keelyblog

This is expanding on an earlier post titled “Abortion is Euthanasia”. I guess it was really Obama’s statements of support for DOMA that has me thinking about this today. How can you support killing babies and not support two adults getting married? I am frustrated today. I’m frustrated with the “Left”. And I’m frustrated with the “Right”. Where are all the other people like me, who would like to see an end to abortion, but not by making it illegal and inaccessible, but by attacking the reasons this disease is spread. Abortion is a disease that kills babies. We can inoculate ourselves against it by in depth, full disclosure sex education as suggested by Karen Rayne; AND bolstering more loving, 2-parent families to want to adopt unwanted babies. I really believe that functional 2 parent families, with a close extended family, is the gold standard for raising a child with enough self-value to withstand the pressures for early and risky sex. Well, at least mostly functional. ;) There are many wonderful, naturally infertile couples that would love to have children. In some states this is not a problem, but in other there is still resistance. If all states had to recognize marriages between ANY two adults that are not closely related to each other, they would also have to accept them as good candidates for adoption.

Please, if you are worried about the rates of abortion, support thorough sex education, easy availability of contraceptives–especially to those who can’t afford them, and recognition of gay marriage!!!

I am drunk for the first in almost 5 years. Sure, I’ve had the odd drink here or there, but have not had enough to be “drunk”. Today, through an odd series of coincidences, I ended up drinking half a beer and listening to “Reasons to Quit”. Dad showed up. Now I don’t want to let go of the feeling of missing him. of mourning him. So I kept drinking. My handsome husband was home to care for the kids. I wish someone was here who knew the pain of drinking and loss. I had one friend who definitely did. I don’t know where she is. Her name is Cris Burgess. If you are coming across this in a google search for her, and know where she is, please tell me. Or tell her that lots of Rockportians miss her.

Anyway, since the reasons to quit never outnumbered all the reasons why:

Mark left his phone behind this morning. By accident. So we decided to go ahead and bring it to him before spending the afternoon driving around looking for something to do… as usual. We got to his office around lunchtime, so he invited us to have lunch with him in the cafeteria. M fell asleep in the car on the way there, and continued his nap in the Giddy-Up Mommy until right before putting him back in his carseat.

A big issue lately in getting out the door is finding two pairs of matching clean socks in two different sizes. I decided kids need some sandals! So after our corporate lunch, we headed to REI. On the walk from the parking lot to the store, T and I had a long, intense discussion on whether or not “the mall with the star” is actually called Macy’s. T decided it is NOT. So we went in The Mall With the Star. Then to the sky bridge (which T loves); down a super big flight of stairs (both kids walking at this point while I carried the stroller); and finally to REI. We bought 2 overpriced pairs of sandals and a small bottle of spray-on sunblock to use in Denver. So far, we have not needed sunblock here–even on sunny days like today.

Sitting outside REI while M ran around like a crazy man and refused to get back in the stroller, we discussed our next destination. T wanted to go to a park. Possibly the park with the pool. I am not sure which park that is–maybe one in Austin. I offered the park with the whale, which is a short drive from REI; and called a friend to see if she wanted to meet us there. She was unable to meet us there and M was still unwilling to be seated. I asked T if she would rather drive to a park or walk to a park. We agreed that walking would be better. I trapped M and wrangled him into the stroller and we set off. I knew there was a park only a few blocks away.

We played at the park for awhile until it started to get crowded. After a stop at the potty, I thought it would be fun to go to a QFC that is in fun-looking shopping center. We never really have a chance to go to any of the stores there except QFC, so this would be a fun time. I had a vague idea of where it was and we set off.

Quite a few blocks later, I was feeling discouraged, and we stopped in a bank to ask directions. Turns out the directions were not stellar. Anyway, T started to have a meltdown from being tired and I was cursing myself for not going ahead and buying a ride-along for the stroller. I sent Mark a text, and then realized that with his phone screen broken, he would not be able to read it :( Then M started fussing about being strapped to the seat. We finally found a safe place to stop for a breather. It was a grassy area about 10ftX50ft. One 50ft side had a tall, solid fence; and the other a building. The far end had another fence. We walked about halfway down and I let the kids run around a bit while I left a voice message for Mark. M was behind me playing with my purse.

When I turned around to him, I saw his little hand holding a credit cart between the slots of a storm drain!! I caught his hand and looked down the drain. Sure enough, there was my driver’s license at the bottom! I was feeling a bit panicky at this point. Luckily, I noticed that the drain cover didn’t seem to be locked down. It was heavy, but I was able to lift it off. The drain hole was about 15″X15″X5′. I couldn’t reach the bottom with my hand or foot. I sat there giving M the evil eye and wishing that I had something long with a grabby end to send down there. T came over to look. Eureka! I asked T if she would go down there and get Mommy’s card. T’s answer was to run quickly away. LOL Then it hit me. M had dropped it down there, it was really his job to retrieve it! So I picked him up from where he was cowering on the stroller and said, “You have to go pick up Mommy’s card.” He stuck out his feet a bit as I lowered him down the drain, but I just kept reminding him that he had dropped it, so he HAD to go get it. He reached the bottom, picked up the card and then looked up and handed it to me. I took the card and then lifted him out. At that point, I could no longer be upset at him for dropping it. He did brave the storm drain to get it back! I put the cover back on the drain, let the kids run around a bit more, then it was time to head-on. T took a turn in the stroller.

We ended up not finding the shopping center I was after, and turned and headed towards a direction that would make us less lost. We stopped and had snacks and beverages at a different QFC, then headed back to the car. T got to ride about 1/3 of the entire venture.

Since I didn’t have a camera to take a picture of M in the storm drain, at least you can see our quest and how close we were to the shopping center we couldn’t find:

Key:
1. where we parked
2. The Mall With the Star and REI
3. The Park
4. The Bank of Bad Directions
5. the grassy area and Storm Drain
6. the QFC we actually went to.
X. the QFC and shopping center I set out for.
Blue the path we took on our quest, and green is the path we took back to the car.

Despite being exhausted and achy, I have been smiley ever since the storm drain event. Maybe it’s all the sunshine soaked up for vitamin D and happiness. Maybe the endorphins from our long walk. Maybe that despite being exhausted and achy, none of us became too dehydrated or got heat stroke. It didn’t get higher than 80 degrees. Maybe just the idea of M doing something brave to take responsibility. It’s good having growing up kids. They sure are fun!