from that movie came in a quote from the movie itself (not that I like it being memorable or anything)
"Of course I like you; it's because I like you that I can't be with you."

I certainly do love my Nemo loving, Nemo quoting girl - more than she knows and more than I ever thought I could ever love...

If a picture is worth 1000 words, enough said!

Rush had a bit of a mishap a few days ago, quite a few days ago. Somehow, and I really mean somehow, her phone fell in the toilet bowl (it was a clean water toilet bowl but still...ew!). BigB took her phone apart and put it in a bag of silica sand to desoggify (totally a word!) it.

She's almost 16.

Without a cell phone.

For a few weeks.

It wasn't pretty.

There were tears and withdrawal tremors.

(I only kid. Or do I?)

Let this picture tell the rest of the story to you...

(this was taken while she used my phone b/c she just wanted to 'feel it' in her hands. I think she was joking...the look on her face said she was joking...I hope she was joking...)

I ♥ Rush

Because from the moment they placed her in my arms almost 16 years ago, she has changed my life. From that moment, it wasn't about me any more; my thoughts shifted from me to her - how everything I did would affect her. I know I have made mistakes and that I will continue to make mistakes (just hopefully not the same ones and that the severity of those mistakes lessens each and every time) but I have done my best for her, and I think it's really great how she has changed and impacted me as much as I have her. She took me outside of myself and made me aware of life in a way I never could have dreamt or imagined.

She is a great kid, always has been. Her sense of humor has never failed to leave me in stitches; her heart and compassion has always left me proud. The work ethic that she has shown since entering the work world is one any mom could be proud of but, I am not just any mom. I am the fortuntate one who gets to be her mom.

I ♥ Rush and I have since before I knew her (any mom knows that feeling) but I have no words to describe the tugging, the pulling, the gnawing, the burning in my heart when I think of her (and all my kids but this post is about how I ♥ Rush) and how much I ♥ her and how much she means to me.

"Nobody ever told me that motherhood is a constant gnawing hunger, a confusing mix of envisioning future ages & milestones, cars & boys and the way her grown up hand will feel in mine, and simultaneously mourning tiny pink socks, that surely only ever fit seashells." - S. Murdock

Working at CRC - clean up crew (photo by Eug)

Just hanging out at BK with the family.

Family walk.

Taking a trip down memory lane...

Rush & my Granny K (Oh, how I ♥ them both!)

Looking a little like Miss CindyLoo Who.

Rush & her oldest friend (they met the day he was born 2 days after her) & her most ♥ed stuffed animal Toots.

After what looks like a terribly fun water fight. I think she lost...

Dancing to the music on Fox and the Hound.

Fixing Pa's swather, or should I say "fixing" since she was using a chisel!

Pa & Rush having a nap in the tent at the farm.

And, in the not so distant past of memory lane...

Dad said something that was shockingly funny here (as Rush is wearing a cloth sack a gift came in to make it look like a night cap - her humor, I tell ya).

I don't really know what to say about this one other than she was hamming it up for her cousins by wearing the bright yellow bowl and goggles at Christmas (& she is also wearing Uncle Cowboy's hoodie.)

Clowning around last July for Bug's birthday party.

SSSSSHHHHHHH....I have a secret...

Tyra Rush workin' it like a pro.

Rush, I want you to know that you mean more to me than I could possibly ever express; my word-bank is void of the appropriate words. Rush, I ♥ you!

I never thought I'd hear HER say THAT!!!!

A few of us went to McDonalds after service last night and then went to Cheryl's house to watch a movie. We rented the movie from Blockbuster and I heard Rush say something on her way in that I never, ever thought I would hear her say, EVER!

As she walked in with two of her friends I heard her say, "The last time I was in here I had a mustache." She said it so calmly - like there was nothing strange about that.

Now let me explain this whole thing to you. Last Sunday Rush and Goofda had a little bit of fun at church; they were planning on attending sports right after but got distracted first on their way and Rush went into Blockbuster to rent a movie looking like this...

This is what she lloked like leaving church.

One of the many reasons she is loved...

Is it that evident?

According to Rush she was raised by whales.


Apparently this is the only explanation for why she is....




...such a dork!!!