Blood, Sweat & Tears

The past couple of weeks have been the stuff memories are made of. And not all of them have been sweet.

Let's start with the tears.

You may not be aware that I was in contention for being Coolest Mom On The Planet once again when I hatched the Mother of All Birthday Party plans for The Ocho. I got word that our favorite boy band just so happened to be coming to Nashville 2 days before the big 1-0 and I was determined to make it a birthday weekend to remember.

If I learned anything from last year's generous benefactor, it was that the concert presale was the only way to go, and to qualify you had to be a member of the fan club. So I did what any respectable mother would do; I forked over the membership fee and signed The Ocho up as an official JoBro fan. When presale day came around I was online and armed with my credit card the very second tickets became available. I scored killer seats for us and our JoBro Concert Cohorts and then called them with the good news. Then I decided to make it the Best!Girl's! Weekend! Ever! and reserve a hotel in downtown Nashville. We would spend the day in the city, get ready together, have dinner, walk to the venue, rock out at the concert, head back to the hotel, have cake and giggle and spend Saturday doing girlie stuff. And The Ocho still doesn't know that I had entered her in a contest on the fan club website to win a Meet & Greet with the brothers.

Like I said, I was a shoe-in for Coolest Mom On The Planet.

Then last Friday I received an email from The Jonas Brothers Fan Club Website informing me that the Nashville concert had been canceled. Just. Like. That.

Birthday dreams crushed. Hearts broken. Hotel reservations canceled. Angry post on JB Fan Club Website by irate mother posted.

Stupid Jonas Brothers.

Oh, I'm sure I'll forgive them in time but right now the pain is too raw. I mean I knew my daughter would eventually be brought to tears by a 17 year old hottie with an attitude, but I didn't think it would be when she was 9. And once a boy has made your daughter cry, forgiveness is hard to come by. I'm getting angry again just thinking about it.

Let's move on to the sweat.

In case you haven't noticed it's been hot. Way hot. So The Ocho has spent a lot of time at the pool.

She's been swimming with Selah:


And Morgan:


And Abigail:


And Alex:


And when she's not swimming, she's riding her bike:


Which brings us to the blood.

You see, The Ocho only recently mastered the 2-wheeler. We've never really lived in a good place for bike riding and she never showed much interest. Not until she saw her cousin Alex riding. Then the gauntlet was thrown and there was no turning back. She taught herself in one afternoon and ever since she has insisted on riding along with me on my morning walks. Most of the path is straight and easy with a few fun roundabouts thrown in for good measure. But, once we round the corner to our street and head back home there's a nice downhill slope that I knew would eventually get the best of her.

It happened on Monday.

I didn't actually see her go down. I just heard the screaming and crying and wailing and so on. When I saw her, she was faced down on the pavement in the middle of the street. Her first real crash and I had to hand it to her, it was a good one.

No damage to the face, hands or upper body but both legs took a good beating. One knee in particular will hold a scar that will likely be with her forever. She spent the rest of the day on the couch milking it for all it was worth while Handiman & I shared our stories of bicycle crashes of long ago. After all, you're not a real bike rider until you've shed some flesh, so this definitely earned her some street cred. No pun intended. Well, maybe it was a little bit intended.