Moms, Is This Happening In Your Smallville, USA?

It’s raining.  A good, long, surprise summer rain.  I’ve been heavy on blog design the last few days. 

Heavy on rest this week.  Heavy on focus.

Not so heavy on housework, but not too far behind.  Piles are…well, piling up a bit.  I’ll probably have to declutter my baskets next week.  But, let’s not get all excited about that just yet!  (I know, it’s exciting stuff here).

I’m thinking about having a day when I just open the back of the van and start throwing stuff in it and then drive it straight to the Goodwill.  The whole idea of garbage bags and sorting is just throwing me into hysterics this year.

I just got finished reading some of Anne Lamott’s Traveling Mercies.  I turned down some more pages of things I want to remember.  Impressions.  Human-ness.  She just gets to the heart of it somehow.   I read the chapter on her dreadloacks…yup, a blond woman fed up, finally, tired of her frizzy hair problem, and getting dreadlocks…embracing all the fears and stigma that goes along with it.  Biting the bullet. 

Just makes you want to go out and do something you need to do, doesn’t it?

So…I french braided my hair right after I read it.  (Yup, that’s my head.)  Okay, so nothing life changing there.  But, I haven’t tried to braid it in a while, my hair just hasn’t been long enough to try it.  My daughter just walked up behind me and said, “Ooh!  You BRAIDED your hair…why?”  I didn’t answer.  Then Red ran over and touched it, dragging his hair across the “train track” feeling.  (He LOVES to touch women’s hair…it’s kind of freaking me out.)  He said, “Wow, Mom.  I’ve never seen your hair braided!” 

I didn’t used to have highlights in it.  I like a braid with highlights.  It used to be almost jet black (jet dark brown, but that doesn’t sound as romantic, does it?).  I said I’d never color my hair because I liked my hair color fine, but then I passed 30, life got short, I got bored, and out came some fun color. No, I don’t have much grey yet.  I’m just having fun before I have to.   Maybe I’ll keep coloring it and never knew I turned grey.  Sounds like a plan to me!  Come on now, don’t laught…somebody out there is with me!

Anyway, what was old news to me was new to my son….and, it’s sort of cool at that past 30 age to still hold something new for a 6 year old.    

The question is always what to do when you get to the end of the braid…do you leave a little pitiful ponytail?  Well, I don’t like mine, so I tuck it up, and under, and bobbypin, then I have to sort of loosen it so that you don’t look like a turtle with a too small shell.  

So, that’s about all I have on that.  It’s quite refreshing to get it off my neck and out of a clippy anyway.  Very summery…and I’m all into summer right now, because time is short. 

We lose a month of summer vacation due to the kids going to public school next year.  I’ve dragged out my “save for July 4th and Christmas” red finger nail polish just to get ahead of the whole thing.  It’s important that we get every drop out of this summer.  My daughter keeps laughing at the fact that the polish is called Rainyday Red.  She says, “What about a rainey day is the least bit RED?  I mean, COME ON!”  She’s right, of course.  I don’t get it either.  But, it’s sort of a pinky, orangy, red-thing, which means it matches more stuff, so I bought it, even though it makes no sense.  I’m such a rebel.

Speaking of the awaiting public school starting in Auguest…I still get afraid with the thought of public school, as I did today.  But, I have a peace about it overall, somehow.  I pray God will help me parent them through it well.  I pulled out “Praying the Scriptures for your Children” today by Jodie Berndt (which I would give link for if I weren’t writing fast today).  It’s an excellent resource.  It does the “put your child’s name in the blank” sort of deal for different topical areas, has a devotion for you, and that sort of thing.  I usually just need the scriptures when I open it.  I’m already “devoted”.  Just kidding.  When I’m in the mood for the word, it’s just that not much else will do.

I think I might not be so afraid if it weren’t for odd stories like I heard yesterday, of most young–YOUNG girls, like5th grade 8, starting to shave…like everything.  I mean, like…where the sun don’t shine, to try to be discreet with a non-discreet topic.  I’m freaking out.  Fifth graders, for heaven’s sake.  They say, “It’s gross and unclean, and if I don’t do it, everyone will make fun of me because I look different”.  So…now puberty is like, something you shave off?  I’m totally confused.  I’m worried about my daughter starting to shave, period.  Now I have to envision her having to deal with peer pressure on THIS, at age 9-10?  You have got to be kidding me.  

In any case, I took my 8 yr old daughter (thankfully, only in the third grade, before shaving is at all an issue) to the doctor for her school “well visit” she has to have before she can get registered.  I really like this particular doctor, however, I didn’t think she’d still be stuck on doing well-visit “CBCs” and a clean urine catch (neither of which I nor my daughter were prepared for…I told her, “No needles this visit, honey.  Just a well visit.”  

Well, I was wrong, and we’ve not been in four years, so I needed to keep the doctor happy.  Daughter nearly, or did have an anxiety attack, we both held her in a lock position, the flabottamist did the finger prick, and we squeezed her finger for a minute to get enough blood.  I really think that the doctor needs to go with us on one of these little visits.  Truly.

Daughter, after the fact:

“Honey, do you think it hurt?”

“Wow.  You know, I don’t know, I was screaming too much.  I don’t remember it at all.  I didn’t even feel it!”

And that, my friends, is why you should scream your heart out during dreaded events.  Here’s to no semblance of posturing or self dignity.  Just scream your cotton pickin’ head off and let somebody hold onto you real tight for the hard parts!  I’m all for that.

Well, as enlightening as this has been for you who are interested in or thinking about dreadlocks, shaving God knows what, braiding, or finger sticks…

I think I’ll stop before I get much worse and just wish you a super great Summer Weekend!