The Dutch Files

I am not a naturally sporty person. I just don’t have the natural “flair” for sports… I suck at it… I tried, many sports, and I sucked at them. And as a result sports is not my favorite past time.

For a while I was afraid that the faulty sports gene had been transferred onto my son… The first sport he took up at about 5 years of age was Judo. He did that for a few years but his heart was not really into it. By the time he was 8 they started entering the kids into competitions and then he signed off. I think the reason that he stuck it out as long as he did was that his teacher was a really great inspiring guy. It did help him to channel his energy and such, so it’s good that he did do that for a few years.

Then he took up soccer. Now soccer is really big in Dutchyland as it is in many European countries. It also has a certain very competive atmosphere but not in a good way… If you are a good player, you will fit in… If you are not that great, you get ignored, and in worst case scenario shouted at and talked about by even the parents of your fellow teammates. The Kid was a mediocrate player and well… to say his time playing soccer wasn’t the best of times, is putting it mildly. He told me he no longer wanted to play. I told him to finish the season, which was only a few more weeks and then he could stop and we’d look for something else. It rendered me into a huge argument with The Ex as he felt that he should just persevere. I told The Ex that I was nót putting in hundreds of euro’s and tons of effort and dragging my son to practise 3 times and a match once a week, and have my kid shouted at by other parents, if he hated it.

He stopped playing sports for a year and we took the time to find him something he really wanted to do. I took him to take a look at several sportsclubs, and had him join in here and there… and just shortly before the schoolyear was done, in July, he informed me that he had decided that he wanted to play

BASKETBALL

I couldn’t be happier. I think, though it is not that big over here, basketball is a great sport. To play and for spectators. I like the “speed” that’s in the game. I like the atmosphere and I just like the sport in general. The Ex, being 1m97 tall (6ft5), was a pretty good basketball player in his younger days and he used to coach kids at the time as well. The Kid, at almost 11, is already nearly 1m55 (5ft1), and I can see that that would not necessarily make, but surely help, him being a pretty good player.

Basketball practise is on Mondays, when he’s with The Ex, and I work at the time he’s at practise as it is during office hours. Last week I took some time out of the office to go watch one of his practise sessions and well… um… I was impressed! Even though he’s not been at it for very long he’s doing pretty well. And I can see from his facial expression and the effort that he makes that he’s loving it! And the atmosphere is SO much nicer than in the soccer teams… The coach, who is doing a great job with these boys, told me that The Kid needed a little more practise and then he could join the team in actual games.

So you can imagine that I was totally chuffed when The Ex texted me yesterdayafternoon that The Kid had unexpectedly been asked to play with the team that afternoon and had actually scored the first point of the game and they actually won!!!

Heheh… There’s a big fat proud motherheart beating under my boobies right now!!! My boy scored his first point in basketball… in his first match… which they won!

It made my pretty sucky weekend! Now if only The Guy would be here, it would be purrrfect…

Some of you might have seen THIS Twitter flash by on October 6…

I had just gotten some news that made my eyes tear, but in a good way… And though I wanted to scream it off the rooftops reaaaally loud.. I couldn’t… I couldn’t tell anyone yet…

I did crack and emailed The Guy to tell him, who thought it was great news as well.

I can disclose what it was about now… Jade and Tug were actually closer to guessing the news than they thought they were. No Jade, *I* am not pregnant. And no Tug, I am pretty sure *you* are not pregnant either…

BUT!!!

*drumroll*

I AM in fact gonna be an aunty again in about 6-7 months from now if all goes well! Because The Sis is pregnant again! Just a few days before Lill Niece turning 1 year old she called me and told me the great news.

So fingers crossed that all goes well, and I can hold one tiny little bundle of joy in my arms again beginning of May 2009!!! And if the new arrival is gonna be as nuts about The Kid as Lill Niece is, he’s gonna be a busy boy in the years to come.

Suh-queeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! And just for the record: I think this one is gonna be a boy…

I’ll be out this p.m. doing some “High Wining“. Noooo, not High Whining! The one without the “h” in there… Wining! Drinking wine!!!

