Remember where I said yesterday sucked??
Well, today wasn’t a
lot better.
We had strong thunderstorms again last
night. A photo of my neighborhood streets could be captioned: When Pine Trees
Explode.
According to the local news website 39,000
Atlantans were still without power this morning due to the strong storms
yesterday.
Alesia went out to catch the bus today and
there was nobody there, which was strange. She came back home. I dropped off
Michael then took her to school and the power was out at her school. Her
counselor, standing outside, came over the car to talk. She said all the kids
who showed up were being taken to the middle school to sit on the gym floor.
Alesia said “Mom!
I don’t
want to do that!” I
looked at the counselor. “Do I have to take her over there?” The counselor gave me a
meaningful look. “A lot
of the parents are choosing to take the kids home, and try again tomorrow,” she said quietly.
I took Alesia back home. I couldn’t see making her sit on a gym
floor all day. She spent most of the day yesterday sitting in a dark classroom,
not doing anything, bored senseless. They are saying the power may not be fully
restored until tomorrow.
So I was taking her home and I had to use
the bathroom. Why I didn’t get out and run in the house and go, I don’t know. I was already late to
work. I didn’t,
though. I got on the interstate. Then I had to go worse. It was the longest
commute ever. Then I got to work and couldn’t find my badge and had to sign in, which takes a
minute. I then race-walked to the closest bathroom.
This didn’t help. When I was taking her to school, Alesia said
the French kings [she’s studying the French Revolution in World History]
had elaborate feasts and wouldn’t let anybody leave the table at meals unless they
got up first. One man died from an exploded bladder. I kept thinking of that
when I was in traffic this morning. Aaargh….
I went home from work, got turned around on
the access road, and it ended up taking me over an hour to get home.
I got home, and put everyone
in the car, so we could run Mother up to the shop for a haircut and Mike and
Alesia could do some shopping at Best Buy with their Easter gift cards. As we
passed Michael’s school he said “Oh crap! I’m supposed to be there! So are you
Mom!”
“WHY are we supposed to be
there?” I asked calmly, I thought.
“Everyone is doing that folk
dancing thing.” He replied.
“Uh, the time to remind me
of that is not as we’re passing the school son. Guess you’re going to miss
it.,” I said, thinking of how impossible it is to park near the school. I
looked in the rearview at his face, hoping he wasn’t too upset.
He shrugged. “That’s OK. I
didn’t want to do it anyway. I couldn’t do all the hand movements, and it was
embarrassing.”
Mother gave me a look. To my
surprise, she then remarked, “Well, if he had wanted to do it he would’ve
remembered. I do remember seeing something come home about it, though.”
I remembered it too, when
she said that. I also remembered showing it to Mike and asking him if he wanted
to folk dance, and his response being NO!
I was forced to folk dance
as a child, and I won’t make my child do that. No, as God is my witness, we
won’t ever folk dance again…
MILESTONE
This is the 1,000th post I have
done here. Amazing. It blows my mind. My first post was on March 5, 2005. The
blog was then private, and called A Record of the New Normal. Here was the
first post:
This is my new weblog. How exciting to
finally be in the 21st century! Thanks to my computer friend Paul for suggesting
I use Typad. Now I can finally keep in touch with all my friends and y'all can
see my blog daily. You can keep up with Alesia, too, since she is an integral
part of my life now.
Funny thing is, I remember sitting in my
condo and typing that! I had been keeping a computerized journal for several
years. Friends and relatives would email me often and ask how Alesia was doing
[she came home December 4, 2004] and I got tired of typing the same things over
and over. Referring people to my blog was just easier.
GIVEAWAY!! As a commemoration of my blogging milestone, I am
giving away a copy of the anthology Call Me Okaasan, which has many
wonderful essays in it, including mine [wink wink, nudge nudge.] If you want a
copy of the book, please reply in the comments section here before midnight EST
on Thursday. Tell me in the comment your connection to adoption [if there is
none, you just like the Crab Chronicles for no special reason, that’s fine,
too.] I will draw a winner and mail you a free copy.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ve been trying to think of another way to commemorate
this milestone.
I ran across this poem and it really spoke
to me, and I thought it was a great way to sort of commemorate this post. I don’t ever put poems on here [except
a couple of my own amateurish efforts] but this one is a gem. It makes me want
to read and re-read it, because it somehow gives me strength and hope.
Comes the Dawn
By Veronica A. Shoffstall
After a while you learn the subtle difference
Between holding a hand and chaining a soul.
And you learn that love doesn't mean leaning
And company doesn't mean security,
And you begin to understand that kisses aren't contracts
And presents aren't promises,
And you begin to accept your defeats with your head held high and eyes opened,
With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child.
You learn to build your roads on today
Because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for plans,
And futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.
After a while you learn that even sunshine burns if you get too much,
So you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul,
Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers,
And you learn that you really can endure,
That you really are strong.
And you really do have worth.
And you learn and learn...
With every goodbye comes the dawn.
[Note: several other versions I found of this listed the last line as “With every goodbye you learn.” – I like the one above better..]
Here's Alesia, in a photo made about April 2005. She still looked like a little girl...
