homecoming...

so, i feel bad if you were lured by my title hoping to read about adventures of knit ties, wrist corsage's and slow dancing to "you're the inspiration"... because that's not the kind of homecoming i'm talking about.

forgive me for the unintentional bait and switch.

the homecoming, of which i refer, and which i celebrate has nothing to do with returning to campus, or visiting your old college bar haunts, or trying to figure out how to gently break it to your former college friends that as adults, you absolutely have nothing in common and could care less about how many steps keegan took last week....THIS is the homecoming of a son, a father, a husband, a friend and a brother...my brother....who has been serving in iraq and in ten days...he comes home.

jeff, my older and only sibling, is a JAG (judge advocate general) or lawyer for the united states air force. his job is to serve the legal needs of the military community on whichever base he is assigned to for a three year time period. his position has taken him and his family from chicago to england to oklahoma and texas. in his most recent assignment, jeff has been given a different opportunity. as the top litigator of his graduating military law class nine years ago, he was given the chance to return to the air force JAG school and teach military law to up and coming JAG's at maxwell air force base in montgomery, alabama. (kind of like top gun for those of you with a pop culture tooth) jeff, being charismatic, passionate and witty has been an excellent teacher and has razzle-dazzled his students for the last year and a half as he and his family have learned to adjust to the slow, laid-back pace of america's civil rights capitol. however, eight months ago we were shocked to hear that his "number had come up" to deploy to iraq for the war efforts. though in active military duty, we wondered what in his law school training qualified him to serve our country in the middle east.

for the last six months, he has been representing our country in its efforts to stabilize iraq. his job has been to work with other legal personel, as well as iraqi judges and lawyers and teach them how to try cases democratically...taking part in creating history, you could say. for six months we've called, e-mailed, worried, cried, supported, encouraged and prayed for him and his family as he has served in baghdad, the most dangerous place in the world, separated from his wife of fifteen years and their five young children.

as his only sibiling, i've documented all of his advenutres and filed away all his e-mails and have kept a visual reminder of each day he has been gone, counting down the days until his return.

the calendar today indicates that in TEN DAYS HE COMES HOME.

i raise my glass to all the troops that have served in this war effort... but to my brother, major jeffrey g. palomino of the united states air force, i'm proud of you, i love you and i can't wait to see you again.

old dogs & new tricks...

so, tonight while we enjoyed $5 footlongs at subway, after walking reed's lake, my friends katie and "katie's friend" trisha and i were talking about life and its sweet and savory moments. i pulled out my wallet to show them some pictures of the nieces and nephews, the parents, friends AND accidently a picture of an old flame that was hidden in the back.

katie, who i have been friends with for a few years, and who knows my story and the handful of tragically terse and unsuccessful romances i have had, boldly commented that it was time for me to get rid of that picture AND my comforting thoughts of the old flame, especially considering i was left broken-hearted and a wreck when it ended, and move on. "katie's friend" trisha then said, "yeah, it seems like you have a pattern of falling for the wrong people."

now don't get me wrong, you may think that i need to find some more supportive and optimistic friends. not true. i believe katie AND "katie's friend" trisha, though i've only known her for 30 seconds, genuinely care about me and with whom i share my heart. THIS is why their words, especially "katie's friend" trisha, who i've only spoken with a few times, could so clearly and accurately point out my tragic habit of looking for love in all the wrong places.

i DO keep looking for love in all the wrong places. the thing is, i'm not really looking when it happens to stumble into my life. which is why out of nowhere i'm smitten, taken, "in love" so quickly with a new, charming and amazing somebody. this becomes a problem because as i become so consumed with the possibility of a budding romance or the thought that "this could be the one," i frequently find myself in over my head, thinking the relationship is more than it is and finding myself carelessly ready to commit to someone who may not even be interested in anything more than a cup of coffee and some random and quirky conversation.

