Home Alone

This week's topic is to use bullet points.   No theme, other than to use bullet points.  So here we go!

• Bob has been gone for 10 days
• Kids are sick
• Soccer schedules are changed and now everything is at the same time
• I can't be 3 places at one time
• I can't get everyone to where they need to go
• No one is going to school... did I mention kids are all sick?
• Coaches are yelling at me because I don't have everything done
• Dropped the ball on Teacher Appreciation stuff
• I haven't knit in 3 days... I'm too tired by the time I have a minute to sit down
• Friends say, come with us and play, I say ok.  Oh, no I can't.  Another kid is sick and can't go to school.
• I need a break.  I need to get away from everyone.  I need someone to pick up the socks, do the dishes, put the trash cans out, bring the trash can in.
• Library books are over due
• Research papers aren't done, book reports need to be finished, earth day projects sit half completed
• I can't go to the gym... because the kids aren't going to school
• Bob just told me he has to stay longer.  I'm not entirely sure, but I may or may not have had a cosmic meltdown.  I can't remember
• I bought pomegranate wine.  It had juice in it.  That's ok for breakfast.

It is more than we were supposed to use, but I think Froggie will be ok.  Because right now, knitting isn't making everything better.

The other ladies have bullet points too... theirs are not as whiny.  But they haven't been home alone with 3 sick kids...  I'm not bitter... anyway, check them out at: Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl

The First Times

This week's topic is about Disney and our first visit to the Magic Kingdom. 

Growing up in California, I went to Disneyland.  Being the 5th child, I went when I was very young.  I do not really remember my first visit.  Trips to Disneyland are all one big mash-up of all the trips we took.

I remember my Dad planning out our day with military like precision.  Determining how many tickets we would have and who would get to go on what rides.  See, when I first started going to Disney, you purchased packs of tickets.  The Matterhorn was a E ticket and you got very few of E tickets in the booklets, so they were rationed out.  I was not allowed to go on the Matterhorn until my older brothers and sisters were no longer with us. 

I also remember when they switched from the tickets to an all inclusive fee.  It was met with a certain level of disdain in our household.  But, it also met unlimited rides on the Matterhorn.  I was thrilled.

My favorite ride was not the Matterhorn.  It was Small World.  I loved that ride and would beg to go on it more than once.  I was captivated by all the different sparkly puppets in this ride.  I wanted it to go slower so I could see everything.  I would beg to go at least twice so I could look at the right side for one ride and the left on the next.  That way, I surmised, I would be able to see everything.  I remember trading my E ticket for another ride on Small World.  My mom liked it because the line was never long and it was a slow ride that allowed you to sit down.

When I was in High School, our graduation party was at Disney.  My BFF and I rode Small World a bunch of times.  The party was an all-nighter and Small World let us rest from the tiring party.

We saw shows.  We met characters.  We rode all the rides, including Space Mountain.  My younger brother cried like a baby on Space Mountain.  But, I will always remember the rationing of the tickets and Small World.

We would usually go for just one day.  Driving home after being at the park all day.  I remember getting into the car, exhausted, feet sore and ready to rest until we got home.  Waking only once the car stopped at the stop sign at the top of the on ramp.

The other ladies shared their first experiences too.  Check them out at: Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl

Small World

This week's topic is to talk about a small world situation that happened to you personally. (If you're really stuck for one, then talk about one that happened to someone in your family.)

I'm not going to talk to the small world coincidences surrounding meeting Froggie... trust me, there were so many of them we were destined to have our paths cross and become friends.  I am going to talk about last Saturday.

Last weekend, Mac had his first session with TopSoccer.  TopSoccer is a soccer club for disabled kids.  Mac is a volunteer coach/buddy for the program.  He is doing it for his service requirement for his Bar Mitzvah.  He was VERY nervous on the first day.  His shoulders were tight up around his ears.  You see the tension in his eyes.  He was stressed.  I was very concerned that he would have an anxiety attack. 

As I was getting ready to walk out and leave him, in walked our across the street neighbor, W.  It was like the sky opened, angels sang and all was right with the world.  The tension melted from his body and he was suddenly much less concerned.  W didn't hang with him the whole time, but he hung with Mac long enough for Mac to get settled and then he brought Mac home for me.  It was a huge to have his help.

The irony of the whole thing is that W is not a big soccer guy.  This volunteer opportunity was pretty far away from our house.  It was not a place where we would have expected to run into someone we knew, especially someone outside of the soccer world.