It’s like High Tea but the better and alcoholic version: with wine…

See, better huh? I mean, don’t get me wrong. I like tea, and I can do the High Tea thing just fine but ya know… Holding the one against the other though, the wine is gonna win from the tea h.a.n.d.s. d.o.w.n.!!! I am sure Penelope will agree with me and hell! She’s British! (well, maybe not for much longer, I haven’t talked to her much since she got back from Rhodes, Greece, and I am pretty sure she got engaged to a big fat Greek guy with a moustache called Stavros).

Anyway, so I am off High Wining this p.m. It’s one of the birthdaygifts that I still had waiting for me. Granted, my birthday was February 27 (yeah, I’ll wait, you can take your time and write that down so you don’t forget when it comes along in 2009 and the years after)… It was a gift from 2 of the depts former PhD students, who became my friends over the years. We didn’t get to actually do it until today, as both went on to new jobs in the course of this year, and we couldn’t pin a date down earlier in the year.

At first I felt it was a bit of a shitty date, it being the day before The Kid comes home. But right now, trying still to get the hang of the summer break feeling, I think it is a great way to end the horrendous weeks at the office and being without The Kid and start off my serious vacation time this way.

I mean: 2 girlfriends, loads to catch up on, wine, good food? What better way, huh? Right, exactly what I was thinking!

I’ve decided to leave the car at home… Might be best… So I am taking a bus and train into Delft, where we’ll be slogging down the nectar of the gods and slurring our words, and giggling and laughing at other people, and ya know… shit like that…

I have great friends… who think of great birthdaygifts and come out to spend them with me…

Wish you all could be there though!!! Allaya!!! I feel like boozing up with all of you, loads of friends! Come on over! I want you with ME!!! Awwwwww, puhleaaaseeeeeeeee?

Half a working week on, adding up the score, I am moving forward. Slowly but steadily. My wonderful gem of a boss has allowed me to work part-time this week and next week. I go into the office in the mornings and when by noon I am ready to jam a machete into one of my co-workers skull it’s time to go home again fortunately.

I am still working thru the bad memories that came to haunt me since the happenings of the past week at The Guy’s end, and making progress on that part as well. It will not work itself out overnight, but it will be ok in a while. I am confident it will and I can. At The Guy’s end things are progressing as well, he’s still doing his hero stuff. And his friend Nikki made sure a package that I sent off to him for tomorrow (watch this space tomorrow, importanto) will be arriving in time. The Guy has a lot on his mind and still he tries to be online and be there for me as well, as I try to be for him. Aside from that we send eachother txt messages as much as we can to stay in touch. He even bribed a janitor of the local internet cafe the other day to let him in at 3 a.m. to chat with me when I was in the office! Gotta love that man! … which incidentally… I do, heh…

So getting to the  “something to look forward to”-part, as announced in the post title… I have 2 things to look forward to. One in the near by future and one in a few months…

Over the weekend Jill is gonna come over and stay at DutchBitch Casa!!! Yay!!! Squeee!!! I am picking her up from her place of residence in Dutchyland tomorrow afternoon and she’ll be here until Sundayevening. So be ready for some side to side DutchBitch Casa Couch blogging over the weekend. She also promised to stuff her 300 dvd’s in her bag… well, maybe she just meant a selection of the 300, not sure…  the rest of the activities are yet to be decided on. One thing I know is that I am preparing a Greek Salad, Suvlaki and Tzatziki for dinner for Fridaynight!

The other thing, that I have to look forward to, is that in a few months, September 7 to be exact, THIS GIRL’s ass will be on a plane to the US!!! I am joining The Chief for a trip to Chapel Hill, Sept 7-10. He’s recently become Chairman of the International Society of Thrombosis and Hemostasis, for which I will have to do the secretarial/administrative tasks. ISTH headquarters are situated in Chapel Hill. OK, so he’s flying business class and he’s making me travel coach, but I don’t care, cuz guess which city is next to Chapel Hill? Would that be Raleigh? By any chance the place of residence of The Guy? HELL YEAH!!! I told him on chat the other day and he’s all giddy about it! Though his schedule for September is still totally unclear, he’s gonna do his utmost to be home at the time that I will be over there, so finger’s crossed! There’s a good chance that early September we’ll get to see eachother again! Squeeeeeeeeeeee!!! And it will also give me a chance to meet Nikki and hug her to pieces for being such a good friend to us both (and Nooooo Hon! I am not putting myself in a leotard and doing the strip aerobics class… just sayin’).

