EchoDitto

Last night a group of Ditto's and friends-of-Ditto's made our way to RFK Stadium to watch the Nationals eek out the Mets. It was beautiful. I mean really beautiful! The scenery was quite nice.

We started the evening with a game of Mafia, where Tom and I first killed off JP and then Jason. Everyone thought HR was a dead ringer for a member of The Family but alas he was innocent. Thanks to Chris and Jason for organizing the game.

Then it was off to RFK Stadium. After the Mets built a decent lead on the Nationals, Washington scored five runs in the fifth to take the lead for good and knock the Mets to the losing end for the fifth straight game. Ronnie Belliard was the hero who capped the Nationals' big fifth inning with a three-run homer. We got a little nervous when New York scored once in the ninth to slim Washington's lead to 9-8, but soon relaxed with nothing to worry about when pinch-hitter Ruben Gotay struck out with runners at the corners to end it. Ah, the sweet smell of victory!

driver’s license? I just learned that in the District of Columbia, you can request a duplicate driver’s license from the Department of Motor Vehicles online! Online! How great is that? How do I know this? Let’s just say that I might not actually be in possession of said license, maybe, sort of, but that is beside the point. Anyway, the big trick with the online duplicate request, in my opinion, is that you need to have your license number. It used to be, in the olden days, that they used your SSN for that, but times have changed.

Today is my son Abraham's fifth birthday. Happy Birthday, son. I love you dearly. The story of Abraham's birth is quite an amazing one. He asked me to tell it to him again today. This is a long-standing tradition now for the second year in a row.

At 20 weeks it looked like Abraham was about to be born. To make a long story short, and to avoid TMI, suffice it to say, I was ordered to stay in bed in the hospital and off my feet and see what happened. For the next 17 days I did exactly that, praying all the while for his safety. After 17 days I was discharged from the hospital and spent the remainder of the time carrying on as normal. At 40 weeks, on August 16th at 1:25 in the afternoon, Abraham was born; a healthy boy with a perfect 10 on his Apgar test. There you have it. The rest, as they say, is history. Happy Birthday, son. I love you dearly.

Several weeks ago I left home at the usual time, 7:15, on my way to work. This regularly puts me at my desk with a hot cup of coffee in hand by 8:00. On this particular day, I zipped down 16th Street with barely enough time to listen to the long version of “One Nation Under A Groove”. Huh? Where was everyone? Where were the other folks who were usually hustling and bustling in the morning rush with me? Then it dawned on me: while I wasn’t looking the calendar had advanced and I was smack dab in the middle of Summer Vacation. Imagine my surprise! It made perfect sense and I was all too happy that tons Metro Area dwellers were off enjoying themselves somewhere else.

I recently had the opportunity to go sightseeing in my hometown. I was born and raised right here in Washington, DC. I am embarrassed to admit that I have never done the White House Tour or climbed to the top of the Washington Monument. As luck would have it, though, my friend Ana had never been to DC and was very excited to see the sights. She set her trip counter on her Facebook page and waited with wild anticipation for the day to arrive when we would dash about town experiencing all that DC has to offer. While I was puzzled by her excitement, I put on my best tourist outfit (sunglasses, backpack and good walking shoes), grabbed my camera and we were off. We rode the Double Decker Hop On Hop Off Bus and visited all 25 stops.

The other day my 5 year old son, Abraham, looked up at me from behind his mile long eyelashes with his mop of curly hair bounding in all directions, and asked: "Mama, can you juggle?" He had been reading a book about the circus. "Of course!" I exclaimed while chuckling under my breath.

I often:
1. Juggle [make dinner while folding laundry and entertaining the cranky 2 year old]
2. Walk a tight rope [tiptoe down the very noisy creaky stairs without waking sleeping children while dodging Lightening McQueen and Mater who are parked on the third to the last step]
3. Fly thru the air with the greatest of ease [dive across the room to catch the juice cup falling off the edge of the table while heading a soccer ball into the makeshift goal of pillows while screaming goooooaaal].

Okay. This is my first time. I am new to blogging. I spent an hour last night composing a real gem and hit the 'preview' button and *blink* it disappeared!

I am dancing dangerously close to my first anniversary of membership on the EchoDitto Team and I have yet to blog. "What?!?!" Yes, it's true. I have a goal of posting 6 entries by the end of August. Here goes.

In case you don't know me, my role is Director of Finance and Operations. That is my role at EchoDitto, at least. I have many others. Mother, daughter, sister, aunt, friend and head cook on Waterford Road. As a working parent (as if parenting wasn't work enough - but that's another post) work/life balance is paramount to survival. Routine is my friend.