He's OK

I am full of joy tonite. A pepeated topic this week. My boy (K3) is OK. But today was big (and little) in a few ways.

I got a call around 12:30 at work today from K1, "I have to leave work right now to take K3 to the emergency room"

WHAT?

The school nurse called and he was "CUT" at school.

WHAT?

And WHY were you called instead of me (not that he isn't fully capable of handling ANY emergency but for CHRIST'S SAKE, I am the emergency contact on every piece of paper ever filled in for this child)?

Well...the school nurse called and said he wanted ME to pick him up to take im to the hospital.

OK.

So...later...much later and several phone calls later...I learn that a classmate inadvertantly cut him with a pair of scissors (did any pair of scissors YOU ever used in middle school ever cut ANYTHING?!) and he has a cut on his hand that probably requires stitches...

OK...a few calls more and it's not stiches but glue he needs and I'm feeling better. Kind of. I'm still wondering WHY he wanted to call his Dad and not me to take care of him. I found out tonight - thankfully with a nice bottle of wine - that he was worried about ME. He did not want ME to be upset. He did not want to see me CRY.

OH CHRIST.

I AM an emotional mother, there's no doubt of that. And my boy is growing into a wonderfully responsible and thoughtful young man. BUT I AM HIS MOTHER and I SHOULD TAKE CARE OF HIM. ANd I don't want him to worry that I am not able to take care of emergencies without tears.

I feel like I need a good cry...he's growing up. Very nicely, thank you.

SNOW DAY!

Yes - it's October 29th and we have our first snow day of the season. Schools are closed throughout our region. Joy indeed!

Naturally, the kids are beside themselves with excitement and have already been outside x-c skiing (sort of, since it's a really wet clumpy snow) and snow shoe-ing. This afternoon we'll attempt a snowman, or maybe a snow PUMPKIN!

Jeesh, we haven't even had Halloween yet, let alone Thanksgiving and already K4 is asking "when are we getting our Christmas tree?"...I don't have the heart to tell them that if the snow days keep coming at this pace, they'll be going to school in July...

JOY

Next week is the week I participate in the 5x5 project and I am excited! I have always loved photography and almost always felt that I don't use my camera nearly enough.

I've also always known that I am blessed beyond belief and that my world is full of amazing and beautiful people, places and things that bring me great joy. I am looking forward to documenting some of those thing in this project.

Now seems a particularly good time to focus on the things that bring me joy and happiness since my company laid of about 25% of our employees this week. Times are tough and I see no relief in sight. And while I'm thankful that I am still employed, I am afraid for my friends who were let go. They are amazingly talented people and will be OK I'm sure...but what an awful time to be seeking employment. I also admit I am afraid for what the future holds for my company.

So in the week ahead and on I will focus on the good. Focus on the joy and try to share that with as many as I can. To have joy one must share it.(Lord Byron)

Thank You

Thank you Lord, for letting Finn go home yesterday. Thank you for the healing hands that touched him and for his mother's extraordinary strength, patience and humour in staying by his side all that time and never uttering one word of discontent (other than "well I guess we'll have to get him a set of his own Marvel Dinosaurs since he loves the one in the hospital play room SO much!"). He is home now and hopefully fully on his way to total health once again!

Thank you for the glorious fall day yesterday. Both K3 & K4 had fun planned with friends and that always makes their weekend more complete. K4 went to a birthday party (having received her invitation at 7:00pm the night before (WTF?) and happily we were able to find JUST what she wanted to give her friend in a local store the morning of and she happily reported "It was S's FAVORITE present of them all! She had to play with them right away!"

Thank you for letting us (me) find K3's cell phone... Yeah, here's a good one...after his football fun with his friends went to another house to jump on their trampoline. Apparently they decided it would be cool to put K3's cell phone on the tramp and see how high they could bounce it. Well, let me tell you...they bounce high and fly far!