And, if I am lucky, that very same trip will also allow me to visit someone else… As I will most probably be flying over London, I am looking in to flying into London a few days early, like on Friday, to visit… Penelope! The travel agency still has to get back to me on that possibility, but if I can work it out, I am stopping off at her place for 2 days before flying on to Raleigh…

Now how does that sound for having some good stuff to look forward to? And you know what, I found out that I really needed that… I am very much looking forward to spending the weekend with Jill and incredibly looking forward to my September trip to the US! It is filling my heart with joy… and that came along just at the right time…

There’s so many things in life that I can’t influence or change and that at times may upset me. Currently one of those is making life just that tad more confusing,  and making me wish I could reach out and make things better for someone very dear to me.

It made me think today about the things in my life that I am thankful for, appreciative of…

Yeah, you bettah move on out of here if you don’t do mushy, cuz that’s today’s overall theme on The Dutch Files… When something is confusing me, or worrying me like it is now, it is so easy to forget about all the things that do make life worthwhile and make me happy…

The Kid makes me happy for sure. He’s my main ray of sunshine. I love him to bits. He’s got his quirks but all in all he’s a great kid and very caring and protective of his Mom (”Mom, that lottery ticket that you bought… that you said was gonna win you 25 million euros… you háve to keep in mind that you could also not win anything with it… I don’t want you to be really disappointed if you don’t win, you know“)

My Man makes me VERY happy as well, even though it’s tough at times that we are thousands of miles apart and I am missing him like crazy every single day… My heart skips a beat when I think of him… And there is little I wouldn’t do to make sure we can see eachother again soon… And you know, once we do, I so want to snuggle myself up to him again… and just “be”…

Welcoming Jill at the airport the other day made me happy as well. Even though I know she had a hard time saying goodbye to her family in the US, I know that she has been looking forward to coming to Dutchyland very much.  And that makes me happy fór her. And even though the fucking airlines lost her luggage and she was not amused to find out after a full day of connecting flights, I was so happy to see her and for The Chief letting me take time off work to come welcome her at the airport…

I love the doorbell ringing yesterday afternoon and the mailman handing me a package… This package [see picture] that was sent to me by surprise by really dear friends for being there for them… You know who you are and I was so moved by it. Thank you. Your wonderful gesture actually made me cry… You knów you didn’t have to do that and still I immensely appreciate it!

I love Penelope for letting me send a package, that I ordered at a UK webshop who won’t ship to Dutchyland, to her office address. And ya know… that could’ve been food for a load of funmaking at her expense, as I was not at all sure the package was packed up in a discrete way and the order confirmation only showed the name and address of her company and not her actual name… Imagine if one of the guys over there had gotten hold of it!

I adore my family. My Mom, The Sis, The BIL and the Lill Niece. The Sis who called me yesterday that from now on I am the official guardian of the Lill Niece in the event that something might happen to her and The BIL (and believe me, that shit happens, it happened to The BIL’s brother and SIL), and in actual fact trusting me with the life and raising of their daughter if need be.

I love people reaching out. I am someone who believes in being there for people who are having a rough time, which all the more makes me appreciate the people that have reached out to me as well, when I let on that I am having a hard time… Though I am not really that good at accepting stuff like that, I very much appreciate it…

There’s a lot to be thankful for. Now if I could just “fix” this shitty thing going on, that is currently worrying me and occupying my mind… Yeah, deal with it. I am having a mushy day and I feel like spreadin’ dah love… Peace sugahs, Love, and Understanding… and the answer is blowing in the wind… that too… I think…