Observations

Where ever there is power or money, there will be people doing everything they can to get it for themselves.  Just look at politics.

The President is not omnipotent.  Congress is at least as responsible for what does or does not happen.

By the time an issue reaches the political level,  it is not simple and will not have a simple solution.

The higher the political level a problem rises to, the more complex the problem and the solution are.

The easy solutions are usually not the best solutions.

The laws we live by (secular and religious) should be the 'low bar' of our personal moral aspirations.

Tin Types

Old photographs spread on a desk, the faces portrayed unknown.  A collection of lost memories outlining someone's lost life.  Treasured belongings spread among friends and relatives.  Memories of why those things were treasured lasting only a generation, maybe two.  In time, the physical remains of a life pass out of mind, the name remaining only in old records.

Each life lived with hopes and dreams, important with choices and plans.  But except for very few, fading away and lost in time.  'Lost but not Forgotten' on a gravestone, but no one remembers the name written above it.

A Summer to Remember - Unfortunately

This summer has been one of those times that mark subtle, but permanent, changes in my life  And not in a welcome way.

My father was on oral antibiotics for an infection, and was not getting better.  He was admitted to the hospital to be put on IV antibiotics, and to find out why his white blood count had been increasing over the last year.  The doctors found he had a form of leukemia.  It's in the early stages, and they're going to keep an eye on things for a while.  If we're lucky, this is the form that has an average live expectancy of about 25 years.  In 25 years, Dad will be over 100.  Hopefully the leukemia will never be an issue. (Update: Turns out the problem may have been a reaction to his antibiotics and not leukemia.)

What my kids will remember most about this summer is the spiders at Grandma's (the house I grew up in). 

Normally, spiders don't bother me.  Any I find are usually escorted out the door to live the remainder of their lives 'free and in the wild' as the Kratt brothers say.  But not these.  My daughter found the first one in the hall bath while she was getting ready for bed.  She insisted it was a brown recluse.  Not wanting to freak out the kids, and never having (knowingly) seen one, I told her it wasn't.  The next morning (Sunday), after checking a blown up photo she took, and looking on the internet, I had to (as she put it) eat my words.  Plans were made to start cleaning  up and spraying the house.  Those plans were put on fast forward when, that night, she saw another on the family room wall near the TV.  Spraying started that night, and as things were being moved away from the walls, two more were found near the TV.  All four of these spiders were apprehended, had their mug shots taken, and their identities confirmed (well - except for the part about checking the number and location of eyes.  I am not getting my face close enough to theirs to do that!)  A judge and jury of one (me) determined the sentence and the condemned were flushed.  And I am, very quietly inside where few people see it, freaking out.

Wanted

Imagine a time when all conceptions are planned in advance.  Parents-to-be would know what's going to happen and would be prepared ahead of time for a new addition to their family.  No surprises, unless the parents'-to-be attitude is "we'll take what we get, when we get it".

No human endeavor is ever perfect, and even if we were to try to make every child conceived a 'wanted' child, we would never reach 100 percent.  But I think this is a goal we need to at least try to reach.  If every child conceived were a 'wanted' child, abortion would not be an issue.  Child abuse and neglect would not be issues.  So much time and effort would not be wasted on hating 'the other side', because I think all sides could agree to this goal.

But I also think that a lot of people - far too many - want conflict, not cooperation.  Cooperation doesn't get them the attention that conflict does.  Until our society stops rewarding those who create conflict, and starts rewarding those who cooperate, we will never be as great a country as we could be.  Far too many issues will never be addressed.  As I said, no human endeavor is ever perfect, but we could be a lot better than we currently are.

Road Trip!

Like a lot of families, every summer we go visiting the relatives.  I spend the last few weeks of school sorting and packing, and trying to limit what the kids take.  We need to get it all back home and still have enough to keep them from getting bored.  This year we had the added pleasure of bring one of our cats with us.  She started needing medicine every day, and she'll hide whenever someone who's not family comes into the house.  So much for leaving her at home in a friend's care.

Departure day finally arrives, after it's own set of delays.  The evening before we're finally ready to start, the trunk is packed, the kids are ready, the cat's things are ready, the food for the trip is ready, and Hubby gets a call about a major problem at work.  He spends the next 13 hours fixing it, and the trip is delayed another day.  The next day we actually start.  After about two hours of driving, Hubby is having problems staying awake, and I take over driving.  Everything seemed to be going fine until just outside of Indy.

