Around this time last year

Last year we were suffering a major draught that had started the winter before and lasted throughout much of the year. In fact the land was going up in smoke (literally) Wild fires came close to our house (about a mile) I remember that their was one day that I had to take a very winding path to get home because of all the road closures. I remember the smell of smoke hung in the air for days afterwards. I remember one night when I went out into our garage that we had just cleaned out some only to be alarmed by the smell of smoke. I went outside and started searching for the source. About a mile away there was the flames reaching for the stars. I frantically knocked at a neighbors door to ask them to call the fire department. The husband came out to look and the wife went in to make the call. Shortly after that we heard the sirens racing to the scene.

Now we have state parks that are closed due to all the rain we've received. Firefighters have had to perform hair-raising rescues. People have been lost to floods. I remember one of my entries last year described the grass on the campus. This year everything is green. Green grass, green trees, flowers. It's amazing. It reminds me of the Northeast U.S.

Once on one of our year migrations to visit the grandparents in Pennsylvania we went through Kentucky. Lord! Everything was an unrelenting green. Everywhere you looked it was green. I remember telling my folks how glad I would be to return home so I could see some nice yellow/brown grass.

Please don't get me wrong, I love this wet rainy weather. The temperatures have been bearable. With age I've gotten to be bothered by the heat. Never thought that would happen. It's great that I haven't needed to get out the hoses to water the grass. But I think this beautiful weather is at an end. I think the weather is getting ready to turn up the heat (literally) I know I better pull out the hoses and get them situated because my willows seem to be drooping and turning yellow. Tomorrow.

Summer dud

There is something wrong in my house. The evenings are something I've come to dread. I have to make dinner. I have to wait on 3/5 of my family to return home before I can serve the dinner. Dinner is getting later and later. The kids fight going to bed. Before they are in bed I'm ready for bed.

But lately I've been doing house work after the little monsters go to their bedroom. Notice I didn't say go to sleep. No in fact noise continues to emanate from their room. Parents are required to go in and threaten drastic measures before the noise turns into whispers. Further warnings and yes, groundings are issued.

This hasn't been a good summer for the kids. They wanted to do so much. We just aren't able to financially afford to do the things they want to do. The girls want me to pick them up from their camp early so we can go swimming or go to a park but we simply can't afford for me to drive down there and get them. MI is having a great time with me. She gets me all to herself. ST is really showing signs of stress and anxiety. DQ actually is having a great time at camp. She just doesn't want the day to end.

I've already told Passionfruit that we will not do that summer camp in the neighboring suburb. I'm going to find an alternative. Passionfruit replied that next year ST will be able to go on all the field trips. I just want to be able to pick up the girls. I don't want to wait on Passionfruit to decide to go home.

I wish I had something funny or profound to say. Instead I'm complaining. Well, I tell you that one good thing happened this summer. DQ initiated a disscussion about her adoption and birth family. This has me feeling so good because I think that she is okay. She is going to be okay. Being adopted for her is not a tragic, horrible thing. In fact when DQ gets to be older and more mature I think she will say that being adopted is an adjective. It's a word that describes her not defines her.

Reflections of a year

It's the end of the school year. I'm a proud mother. My eldest daughter is a math whiz. DQ also reads at a 4th grade level. My middle daughter is reading above her grade level. (Last year DQ resisted reading so much that she wasn't at this level of reading last year.) What's even better is Storyteller can do math pretty well, too.

When I look at these two young girls they are so confident and happy. They have friends at school. They lead such a different life than what I knew as a child. I was shy. I wasn't liked by the other children. I was the brunt of all jokes. And my academic life wasn't at all good. I couldn't read until I was in the 3rd grade. I was in special ed. classes by the time I was in 2nd grade. I was taunted by my class mates as being the dummy of the school.

I remember how I hated Mr. East for the name he called his classroom-- The Brain Train. I liked him I really did. But I seethed under my exterior shell for the name because the other "normal" kids teased us: "That's where you go to get your brain taken out and trained to sit up and beg!" GRRRRRRR!

Now I look at my children and marvel that their existence doesn't reflect mine at all. They are happy, well adjusted individuals. They have a great confidence I never knew.

The end is in sight for this year. My children have excelled in school. Summer is fast approaching. For the kids it will be a long and wonderful experience full of activities at the various camps they're going to over the summer. For me it will be just a drop in the bucket. Summer will speed past. And tomorrow I will be writing about the up coming year where my two oldest daughters will continue their education.