Category Archives: Quotes

Another Day, Another Gripe

Posted on by
Reply

I’m trying to save our belaboured and very beloved computer from the grabbing, not-gentle hands of my younger child on the keyboard. She keeps pushing whatever magic button it is that turns on the narrator so that every key I touch afterwards sends it into spasms of confusion and opening of windows I didn’t ask to be opened.

So this morning, when I caught her standing on the office chair, banging somewhat gently–simulating typing, I think, I was enchanted. But still, I removed her from the chair and put her in my lap. Her response….

” *screaming* I just want to sit on my bum and check my email.”

Really, it’s just not stuff you expect a 26-month old to say.

The surprise is every day. The wonderment at the level of her ability to communicate. Allen and I are almost tired of exchanging meaningful glances, as we don’t want the older child to feel slighted in our comments regarding her sister.

And sometimes, I just wish for a day where both the 4-year-old and the 2-year-old aren’t burying my sanity with shovelfuls of “why”. Sometimes, I wish the younger would just act like a normally developing two-year-old. Just sometimes.

It’s All About….

Posted on by
1

Me: “So, Kelsey,” pointing to the part in the Dinosaur movie where the mommy dino is hovering over her eggs, all arranged in a dirty pile, “what is going to hatch out of the big dinosaur eggs?”
Kelsey: “Poop babies!”

Crazy In My Head

Posted on by
Reply

When the husband came home today, I almost lunged past him out the door to freedom. But I missed my chance and retreated back to my corner to prepare dinner for my family. It has been a rough week, an emotional one. Allen’s father has been in the hospital, and Allen left town for 5 very long days to visit him, leaving me with the girls. All alone. Just me. I’d been holding out for tonight, knowing that there would SOON be time for me. To go. Just about anywhere. Without THEM. I need a night away.

I love my children. I love my children. This has been my mantra today. But I wasn’t sure I’d stay awake/sane long enough to get the little darlings in bed. Even with Allen’s help. Luckily, he sensed that my tolerance was about on empty, so he took over with the toothbrushing, pajamaing, herding into the bedroom while I changed for the evening and switched around the laundry, thinking of the Fridays of old, when I’d put on a short skirt, platforms, and lipstick, and dance, talk about literature over good wine, party until the wee hours.

I was putting the clothes into the dryer when I glance down at my evening wear in surprise. I barely remember putting on Allen’s Bucs jersey and my tie-dyed blue tropical sarong, but I found it incredibly depressing that THIS is now how I choose to commemorate a Friday evening. When I stood up, my hair caught in a clothes hanger (which had, as fate would have it, one of my favorite party shirts on it). This hanger then got stuck in another garment that was still attached to another hanger on the rod. I was stuck. I couldn’t get my hair out, and the weight of the entanglement and the fact that it was up over my head at an awkward angle didn’t help. I yelped for help, but since the toddlers were doing their own yelping, Allen didn’t hear. So I unhooked the hanger from the rod and brought the entire mess over to Allen. He jumped up to help me just as the tears started flowing down my face. After he got me all unhooked, I shuffled off to the dryer to finish my job, crying and laughing, followed by my brood and husband, all wanting to solace me.

Allen says, “Kelsey, go give your mother a hug,” to which I screeched out, between sobs, “No children. I don’t want hugs. Not right now.” Allen giggled at me and herded the kids out of the room, asking sweetly if I was OK. “I’M BEDRAGGLED!” I scream back, the sobs and laughs coming closer together like some sick choo-choo train, and oh my god even my similes suck now, and I’m racked with giggling fits of hysterical crying. I put my head on the washer and went with the moment as Allen made a hasty retreat.

After I had pulled myself together, I stood in the doorway to the girls’ room, watching Allen as he got our younger child ready for bed. The older (3) ran over to me, saying, “Mommy, is your head OK? Are you crazy in your head? I love you, Mommy. You’re OK now.”

“A hedge between keeps friendship green”

Posted on by
Reply

I happened upon the above German proverb today, and it got me to thinking, which is what proverbs SHOULD do. So I pose this question to the void: What is the cost of interfering in the socio-political evolution of foreign countries? Where do philanthropy and charity end and dalliance in the natural evolution of a culture begin?

Regarding Iraq, some would say the U.S. should feel compelled to keep throwing money and resources at countries like Iraq because it is humanitarian to do so. After all, there are millions suffering under regimes that are, historically, not terribly concerned with the suffering of their people. And many would say it is our duty, as enlightened, FREE citizens of this world to help those in suffering. Still others claim that pushing Iraq toward democracy and a free-market economy is in the best interests of modernity. Iraq would be a powerful ally in a region where the U.S. could use a powerful ally, not to mention access to some of Iraq’s natural resources.

And there are those who worry that investing too many of our dollars and the blood of our soldiers and people to promote a political agenda that most of Iraq doesn’t seem to want is folly. Are the people of Iraq ready to govern themselves?

Is democracy the natural evolution of a political system toward its ideal? Western society seems to think so, as evidenced by its actions to spread democracy. There is, of course, no true answer to this question. Just opinions thrown into the dialectic. The truth is, before the Industrial Revolution in Europe, poverty, human suffering, inhumane regimes… these were perfectly natural and the way of the western world. Looking back, Europe was ruled by barbarism, governed by monarchies, and attacked by neighboring factions/regimes. Sound familiar?

I’m a proponent of the hedge. No, I don’t wish for humans to suffer anywhere, of course. But I think perhaps we should help those countries that ask for help, not by just giving handouts, but through sharing technologies, making educational opportunities possible, and respecting the autonomies of our respective cultural and philosophical tenets. I propose a nice big hedge, but one with a gate that opens in between, with locks on both sides to ensure each country space to grow and keep the butting-innedness to a minimum.