Mama Always ~ L.A. Brown, Author

We just walked a hundred miles...I'm sure of it! Just kidding, but my hips are screaming that they will have their revenge. I'm in Okinawa (again! Lol!), and we decided to hit the biggest tourist trap on the Island...Kokusai Street. This street is amazing. Not only are there nooks and crannies filled with artisans and little Mom and Pop stores, but there are vegetable stands, fruits stands, street actors, its definitely something worth seeing. While we were there, the local television studio was doing a spot on, well, I don't know, but they were doing a spot on something. There was a little play going on with the Power Rangers. We went by a street actor who caught Andrea's eye...she even went up to him and gave him a high five! I think we went down, oh, I don't know, fifty million side streets and stores in four hours time and didn't even scratch the surface of what's out there. I had the opportunity to wear a kimono for about five minutes, then ditche...

 Thirty years ago today I gave birth to a little girl who we named Andrea Michelle. We found out shortly after she was born that she had Down Syndrome and we were told to put her in a home and forget about her; that she would never walk, talk or do for herself. We were also told that we were young and that we could have more children. Of course, we rejected the doctor's advice and today, she is thirty years old. Andrea not only walks, but she talks a blue streak. Do for herself? Psh! Of course! This is a girl who walked across the stage to be given her diploma with her class to the thundering applause of her classmates....with 33 credits, one more than needed for graduation. She has been difficult, stubborn and cantankerous, but she is always, always the most loving individual that I have ever met. Do not mess with any of her family or anyone that she cares for because you might just be taken down, as was displayed one day when a supervisor was playing around with me....

It has definitely been a banner year for me, well, me, Chris and Andrea. We came off of 2011 with the loss of our beloved Aussie, Draco in November to foster a soldier's dog in January. Angel was not allowed to go home to Korea (where she was born) with her family who was being relocated there because she lacked a blood titer. We fostered her for two and a half months, getting her the necessary titer and shots; getting the proper sized kennel and finally getting the necessary passage and escort to get home. We could not have done it without the help of many friends and their friends and of course, United Airlines who waived the normal fees to get her home to her soldier and family. My many thanks to Sandra, Janet, Christopher, the Air Race family, James Bear Branch Animal Hospital and Home Again for getting her back to her family. I am sure that there were so many, many more who were in the background that helped with this endeavor, God knows who you are and I'm sure that He ...

...and since it's still not quite over, I don't doubt that there are still a few surprises waiting around the corner. I must admit, when we came into this year, all I was really expecting was my new baby granddaughter who was due in March, right around her sister's first birthday. Soooo, little Cutie Patootie made us wait an entire week for her arrival, which pretty much means that we have been suckered into being at her whim probably for the rest of our lives. All she has to do is bat those baby browns, turn up the side of her mouth ever so slightly and I'm giving away the farm. Sis has that ability, too, but she doesn't have it quite down pat as the Little One. I'm doomed to be a pauper. Of course, the first statement is just a bit misleading, because as some of you may know, we were also fostering a soldier's dog until we could get her home to Korea. With a lot of help from friends and United Airlines, Angel got home to her family in February. That wa...

So, here it is day four of being here helping out Beth with the kids after her surgery. For those of you who didn't know, she had to have a small gravel pit taken out, more commonly known as her gall bladder. Since this is a surgery, outpatient yes, but surgery nonetheless, she is not allowed to lift more than ten pounds.....both of the babies are over ten pounds. Plus for Grandma, minus for Mama. Anyway, what she didn't tell me on the phone is that I was going to experience my first Super Typhoon. I have to say, right now, after having experienced first Katrina and then Ike, I'm not impressed. For the moment there's just a lot of wind and rain, but I understand that in less than two hours the main nastiness of the typhoon will be hitting our corner of the Island. I have been watching this storm, which is at this point seven hundred miles wide and a category 4 storm, on the satellite. Its a slow moving storm that seems to have stayed steady the entire time its been mo...

Ever since I got off of the plane in Okinawa I have had allergies like crazy. Zyrtec has become my best friend lately, sorry Sandy and Christopher, but you guys seriously cannot clear my sinuses no matter how hard you try. As it is, Zyrtec is having its issues clearing this up. The allergies when I got to Japan took a wickedly weird turn for me....they made me look like a wino. Peachy. I first noticed that my nose was being attacked when it felt as if my nose was going to explode right off of my face, literally. I could physically feel my nose getting bigger. I could finally say that I knew how Pinocchio felt when he told a lie, except all I was doing was feeding my granddaughter powdered donuts. I took a look in the mirror and behold, Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer stared back at me....well, at least his nose did. Praise God there was Zyrtec in my purse. Thirty minutes later, again I could physically feel my nose changing and low and behold! my nose was its normal shade and shape aga...

I promise, I will never scoff at folks complaining about jet lag again. As I am typing, it is now quarter to one in the morning and I'm wide-stinking-awake. Go figure. So, to recap yesterday. I got practically zero sleep the night before because now I have this weird thing that if I have an alarm set for myself, I won't sleep right. I haven't figured it out yet, maybe its something deep in the memory banks that hates alarms and knows that it is my deepest desire to take a sledge hammer to any alarm clock that is meant to wake me from my peaceful slumber. I don't know. The funky thing is, if the alarm is set for someone else, I could care less and will sleep like a baby. Hmm, I can't figure this one out. Anyway, so no sleep from the night before equals mass quantities of deeply strong coffee to stay coherent enough to make it onto the planes to bring me home, so we stop at Starbucks on the way to the airport in Okinawa. Their idea of venti is roughly the size of ...