The Groshongs have been hit with a vile bug...Ren got it first followed by the rest of us. Of course he flew through it in 24 hrs, which makes him the healthiest of all of us, and officially in charge.
Read MoreRen gets homework—four nights a week—in kindergarten. It’s not that we are opposed to homework at such a young age, it’s just surprising. Ash didn’t start getting homework until First Grade, and then it was all reading homework. She had to keep a journal of all the books or magazines she actually read. So we would read out loud to each other. She read 75 books that year. They were simple and short, but still that is quite impressive that she tripled what was required. Ren’s homework consists of letters, numbers and counting, most often a page or two. B has taken on the task of homework manager.
Read MoreOur 21st Wedding Anniversary was suddenly upon us. We made no plans to celebrate the fact that if our marriage were a person, he was now legal to drink alcohol in all 50 United States.
The big day fell on a Thursday. We needed to leave the office an hour earlier than normal to pick the kids up from school rather than let them ride the bus home. Ash’s violin tutor was coming at 4 pm, a half hour earlier than the kids would get home if they rode the bus. Then B had a 5 pm meeting back at the church and band practice until 10 pm. It would not be a romantic, carefree day spent toasting our love and reciting poetry to each other. We spent the day at work, where once again, I was up against deadlines and moving as quickly and efficiently as possible.
“Have you eaten lunch?” B asked me as we passed each other in the hall.
We all saw it, but Ren saw it first. He stood on his chair in the restaurant and pointed, “Mommy look.” When I first saw it, I smiled, but then I realized that this could mean trouble. I looked across the table at Brently and nodded to the young couple a few tables away from us. That’s when he turned around and saw it, too.
“Someone really should say something to them,” he announced.
Yesterday in the car, Ren starts bragging on himself, “I found momma’s money.” B looks at me with a quizzical look, “Really?”
Read MoreAir conditioning, ahhh, the mark of true civility. When it's available, all things are good and right in the world, but when it's not available...
Not long ago, my sister-in-law posted about the demise of her car's the air conditioning--and she lives in the South where heat and humidity are as referable as Catfish po boys, big hair and "y'all". It reminded me of a couple dreadful days a few years ago when B and I drove from Dallas to Seattle in July.
Read MoreAsh and Ren ride the twisting Monster Octopus attraction together because Ash is responsible enough to take Ren on the ride by herself and neither B nor I can stand all the spinning—oh yeah, it’s an age thing. They run in line, board right away and laugh and spin for the next fewminutes. As soon as they get off, they run across the walkway where B and I are relaxing on a bench in the shade. “We wanna go again.”
Read MoreAs B was leaving for the office this morning, he said something funny, so I said something funny and laughed out loud. Then he says to me, “Good one, but remember you’re the smart one not the funny one.”
Read MoreFlip Flops, we used to call them thongs, a name now almost exclusively relegated to skimpy underpants. Whether you call flip flops or thongs or jandals, pluggers, go-aheads, slaps, you know what they are, those simple open-toed sandals, consisting of a flat sole held loosely on the foot by a Y-shaped strap that passes between the first and second toes and around either side of the foot.
Read MoreAsh was going to an all-girls birthday party, so as an equitable parent who does not want to hear three-hours of “Why can’t I go,” I decided to take the boy someplace, special, too. I told him to grab a pair of socks from his top drawer. He ran upstairs and quickly returned with one sock. I sent him back upstairs for the other sock, and this is what he came back with. B said, “He did grab two, and that makes a pair.”’
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