I am sorry I haven't posted in a bit. I felt like I didn't have a lot to talk about which is unusual given how much I do talk!
I also had a birthday a few weeks ago. I only bring it for two reasons. The first is because I had the opportunity to face one of my greatest fears.
I took the day off to go on a field trip with Kman's class to an outdoor desert museum. It was nice to be able to go on the trip. There are a lot of stay at home moms in my town and so when there is a field trip, there has to be a drawing of the moms that want to go to see who gets the honor. Since I work, I usually don't go but since this one was on my birthday, involved a chartered bus and I really like his teacher, I decided to throw my name in the hat along with a little note about how it would be how I choose to spend my bday! I am thinking the note gave me an edge over the competition and my name was drawn.
So back to the fear. I was confronted with it right when we got off the bus at this outdoor desert museum. As we debussed (I am not sure if that is not a word but it works for me) there were hundreds of bees right outside the museum. I want to make it clear at this point that I am not exaggerating. There were so many bees, that you could not escape them, the swarmed around us and many landed on us as we waited to get into the museum.
I have to go back for a second to explain why I am SCARED TO DEATH of bees. This is the fault of my mother and all my aunts. When I was a young girl and we went swimming at my aunts, there were often bees or wasps in the vicinity. When a bee would come to the water, they would yell, "Look out a bee" and all my cousins and I would go under water and hold our breaths as long as possible. This often did us no good though because the bees would wait for us apparently as when we came up, my aunts would yell, "They are still there" and we would go back under, trying to hold our breath until we needed air so badly that the possibility of a bee sting was better than drowning.
Now you might be thinking that my aunts did this for fun but actually, they were scared too. I think it takes a lot for a woman that is on a lounge chair drying and sipping on a coke to suddenly run and leap into the water themselves. Nope, they definitely do not like bees. Now that you understand that this fear of bees was imparted on me by adults who should have tried to help me be brave and that it was done to me at such a young age that just seeing bees takes me back to those feelings I had years ago. It probably doesn't help that I have never been stung so I don't know if I am allergic and if it really isn't as bad as I imagine it to be. I have been stung in the bum by a scorpion while sleeping but that is another story for another day!
So I get off the bus and realize that I have been let off into a sea of my childhood demons. I want to turn around and get right back into my comfy chair behind the driver but I have Kyle and five of his classmates counting on me to be brave. So I go into a mode where I talk with words of a sane and reasonable person on the outside while I swear and think how this is BS and that I would rather be working at my desk on the inside.
This talking on the outside, swearing on the inside went on for the next twenty minutes or so until we got past this whole big area that had been overtaken by these bees.
Things the outside was saying to the kids:
"They are only bees, they don't want to hurt you- they seem very friendly"
Inside thinking:
They usually only kill a few people and animals a year, statistically we should be okay but if we aren't the nearest hospital is over an hour a way and so we are basically SOL"
Words to kids:
As a child looks at the bee on his arm and talks about how cool it is. "Wow, you have a new friend."
Inside thinking:
I am so glad you are not my child, you probably were one of those scary, dangerous toddlers too. No thank you. I will keep my cautious Kman.
Words to Kids:
"Okay kiddos, let's go this way. This is going to be so much fun and we want to see every thing so let's walk quickly to this cool indoor exhibit over here."
Inside thinking:
Run my little friends, run to safety. We gotta get the heck out of here, I feel my blood pressure rising with each bee that buzzes by my head!
Thankfully, it was much better after we got further along on the trail. We still had bees but it was much more manageable and after hundreds, I was not about to complain over a few random bees here and there. Plus I got to focus all my energy on the girl with asthma in my group who started having difficulty breathing and had nothing on the trip to help her. I don't know much about asthma but I do believe that if your child has it and requires breathing treatments the morning of a field trip, it probably is not prudent to send her a few hours away to tour a desert museum without an inhaler or something! I ended up calling a teacher to come meet us and walk her back slowly and she spent the rest of the trip at the shops by the entrance. Ugg poor girl.
So now I am happy to report that what I learned this birthday is that you are never too old to face your fears and that maybe it is a good thing. I saw the bees and faced them and in spite of what I said inside, I appeared calm, cool and collected on the outside. I was brave for my six little peoples and helped those of them that were scared to be brave. It was great to know that I could do that.
So earlier in the post I mentioned there were two reasons I bring up my bday. Later in the afternoon as we were getting ready to head back into the swarm on our way to the bus, the school called and Cater was in the office with a 102.7 degree fever. So, for the third year in a row, Cater threw up on my birthday. I blogged about this last year here although this year was a little better as it is was much cleaner as she can now make it to an approved location to do her thing. She had a little flu bug that lasted a day or so but the timing of it being on my bday again was just too funny. The glamorous life of a mother! LOL
So all is well now and Cater got over the flu although she did get stung by a bee that flew into her shirt on Thanksgiving which I thought was a little ironic.
More BUZZ- to follow up on two former posts:
Albert's Arm: Albert was supposed to get his arm Nov. 10. I guess they misplaced the piece of paper with his measurements and so they have to measure him again and then make his arm. This will put him back but it will be done soon hopefully. I spoke to the center and they offered to take a picture of him with his new arm and so I am looking forward to getting another update on that and possibly a picture to share soon.
Beansie Bonanza: The girls both loved the soup and ate it very well. So well in fact that I made it again a few weeks later. That was a mistake as this bean filled soup needs probably should not be consumed more than once a month. I just got a little overexcited that I served something and did not get the response, "Why did you cook, why can't we just have macaroni and cheese?"
Okay, if you are still reading, I will wrap this up- Things are still going very well here. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family. Selina seemed very comfortable in a house with about 30people, many of whom she does not know well. She felt comfortable enough to venture off on her own. She is doing better everyday and Kman and Cater are so good to her. We are looking forward to Christmas and sharing it with Selina. I can't wait to see her face when we get the tree up in the next week. How fun to be able to experience Christmas this year through her eyes...