The car started telling me the front right tire was low.  We found a gas station, and checked the tire.  It was just fine.  I should have checked the back tires.  A few more miles down the road, and the tire was toast.  So, we're on the side of the interstate with the trunk unpacked, and the kids finding all sorts of 'interesting' things on the ground by the car.  Hubby puts the 'donut' on and I'm trying to figure out how to repack everything, including the blown tire.  Somehow we manage not to leave anything behind.  We drive into Indy and find a car repair shop.  They direct us to a tire place, who doesn't have what we need.  They direct us to a second tire shop, who also doesn't have what we need.  They send us on to a third place, where we can finally get a new tire.  The trunk is emptied again.  The kids, the cat, and all our stuff is hauled into the store and we camp there for the next two hours.

After the tire was fixed - and the trunk, kids and cat repacked - Hubby asked for directions back to the interstate.  It turns out that all our driving from shop to shop put us less than 1000 yards from where we changed the tire by the side of the road.  Hubby joked if we'd had GPS, he would have found the right shop the first time and he could have just walked the tire over to get it fixed.  That way the kids and I wouldn't have had to get dragged all over.

Hmm...Waiting a couple of hours in a car on the side of the road with kids and a cat.  Maybe its just as well we didn't have a GPS.

Cartoons - The 3 "R"s

Last summer there were a number of images that were floating around in my head. 
I wish I could draw.

One image that comes to mind is a drawing of a classroom.  At the front stands Miss Liberty and Uncle Sam.  On the board, is written:
   The 3 "R"s
   1) Rights
   2)
   3)

Miss Liberty and Uncle Sam are standing, helplessly watching, as the kids break out into a brawl.  The kids are yelling at each other 'My Rights!', 'My Rights!' as they fight.  And Miss Liberty asks Uncle Sam 'But what about "Respect" and "Responsibility"?'

To me, all three are equally important, at all levels of our society.
In our communities.
In our businesses.
In our government.

And no picking and choosing when or where the 3 "R"s are applied.
They are for all people, all the time.
Not only in receiving them for ourselves, but also in giving them to others.

In Over My Head ... Again!

Almost everyone has had moments when they've gotten involved in something, and then realized they've taken on more than they knew how to do.   My latest run in with this started with my daughter's 9th grade orientation.

We were walking around the different tables, learning about all the different after school activities and clubs she could join.  Now, she's much more the arts type of person when it comes to after school pursuits.  Her interest in technology has been more how to use something than in how it works.  So when she said that she was interested in joining the robotics team, I didn't think anything would come of it.  Out of all the activities she could have joined, robotics was the only one she did.  And she wants to do it again! (Good for her!)

I spent the year trying to learn how the team worked, and chauffeuring kids to the competitions.  At the end of the season, I decided to help with mentoring on the business side of things.  (I have little business experience, but even less technical!)  A few weeks after I became a mentor, the team was discussing setting up Lego robotics teams in the middle schools.  Some force propelled me up, and I volunteered!  As I was sitting back down, my inner voice was yelling "What Did I Just DO??!!!!"  I know nothing about how to setup or run a team (though I've read tons about it since). I'm not the 'step in and take charge' kind of person.  I know how to corral my kids - but adults and other peoples' kids??   But I am going to do this!  This is my son's middle school, and when I told him what I had volunteered to do, he was so excited he was literally jumping up and down!  His interests are in how things are put together and creating new stuff.  And he would join the high school team right now if he could.

So, as far as I can tell, my future is going to be very busy.  Mentoring one middle school team and one high school team is going to be a challenge.  Thankfully they have different competition seasons, with the middle school being first.  But the teams are active year round.  It's going to be a lot of work, and a lot of learning (business and technical), but most importantly a lot of fun with my kids!

The Dustbunnies Are Coming!

I love opening the house every spring.  When it gets warm enough, I start to crave re-connecting the inside of the house with the outside.  I start thinking about gardening.  The kids start thinking about the end of school.  The cats start sitting in the windows.  And the dustbunnies start to come out of hibernation.  Now I generally think I'm a decent house keeper.  I sweep out from under things, and from behind doors, and I find a few of the critters during the winter.  But Spring lets me know I've got a long way to go before this house is ever found in 'Better Homes and Gardens'!  Every spring, the dustbunnies come out and scurry across the floor, being chased by the breezes - and me.

OK - So What am I doing, again?

    I can't say I live completely in the 19th century.  I have a computer, a cell phone, and other bits and pieces of modern life, bought more or less because I wanted them.  But here is another example of being pulled into the 21st century, doing something I never thought I would do, all because of my kids!
     The English assignment was about a social issue.  The format could be a written PSA, a video, or a blog.  My daughter picked the blog, even though she had never blogged anything before in her life.  So I've spent the last few days learning more than I ever thought I would about blogging.  And, since I wanted a way to follow her future blogging career, I set up my own blogging account.
     Now here I am with my own blog, just so I could follow hers, wondering "What now?"