These things have started to happen to us more and more.  We are starting to run into people we know when we are out and about.  It means that we are started to be settled into our lives here in Illinois.  It is a nice thing to finally a part of things around here.

The other ladies have had that small world feeling. Check them out at: Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl

Finally I get the last word

This week's topic, is about the last word.   My father always told me sometimes the best last word is silence.  There have been many times that I have not followed that rule.  But, having spent the last couple of years dealing with my brother's ex, I have learned that silence is very powerful.  I wasn't totally silent in this situation, but I also didn't argue.

I recently confronted a "friend" on why she was continually blowing me off.  I was frustrated with her and I had decided that I wanted closure from the relationship.  I had not spoken to her in a long time and at the end of the day, I didn't miss her. 

We did not have much in common.  She was organic and Whole Foods, and I was goodwill and coupons.  Her kids were younger than mine.  I was done with babies and she had just had one.  She was hipster environmental, and I was crazy-eyed, hanging on by a thread, over scheduled mom. 

Her oldest was Hannah's age.  He had some disabilities.  Not the easy to see disabilities but the ones that cause your kid to act out and make you not popular on the play ground.  I have a kid like that.  He was much older.  In some sense I think that was the basis of our relationship.  I had been there and I knew what she was going through.  In the wild of it all, seeing a person who knows what it is like to have a kid that isn't sweet and nice all the time bonds you together.   It is like an oasis in the storm.

So, based on this, I really didn't have much to loose, so I asked the question.  In her response she said that I was too confrontational and righteous and she didn't want to be friends with me.  The irony of this is that I probably didn't filter myself as much as I should have because she told me she liked people that were really direct.  At the end of the day she told me she didn't value our relationship anymore either.

But, her response was brilliant, because if I respond at all to it, I am being righteous and confrontational, hence proving her point.  So, I did not argue but asked for specifics of why she felt that way.  It was more for my own edification than anything else, she never responded.

What I would like to say to her now is:

Hey, you know what you did and what you said was mean and hurtful.  It is totally ok for you to feel the way you do about what ever it was that I did, but to not provide specifics about it... well, that is sort of jerkish.

I fully accept that I am confrontational.  I am not afraid to take a stand and then fight for what I believe in.  Some folks are cool with that and some aren't.  But at the end of the day, it is who I am.  I am a lot of things, wishy-washy is not one of them.  If I were to make an accusation like you did, I would full stand by it and provide specifics.  Guess that just goes to show the difference in our personal ethics. 

I think your behavior is also righteous, and exemplified in your email to me by the statement:  "I don't like to change people."  That is a pretty righteous statement.  Offering feedback to someone you like and respect is just that, feedback.  You no sooner have the power to change me than fly to the moon of your own will.  But it is respectful and kind to offer feedback.

Peace out sister... good luck.

Wanna hear the last word from the other ladies? Check them out at: Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl

Fortune

The topic this week is about fortune cookies.  Cookies... yum.  Since it is Passover, and eating cookies isn't an option, all I can think about is eating a cookie.  But, I digress, here is the exact topic:

This week is about fortune cookie fortunes. Do you have a fortune cookie fortune that came true? One you wish would come true? Do you think they are silly? Share your thoughts!
 

The story I always heard about fortune cookies was that they were created in a Chinese restaurant in Los Angeles when the owner was looking for a way to keep his customers occupied while they waited for their food.  The cookies offered conversation starters.  I tried to find this story on the Internet, and I couldn't, so I am pretty sure my grandfather made it up, but it is a nice story.

For a long time, I had a fortune taped to my computer screen.  It said something to effect that everything was going to be ok.  At some point I changed monitors and I lost the fortune.  But, I believe that everything is going to be ok.  No matter what happens in my life, it will be ok.

I think fortune cookies are just what the story says, conversation pieces.  They can provide you comfort when you hit on one that resonates.  While I do not think that individual cookies can predict the future, I do believe that anything that provides comfort is valid.  It would be awesome if cookies could provide a glimpse into the future.  I do imagine that if they could we would buy a lot more of them.

Why does knowing the future weigh so heavily on our minds?  I think it is based in the uncertainty of life.  The fact that just when it seems that everything is going in one direction something happens that dramatically changes out course of action.  I think we like to cling to anything that might give us clue to the future.   But, at the end of the day, all you can do is recognize the patterns and try and listen to your gut, and accept that all we can control is our actions and reactions.

Want to see what the other ladies have to say?  Check them out at: Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl