Generally speaking, anniversaries are cause for celebration. Whether gathering together in honor of someone’s birthday or honoring another year married, anniversary celebrations are filled with smiling faces and the sounds of laughter. However, anniversaries can also mark a time in history when neither smiling faces nor the sound of laughter exist.
Throughout the world, anniversaries exist and remind us of a specific time when governments, terrorists, dictators, etc. killed innocent people. As the date nears, conversations grow, pictures and videos resurface, and people recall their own memories of the tragedy. Continue reading “But we do – we do forget.”→
.:: I Won’t Forget
My Mom left a voice mail. I need to get back to her. I won’t forget.
Oh. The Mortgage is due soon. I need to pay it. I won’t forget.
I haven’t fed the dogs, yet. I’ll get to it in a second.
The trash needs to go out. Let me start the laundry first, I won’t forget.
My sister’s birthday is coming up. I need to mail her card. I’ll do that later; I won’t forget.
I need to register Joe for art class. It’s on my list. I won’t forget.
Joe’s art class starts today! Did I register? I forgot.
My sister didn’t get her card. It is still on the counter. I forgot.
The trash man just left. The trash is still here. I forgot.
The dogs are hungry. They did not get fed. I forgot.
The mortgage is due today. I forgot to pay it earlier.
The phone rings. It’s my Mom. “Hey! I was going to call you . . .”
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Try to remember
Jotted down a reminder
Though forgetting where
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.:: Beetles, Grubs and Worms – Oh my!
A nature table. Joe’s teacher brought in a nature table. His eyes lit up! He knew just what he wanted to add to the nature table.
“Can I bring my beetles to school tomorrow? Ms. Teacher bought a nature table.”
“Gosh, Joe. I’ll have to check with your teacher. I’m not sure a nature table is an indication that beetles can come to school with you.” I said.
After shooting an email Joe’s teacher, I was informed that Joe was allowed to bring his beetles to school. Then I replied and let her know the beetles would be alive – not dead. The response changed slightly. The beetles were still welcome in the classroom, but instructions for keeping the beetles alive were needed.
Keeping the beetles alive? What? It was a miracle if Joe’s bug collection lasted overnight. You mean she wants these things to live? Wow, what a novel concept; so, with that, we created a thriving habitat for Joe’s beetles. And happily living with the beetles are two worms and four grubs.
Perhaps surprisingly, Joe’s teacher let me know the bug habitat was a hit with the entire classroom. More surprisingly, the bugs continue to thrive. I do believe Joe has a secure future in entomology.
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If it crawls, if it creeps,
Joe will love it heaps.
Digging for bugs brings him pleasure
To him, finding insects is finding treasure.
Proud of the beetles he reaps.
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Joe takes a friend to school.
.:: Charlie Goes to School
Every day, literally every day, Joe asks me if Charlie can come with him to school. Joe wants to show Charlie everything in his classroom, as well as teach him all the things he, himself, is learning. Earlier this week, I finally asked Joe’s teacher if Charlie could attend Joe’s class this week. She said yes.
After filling out the ‘in case of emergency’ paperwork, Charlie was set to go to school with Joe. “Wait Mommy.” Joe says. “You have to buy Charlie a lunch box before he goes to school with me. Charlie needs a lunch box at school.”
Being the accommodating Mom, I adhered to Joe’s request (or was it a demand?). I ordered a lunch box and paid to have it shipped as a ‘rush’, ensuring it would arrive in time for Charlie’s big day. Charlie’s daycare provider was scheduled to take Friday off work, so Friday was the target day for Charlie to go with Joe.
Welcome to Friday. Today is the day Charlie is going to school with Joe. And yes, the lunch box arrived in time. If Charlie’s excitement in opening the package and pulling out his new lunch box is any indication, he will love this day at school with Joe.
Still, I’m not sure Charlie is ready for this; *sigh* okay, I’m not sure I’m ready for this. Alas, today Charlie gets his first sweet taste of kindergarten. And I? Well, I get my first bittersweet taste of having both boys in school, and I think it tastes more bitter than sweet.
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He’s ready to go; he’s ready to grow.
But this parent wishes he’d take it slow.
Charlie wants to be like his big brother.
But lingering at little is the wish of his mother.
My toddlers are kids now, for this am I ready?
