Woo hoo! That’s a good one! Just because I’m not going to use this post to whine doesn’t mean I’ve got no complaints. I promise you though – I won’t go there today. Today I want to cheer myself up as much as anything. I do this with full knowledge of the consequences: this will be a boring post. Ask the news director at your local television station. Misery, desperation and destruction sells! You show me a local news program that leads with a story about a local kid’s puppy finding his way home to Kansas, after being dog-napped in [...]
Beth
A warming world
We were leaving the YMCA last night and I asked Beth how her first day of volunteering went. “Great!” she said. “Why did you decide to volunteer here?” I asked, thinking of yesterday’s post. “I wanted to give something back to the community and this was the first place I thought of since we come all the time.” My heart swelled. Later, she asked me an interesting question. “Why is it significant the Earth doesn’t cool very much at night?” “Well, think about it,” I said. “Why do they call CO2 a greenhouse gas?” “I get it. The Earth has [...]
Firsts
Today is the first day of school. Adam and Beth got out the uniforms this morning for the first time in almost three months, and started a new chapter in their lives. For Adam, it’s first grade. These days the jump from kindergarten to first grade isn’t much different from first to second. The era of standardized testing and school “accountability” has leached most of the fun from learning, as schools standardize curriculums, and reduce every moment between bells to drill English and math into childrens’ heads with the subtlety of a jack-hammer. It’s why Adam is in private school, [...]
Kids grow
Yesterday was Beth’s last day of school. It also marked Beth’s last day of middle school. This little girl… Will start high school this fall. Our resident young-adult pulled straight As for the year again, not that I’m bragging, of course. Think of it more as a statement of fact that doesn’t reflect poorly on the author or the subject.
I’ve got Santa on my mind
First of all I want to say, with all the humility and grace I can muster, we are WAY cooler than you are. We got a box filled with A TON of chocolate from Germany today. – Insert insane jealousy here – Sorry, I had to get that out of my system. I’ve got the mother of all sugar highs going. The kids are only sleeping because they rocketed right past sugar high to sugar coma. The issue of Santa came up today, or this evening I should say. Today I was embroiled in the mother of all court days. [...]
The kids
What can I say? Both my kids continue their run of academic stardom. It feels like a source of (partial) absolution for my personal failings, seeing my DNA has some value. Beth continues to excel, outpacing all the other kids in her class. I just wish it brought her peace. While it was an asset when she was the oldest kid last year (her small school has mixed grade classrooms), there’s a different dynamic being the youngest. She still finishes before everyone else, and she still wants to help the other students who are having trouble. However, unlike the younger [...]
‘Twas the night before today
The house is getting its first showing this morning, and I feel like a thirty-nine year old man going out on his first date. We got an email from our realtor yesterday evening saying he’d received a query from another realtor, asking to show the house this morning at 9 a.m. No problem, right? A nibble from someone this soon, in this market, is something. Oh, did I mention it’s the middle of the night? Did I mention I’ve had a sinus headache for the better part of the last twenty-four hours? Did I mention Beth just got sick… all [...]
Looking up
Everyone knows life has its ups and downs. Well, except for some folks who aren’t right somehow. Perpetual happiness isn’t normal. I think it’s a little creepy. But look at me, talking about right minds. Aren’t I just adorable? I’ve been down. Hell, I’ve been riding the trench so long I can barely remember what the plateau looks like. Does the grass grow lush and green up there? Maybe it’s not so great after all. I really don’t like yard work. Tonight’s an up night. The weather has cooled. It’s not much, but enough to notice a difference. It’s enough [...]
Interpreting Beth
Many of you know Beth has high functioning autism. Some of you know Beth. A few of you are familiar with Beth’s low tolerance for discomfort of any kind, and the hypochondria that accompanies it.More than once we’ve played the town’s folk as Beth cried wolf, only to find later the wolf was real – and caught up to her. When she was a newborn/toddler her way too frequent complaints turned out to be urinary tract infections brought about my a birth defect requiring surgery – and removal of half a kidney. As she got older, the constant stomach pains [...]
