Posted on 08/17/2002 4:24:01 AM PDT by Molly Pitcher
I hope I sleep a LONG time.
As an appetizer, I'm serving a ham, apple, and bleu cheese puff pastry tart. (I cheated, it's purchased puff pastry)
/john
/john
I'll fire up the Lear jet....LOL!
If it ain't broke, fix it till it is.
/john
Can't do anything outside so dang hot.
I hear small ... and I stress ... small ... warning bells which I can not ignore ...I think there is more, here ...
You and your wife are very wise and committed ... engaged and dedicated ... 'tis nothing ... or so you both make it seem for the good of your kiddos ... to uproot and move to a foreign country ... set up a home in a "strange" land ... answering a calling which is awesome and powerful ... hard to grasp ... but impossible to ignore ... and you both do it with humor and unending faith ... hard shoes to fill ... most particularly for a wee one who is wanting to please ... and coming into her own, at the same time ... Try this ...
As a child, I moved about the Country a great deal in a fairly short period of time ... starting from Colorado ... then to Illinois .... off to Utah ... then to Chicago again ... off to Molly's dreaded Marin County, California ... then to Connecticut (my favorite) ... a brief stop in Kentucky ... and then to Illinois again .... to a small kiddo ... each of these places seemed a new country to me ... for all spoke differently ... had different jokes and favorite sayings .... do you call it pop or soda?! ... simple differences which grew more dificult as I grew.
Early on ... I recall the challenge to assimilate caught me up and I had fun succeeding at this ... repeating my parents' fortitude ... but as I grew ... for me it was around 11 ... I found myself frightened, a bit ... changes going on in me ... I began to feel vulnerable ... and just tired of being the new kid on the block ....
My best foot forward didn't want to take the first step, anymore ... though all expected that I would ... for I always had ...
I pretended that I was sick, finally ... so I could just stay home ... away from all expectations ... and unexpected unexpected-things ... for I had come to the conclusion I was never going to be as capable as my parents were at handling the same ... like "easily" translating for confused and lost Chinese boys ... or rescuing a lonely and frightened woman on the streets in Singapore ... something you have done with such *grace*...
My Dad quickly caught on ... stayed home from his new job, he did ... and, while changing the oil in his '62 Catalina ... "bonked" his head on the hood ... not really, looking back ... came in and sat at the kitchen table ... head in hand ... moaning his injury.
"Well ... it's after bein' stupid, I am ... can't even change the oil in my car ... useless, is what I am after bein'"
"Does it hurt much, Dad?!"
Clean blue eyes, lookin' back at me ... "No, my girl ... what hurts is that I forgot I am only human, after all ... I keep thinkin' I am bigger than myself! Do you ever think you can do everything ... only to learn you can't?! 'Tis a humblin' experience ... maybe I needed it ... what say you we go for a walk?! I think I can manage that."
And we just walked around the new block ... noticing plantings and flowers ... nothing special ... but so ordinary ... I went back to school the next day ... happy to just be human ...
Well ... I've used all my bandwidth until next month and maybe none of this applies ... still ... I've your kiddo in my heart and *prayers* ...
:-)
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