Epic Fail, Reversal

There once was a weary mum with a big belly, who spent most days operating off adrenaline fumes. That mum did not take well to the unseasonable 90 degree temps in her urbane 'hood yesterday.

In fact, she moved molasses-like about the usual chores of life.  Including cleaning piss and popsicle off of her living room floor.

So when her daughter resisted the potty, the nutritious dinner, in lieu of spilling bubble solution all over the patio, that tired mum relented.

Later last evening, the tired mum's tired friend came over with her toddler.  To the park they all went, with lovely picnic basket in tow.

Upon their arrival at the park, there were teens doing dark deeds on brightly lit benches.  The tired mum could only huff and find another bench with naughty teens out of her periphery.

As the tired mums enjoyed their picnic dinner, the tots played nicely.

Until.

Until a particular daughter proceeded to whiz her pants and split her lip in the course of five minutes.

As the tired mum rushed her bloody-lipped daughter back into the house, abandoning her guest friends at the park, a fleeting thought of whether or not there was a toddler-for-lease section on craigslist did pass her mind.

Bidding farewell to the friends, the tired mum scrubby dubbed the pee-stained daughter in the tub and prepped her for bed.

* * * * * * Then. * * * * * Dagnab it, Robert Munsch.

You made a marshmallow of that tired mum.

After a hardish day, all that tired mum wanted to do was watch some Oprah on DVR and wallow.

But then you inspired that tired mum's daughter to say,

"I love you forever, mommy."

There would be no wallowing, as she wet-swiffered the residual piss and popsicle off the floor later that evening.

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Hoppy Eastah 2010


Easter 2010
Originally uploaded by shamrox

Pictured: A little girl who got nuffin for Christmas, whose parents were busy and cheap and waited for the "off-season" to buy her a toy kitchen, to be revealed at the end of an egg hunt.

Not pictured: Kendra the Engineer putting the dagnab thing together until 4 a.m.

Not pictured: Lovey Loverpants proceeding to disassemble the "unstable" kitchen after the video unveiling and properly putting it back together.

Not pictured: Family Loverpants spending Easter afternoon at IKEA, eating Uncrustables and french fries and chocolate milk, loading up a cart full of more furniture that requires owner assembly.

Unc

Dear Unc, The anniversary of your death came and went last month and I thought I'd feel better after a year had passed.  But the truth is that I don't know what I expected "better" to feel like, to look like.  Only that I had hoped I'd feel differently.  I don't.  I still miss you in a way that feels fresh.  All the time.  Sometimes it's once a day, sometimes it's once a week, but I always think of you and I'm lucky because I never saw you when you got gravely ill, so my mind still flashes to your quick smile and the way you would silently crack up with your head cocked back, almost like you were hyperventilating and singing Gospel music at the same time.

Since your death, I've been really selfish with my memories of you.  I don't mean I've been keeping them from people who were meant to have them.  I just mean that I've been private in my pain, silent with my questions, crying in the shower so there are no puffy red eyes at untimely times.  Sometimes I go through the e-mails you wrote me, or find a picture of you, or think about the last thing you said to me, which was, "I'm going to give you one more hug before you become a mom."  Then I think about how you never met my daughter, who people say made you a Great Uncle.  But I know that you were already a great uncle.

I had to give a speech a couple of months ago, and I didn't know why I had been tapped since I haven't done anything significant besides potty train a toddler and master the art of pineapple surgery.  But when I heard the other speaker at the conference, Wayne, talk about his friend who had passed the year prior, I realized why God had given me the opportunity.  Wayne talked about how much he missed his friend, how his friend had died young and before he had time to "finish his work."  So Wayne thought he would try to dedicate the next year of his life to finishing this friend's work.  And then I realized how I could parlay this into my life, how I might better channel this grief.  I thought about the work you had been doing, not just as a CEO of a spiffy hospital, but on a more human level, as a uniter, as a healer, as a mad hyperventilative cackler.  I cannot do any of those things very well, but maybe I could understand what motivated you to be those things...Perhaps that can be part of my own life's work.  I'm trying to do this.  I succeed most often with the cackles. I love and miss you.  And I'm trying to love on my husband more, just in case we only have 20 more years together, too.

Love, KC

Christmas '86

Just when I thought that God had short changed me today, I got your message and realized that you have been His gift that has brought great joy and inspiration to our family.  Hang in there kiddo.  The wrecking ball might rock your house, but it can only make your heart and soul stronger.  Who needs insurance anyway?  Write a book.  Happy Birthday.  You're the gift that keeps on giving!  Just as He allows us to reflect on the somber events of 9/11 he turns right around and gives us 9/17.  How lucky we are!!!   Go have a ball.  Thank God.  -Unc