Catch the Baton

I'm waiting for my youngest son to finish getting ready so that we can go eat breakfast. Every two weeks or so, Dan and I have a breakfast date. It's pretty cool that he actually still wants to do this, and he even picks up the check every once in awhile. We have a good time, and even talk about "important" things sometimes. Within a year or so, he'll be making more money than me, so I hope we can continue this tradition of breakfasts out after he's out of school. By then, he'll be carrying a briefcase and looking so very-business-like and grown up, making his own way, like young men have been doing since the beginning.

In 30 years, or so he'll grow nostalgic for "home", and drive past the old home place, telling his wife and children, "That's where I used to live. There's my school. There used to be a Braums there, and a hardware store there, and, oh, my friend Michael used to live there...did I ever tell you what good times we had back then?" And his children, like children have been doing since the beginning will roll their eyes and listen to stories of his youth. "Oh daddy, things aren't that way anymore. That was back in the olden days." And there will be a knot in his throat and a catch in his voice as he says, "Yeah, you're right. Things aren't that way anymore." Looking at his kids, he will feel like parents have felt since the beginning- that his kids have somehow missed out on something important from his generation. And so he begins another story, this one about how he threw a bat in anger one summer day because he missed a ball being pitched to him by his brother. And the bat hit a window at his school and shattered it. And about how he ran home, and his mom marched him back up to the school to view the damage. And how she made him confess to the principal that he broke the window, and how the prinicpal and his mom decided he should learn a lesson, and how for the next week, he worked after school doing chores-like sweeping the parking lot. His children look at him incredulously. For breaking a window? Accidently? You had to sweep the parking lot in the 104 degree heat? A life lesson learned. And passed on to the next generation. Mission accomplished.

Making Life Easier

Monday morning-so nice to see ya! After the weather man on channel 12 said there would be no rain last night, I woke up at 4:00 am to lots of thunder and lightening, and...would ya know it, rain. It's cooled things down and kept me from having to drag the hose around this morning to water the little plot I have planted some things in. I have decided that I really must invest in one of those wheel thingys that hang on your house that you can roll your garden hose on. I spend about a year untangling and unknotting it before I can turn the water on.

It's one of those things that makes life easier that you wish YOU would have invented. My son was telling me last week about "fingertip pens and pencils". Have you seen those? They fit on the end of your index finger and that's how you write with them. No more gripping those writing utensils between your thumb and finger. One of the school psychologists I worked with last semester always commented about a kid's pencil grip in his reports and described it. "Hortense uses a 'fist grip' to hold onto her pencil and her writing appears laborious."

So maybe I should invent something this week and make a fortune. Nah, I think I'll have my coffee first.

I have been remiss in posting these last few days. First of all I want to wish my “baby” brother a happy birthday-he turned 46 yesterday. Although he can be stubborn and obtuse at times, I greatly appreciate him. We live fairly close, and are in frequent contact. He’s intelligent, funny, compassionate, and a great husband and father. I’m proud of him!

I didn’t get any responses to my query on the last posting regarding what goals you may have in life, except, this brother aforementioned sent out an email to some of us siblings asking us to write down 10 things we would most like to accomplish before we die. Well. You talk about taking stock in life-that little assignment will do it for you. Once I got started, I had no problem coming up with 10 things. I’m thinking about sending this question to my kids. I’d like to know what they think.

I’m taking Ms. Pancreas to the doctor today. Started on an additional med to help with the fasting (first thing in the morning) blood sugar numbers. I’ve taken it for a week now and I’m noticing some side effects, but my finger sticks in the mornings are looking a little better. And actually, Ms. Pancreas isn’t in this rebellion herself. She has recruited Mr. Liver to help her dump large quantities of glucose at night while I’m sleeping. so this new med is to help counteract that. I thought about my dad today-he passed away several years ago. He had type 2 diabetes and the only thing available for him at the time was monitoring sugars by checking urine. Certainly not very accurate. Diabetes is a progressive disease, and I often wonder just how well it was controlled with him. I know he watched his diet extraordinarily well and was active. I think that helps a lot.

I thought today I need to change the name on my blog. I’m no longer a practicum student. I’ll be an internship student starting August 1. That’s coming up quicker than I realized.