Thankfully, both of them still sleep with their teddy.
One of my friends in high school worked at TCBY, a frozen yogurt place. TCBY was located right on the ‘cruising’ strip, where many teenagers drove around in their cars on weekend nights. When one actually got out of the car, they typically headed for frozen yogurt, ice cream or the movies. I like the frozen yogurt. I also liked the toppings for the frozen yogurt. More often than not, I would order a large chocolate yogurt with crushed Butterfinger on top. Mmmm, I can taste it now. For those who didn’t like Butterfinger candy bars, there were plenty of other toppings from which to choose: Oreos, Health Bar, M&Ms, different colored sprinkles and chocolate sprinkles. My friend used to call the different colored sprinkles ‘Happy-happies’. She was and is a very bright and happy person, much like the Happy-happies. And, though it has been over 20yrs since the TCBY days, I still look back and smile when I think of her and the sprinkles.
Thanks to Facebook, I recently reconnected with my friend. And, though 20yrs had passed, I quickly let her know about my recollection of Happy-happies. Though I don’t spend my life living in the past, I will bring up past memories when I run across friends from my past. I realize we are older now. I realize what was funny years ago may not be funny now. At least, I realize that is the case for some people; perhaps it is the case for most people. As for me, I look to humor and good thoughts whenever possible. If it means I make a total idiot of myself by drudging up some old memory, so be it. I know I’ll smile as result. I hope my recently reconnected friend smiled, when I reminded her of the sprinkles. And, I hope she has smiled the countless times I have brought it up since. [I think this is No. 5678, but who’s counting?]
I saw an interview with Ellen Degeneres where she was discussing how she enjoys practical jokes and having fun. Ellen said, “I think it’s very important to stay childlike, and I think it’s very important to still play. Everybody stops playing when they get older, so that’s why I do it.” I agree wholeheartedly with that statement. And, I find that when I look back at the things that made me laugh as a kid, I will laugh again as an adult. Happy-happies make me smile. In fact, I went to the grocery store today and bought some vanilla ice cream and different colored sprinkles. Tonight, after supper, we are going to have ice cream with Happy-happies. While this may sound quite uneventful to you, it will be a big event for our house. Our boys don’t eat much junk food, and when my husband and I [Ok, when ‘I’] give them a junk food pass, they love it. [Please note: I bought organic vanilla ice cream. And, I spent way too much money on the organic ice cream. It’s tough being a psycho about food.]
After our special dessert tonight, instead of reading a book before bed, we may decide to watch a movie. If I am lucky, the boys may just pick out the School House Rock DVD. Again, a happy memory from my past is watching School House Rock. And, I suspect it is no coincidence that the boys love ‘Conjunction Junction’, ‘Interjection’ and ‘Interplanet Janet’, as those were some of my favorite songs. [I should really put the ‘Just a Bill’ in replay mode for the boys, and educate them on the political process of making bills into Laws. Seems quite timely, due to the pending Healthcare bill currently on Capitol Hill, but I’ll spare a political rant . . . for now.]
Again, thanks to Facebook, I reconnected with another friend from school. This time, I was quick to remind the friend about ‘Interplanet Janet’, because it was always playing in my head when I saw her. I’ve already shared that story with the boys. As you might imagine, the boys were thrilled. And well – something tells me I should feel really silly for sharing this kind of thing, but those that know me, know me and expect nothing less of me. We also wrote a book together, ‘Wonder Pup Saves the Day’. I’ve reminded her about that book approximately 15,235 times. You’ll notice that number is higher then the number of times I reminded my other friend about Happy-happies. The Happy-happies friend is still fairly new to Facebook, so I haven’t had as much time to remind her. I’m working on it though, as is evident with this post.
I have many more happy memories. I could tell you about Moon Eyes and Joe’s Pizza, alas I can sense one of my best friends cringing and covering her eyes as she reads the previous sentence. She wouldn’t be surprised if I did write about it, but if she were beside me, I think she’d advise against it. I’ll skip Moon Eyes and Joe’s Pizza for now. Besides, now I have to introduce my boys to Happy-happies. I will tell them how Happy-happies originated, and I will show them how ordinary vanilla ice cream can come alive with bright, happy colors. I may leave out the part about me ‘cruising the festival’; then again, I rarely leave out anything.
Lenore's Thoughts Exactly 