Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

October 11, 2008


I kissed the kids tonight at bedtime, telling them that I wouldn’t see them again until Sunday. Belly, my oldest, burst into loud, over-the-top tears. “Please don’t go Mommy!!!! WHY must you go!?!?!?“.

My youngest, D, looked at me with big, watery eyes and said, “Mommy, you stay here with me!“

I went over to Jilly, my middle child who was playing with a doll in her bed.

“Jilly, are you going to miss me while I’m gone?” I asked as I nuzzled her neck.

“No.”

“Not even a little bit?”, I teased.

“Nope. . .ok, maybe a little bit”, she offered, completely matter-of-fact.

But. . .then a little smile escaped her lips, and she threw her arms around my neck.

No drama, just sweetness.

(And, of course, no sooner do I write this than they ALL fall to pieces. Exhausted, over-emotional, weepy pieces. At least, now, I’m ready to escape for 24 hours).

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Filed Under: Fairly Odd Kids, Fairly Odd Me 10 Comments

Rules, Schmules, or How To Be Crafty at Four

October 7, 2008


I finally convinced my socially awkward son, D, to attend Sunday School so that he could come to church with the girls and I. I teach grades 1-3, but need him to go into the Pre-K/K class so that he doesn’t bother me during my class.

He was scared to go, but I knew his sister would be in class with him to hold his hand, and, c’mon. . .we’re Unitarian Universalists! It’s not like anyone is going to tell him he’s going to go to hell or anything!

During that first class, it’s typical to come up with a set of “Class Rules”—things like, “Don’t Speak if Someone Else is Speaking” and “No Pushing”. Apparently, in his class, the teachers went around the room and asked each child to contribute a rule.

D’s rule? “NO D TALKING“, which translates to mean, “I do not speak in public to anyone I don’t know very well, especially if my Mommy is not by my side, so do not ask me to answer any more questions or contribute in any way to this little class of yours”.

This sounded exactly right for him, and I was impressed he had even articulated that much in public.

This past week, I approached one of the teachers and asked her how D was doing in class, especially given that he will not speak.

She looked at my incredulously. “Will NOT speak? He doesn’t shut up! He talks the entire time!”

“But, the rule he made up!?!?!“

“Yeah, we think he made that rule just so he could break it.“

Ahhhh, my little rule breaker. I can tell I’m in for a ride with this one.

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Filed Under: Fairly Odd Kids 6 Comments

Paying Off The US Debt: Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Texas…

October 6, 2008


I have a sharp-tongued friend who once worked at a Collection Agency straight out of college, a job that suited her well. I remember her telling us of her phone calls; she’d go after these people without mercy: “You’d better get your ass off that couch because we’re coming for it!” and “Take the Christmas gifts out of the trunk ‘cuz that car is ours now!“. Those were classics to our 20-year-old ears.

They don’t seem so funny anymore, maybe now that I’m just too keenly aware of how easy it is to slip under. I’m not talking about going spending crazy with a credit card; I’m talking about losing a job, getting behind on bills and then just slowly. sinking. under. I have a lot more empathy at 41 than I did at 22.

So lately, I’ve thought a lot about those phone calls, especially with all the crap that is going on in the financial world. Our debt is now up to 10 trillion dollars, and we owe huge sums of money (about 25% of the total) to foreign countries like China and Japan.

I will be the first to admit that I don’t know all that much about how this “debt ownership” works, but what if China decides they want that debt paid off now? We clearly aren’t in a position to pay anything off, so what then?

The other night I lay in bed and wondered what China might demand. Texas? California? New York? Or, maybe they’ll just take Microsoft and call it a day. I’ll even throw in McDonald’s and one almost-past President/VP team for good measure.

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Filed Under: The Outside World 4 Comments
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