the process of percieving your own situation accurately is ridiculously and painfully difficult. in the sociology class i teach we study that often times we don't recognize our own behaviors in our every day life. usually it takes someone else to point them out. well for me, others have been pointing out my inability to do what's best for me when it comes to intimate relationships for a long time. why is it so hard to see? maybe because we don't want to appear selfish or we don't want anyone to actually seeing us being vulnerable...and to admit such may be just that.

the moral of this story is that at times i feel like an old dog who is incapable of learning new tricks. in other words, i'm doomed, destined for lonliness and devastation because i can't get this intimacy thing right. then at times i feel like an old dog who simply hasn't tried any new tricks because she's afraid of the unknown... and healthy or not, remains stuck in the "comfort" of her old tricks.

yeah, that's the kind of dog i am.

more to come...

palomino's anatomy...

oringinal posting, march 31, 2008

so, it turns out i’m not allergic to lettuce...or onions...or bbq sauce, three items which have been suspect over the last year. but rather my gall bladder was filled with golf ball size stones which were preventing me from digesting food like the average bear.

for the last year or so i regularly have had a hard time digesting food. as a result, after eating anything, not just the three honorable mentions, but anything, hours later it would still be sitting in my stomach sending me on regular trips to the bathroom to vomit out my dinnertime remains.

finally, one night as i tried to fall asleep i tossed around for three hours or so with an uncomfortable feeling in my stomach as if i had swallowed a hammer. after diagnosing myself with pancreatitis, or an inflamation of the pancreas, (thanks webMD) and reading the words LIFE THREATENING, i decided to drive myself to the emergency room. so i hopped in the car and made my way to the hospital.

(i remember listening to "prince" on the way there and thinking, ’do you really want prince to be remembered as your going to the emergency room soundtrack?’)

three hours later they, hot doctor number one and not-so-hot doctor number two, said, "your blood work indicates that your levels are four hundred times what they should be...you’re very sick....we’re admitting you to the hospital."

five days later....

i came home gall stone-free, pancreatitis-free, gall bladder-free, pain-free and pride-free (after wearing that risque gown around the whole time). as a result...a shout out to my peeps at spectrum’s blodgett campus in east grand rapids. dr. lovell, dr. mohr, dr. chang, dr. elliott and HOT dr. taylor... it’s amazing how one’s quality of life improves, and the frequency of vomiting, once a diseased organ is removed from the body.

alas, the moral of my medical story ...BBQ SAUCE IS STILL GOOD.

so...

original posting, march 7, 2008

...i think i'm allergic to lettuce.

my horoscope...

so today i was reading "the onion." if you're not familiar with "the onion" you need to be. theonion.com

it's a weekly source of news, mostly made-up, and ridiculous from the genious minds of people like me.

my horoscope, scorpio, for those of you keeping score at home, for the week was...
"losing your job to a machine is never easy, but being replaced by the common office stapler will prove especially difficult."

news like this is especially hard when you're not expecting it. monster.com here i come....

random...

so the other day i had breakfast with my friend jason. the food was good, the conversation even better and all in all, a very pleasant, yet uneventful saturday greasy breakfast morning.

as we were leaving, we stood chit-chatting in the parking lot before we both got into our respective cars and drove off into the sunset.

as we stood there, two of my high school students that i know drove by us in the parking lot. as they realized who it was standing there, they backed-up their car right by us and rolled down the window and waved and screamed at us like crazy people. then they drove away.

moments later, while still talking in the parking lot, the same car had merely circled around the restaurant and drove by us again. this time as they passed by, they rolled the window down just enough to squeeze a fist out and toss a dented empy moutain dew can at us. then they drove away.

as we said our goodbyes, i realized the same car was coming at us YET again. this time as i attempted to throw the can back at their car, they rolled the window down just slightly again... and the next thing i knew, a brand new, completely packaged colgate toothbrush was being hurled at us.

then they left the parking lot and drove off down the street.

more to come...