When I arrived two of the five were searching on hands and knees in the grass (the other three - including the instigator - were still happily bouncing) and K3 reluctantly explained the situation. I helped them search (yes, he had the ringer on "vibrate" to add extra challenge to the search) for about 20 minutes and was about to give up, get in the car and write his phone off as lost. Instead, I marched to the trampoline and told the other three to evacuate and help with the search until we phone the phone since they were all involved in it's disappearance. Finally, after about another 20 minutes of crawling I did find the phone - it had flown over 20 feet in the air, over a split rail fence and landed in a brushy, abandoned garden area. It was undamaged and I do believe a lesson or two was learned.

Thank you for good company. Our fine friend J is here with us for another week and not only is he lots of fun to have around, he is a perfect guest (by my estimation) in that he doesn't mind that my house is not always - in fact, not often - immaculate, he eats what's put on the table and he shares with me his stories of when his children were the same ages as ours and gives proof that all can survive!

For these things and many more, I say Thank You.

I could cry

I am so so sad on several levels tonite...just heard my sweet nephew (gosling) is in hospital with double pneumonia! Poor little bug and his Mama to boot. I can not imagine anything worse than to have your child at the mercy of the medicines and machines and the mysteries of today's hopitals. I can imagine the fear that may be cycling through them tonight in a bed that is neither familiar nor comfortable, a room that is cold and noisy. I pray that the Drs and Nurses are knowledgeable and caring and that God is looking over their shoulders and guiding their decisions and their hands. Get better soon little gosling.

I'm also sad because tonight I had the extreme displeasure (can I turn this in to a positive experience? - Dear God, I'm trying) of helping K3 with yet another "long term project" whose deadline is tomorrow...Dear Lord help me find a way to help this child when he needs it, when, despite all urging, he needs to do the project at the last minute. I kep telling myself that sixth graders are not born with excellent or even adequate time or project management skills and that for (probably) years to come we will be faced with the debts of a procrastinator.

I wish I could close the gap between the skills I have learned and those he needs. I wish I could be and feel more helpful, even in the face of his ranting "YOU'RE NOT HELPING ME!!!" (translation: "why won't you just tell me what to write?"). I wish we could find a common language to help each other in these homework crisis situations.

Any and all advice from the world is welcome.

Copy cat

I am taking inspiration - once again - from my lovelly sister. I saw a link on her blog to the 5x5 project and curious as I am...had to check it out. It's a cool and creative project where the creator has "named" several projects and is soliciting contributors.

I've volunteered to participate in the project called "Joy". I am particularly grateful for finding this opportunity to express...and am looking forward to seeing, finding and sharing the things that bring me JOY.

Though I know I am full of it (YES...JOY!)...sometimes I really feel connected to "not seeing the forest for the trees" so again...gratitude. And joy!

Re-learning

So I had to drag my fanny the past two days because I really procrastinated this week. I've made a fitness challenge with my beloved sista (Mama Goose) to exercise at least 20 minutes three time a week between now and Thanksgiving. Each of us would like to loose some weight since we're getting together with the FAMILY for the holiday, which is alsways a great incentive.

Unfortunately I really dragged my feet this week and therefore had to drag my @$$ this weekend to get my three days in. But I did. I've learned my lesson and also learned that what I try to teach my kids (K3, the sixth grader notified me on Friday of some "special" supplies he needed for a science project that is due on Monday - yeah, THIS Monday!) I must model myself.

Sigh...for some of us the lessons have to be learned, and learned, and re-learned. What's up with that?

Trying too hard?

OK - so I guess I've figured out I'm trying to hard to be creative. I have wanted something marvelous to just spring to mind for me to post and it just ain't happening, so I'll focus for a while on consistency instead of creativity.

For many years I've attempted to journal consistently and have never succeeded for more than a few months at a time. Sometimes it's the little things that mean the most, right. So I'll be trying to examine the everyday little things that happen in my world and just note them. Here's a good place.

Here IS a good place. I live in one of the most beautiful places on earth, the Adirondacks and this is truly the most beautiful time of the year here. It was just this past week that our foliage "peaked" and it was brilliant indeed. But overnight, the brilliant reds and flame oranges and golden yellows faded to a more muted beauty. It's all so fleeting. I have to discipline myself to see it and to enjoy it and to record it now.