Ramblings, Butterflies and Self Discovery

On Saturday, we (‘we’ being Dave and me) had a plan, a mission. We were going to help our family work on their property for an event so big you may hear about it on the nightly news!

I’m only kidding about the nightly news.

The plan, this mission, caused me to have butterflies. So many, in fact, that I contemplated calling in sick to this ‘Family Day’!

My family is a bunch of ‘do-it-yourselfers.’ I know I’m pretty vague about my skills as a ‘do-it-yourselfer’ but, through your, the reader’s, ability to infer, I believe that you may have picked up on the little fact that Missy is not a big, nor good, do-it-yourselfer!

So, when Saturday morning came, I woke up, had an assortment of comfort foods for breakfast, put on my big girl panties, gave myself a pep-talk about how I have a brain and the ability to think and that I can do anything that comes my way, and then we were off to construction land!

As soon as we arrived I was approached by two little boys who wanted to play with me. Hmmm…playing with nephews as opposed to becoming a do-it-yourselfer…worked for me!

As I walked over to said nephews, I noticed the youngest one had something in his hand…something that started moving…something that was BIG… and green and oh my…something that was alive! It was a toad (not a frog; but, a toad, as I was informed by my 5 year old nephew!)! He was holding the largest toad that I had ever seen! I mustered up all of the adult courage I could at that very moment, squealed in a high pitch shrill, pulled my elbows to my sides, wildly flapped my hands…all to accomplish what, I don’t know! Then, I ran like a sissy on my tiptoes from the humongous toad, screaming “I’ll be a do-it-yourselfer, I’ll be a do-it-yourselfer, just don’t make me play with a toad!”

People looked at me like I was crazy…people being my 3 and 5 year old nephews. I think I lost 'cool points'.

Low and behold, being a do-it-yourselfer did not entail me painting anything that the family would forever have to look at, nor did I have to permanently affix anything to a wall and, best of all, I didn’t have to use any tools! Everything I was tasked with doing was stuff I could totally handle…like crushing soda cans that needed to be recycled…putting things into neat, orderly and clearly designated piles, and eating pizza with my nephews…without the toad…all the while getting a tan…Man, if this is what do-it-yourselfing is, bring it on!

I did discover something that day…

Do you want to know what it is?

That I discovered?

I discovered that, Dave, in our relationship, is the do-it-yourselfer. He’s the muscle, he’s the brawns…he even has the shirt to prove it! His shirt reads:

“DAVE: The Man, The Myth, The Legend”

That’s right folks.

I, on the other hand, and this is what I discovered on Saturday, in addition to being the psychology gal, am also the technology gal. Whenever this family has an iPod problem; they dial 1-800-MISSY! So, really, I may not know how the heck to operate a ‘Bobcat,’ I may have even thought that when they were talking about bobcats all day they were referring to the animal and not to the piece of machinery that was driving around the property; but, by God, when it comes to iPods, I am your wo-man, I will make sure you have music, even if it takes me hours to do it!


I had a fun day; I played with my nephews, without the toad, and the butterflies that I experienced earlier were so not warranted and quickly subsided once I realized I was being tasked with jobs I could totally handle, which is a good thing, because butterflies, AKA: a nervous stomach, causes…well, we all know what nervous stomach’s cause…

What? You don’t know what nervous stomach’s cause?

Let’s just say it can lead to toilets overflowing...