On a good day, parenting will test the integrity of your character. On a bad day, parenting will test your will to live. Parenting children with trauma histories will cause you to test the integrity of everything and everyone you thought you knew, for the rest of your life.
~J. Skrobisz

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

God is Great, Beer is Good and People are Crazy

After my freight train of mental doom, I had a meeting. When the CBAY [1] meeting ended in record time and I looked at my day planner and saw that there were no therapists coming and the thermostat in the house said 86'F, I said, "NO. No, no and no. i can't, I won't, I am neither physically nor mentally capable of staying in this house or this town or this county for one more second."

So without voting in the primary, i literally, threw the kids' things into an enormous Marshall's Reusable Shopping bag, hauled the pillows in the back of the van (really, I heaved those suckers) and booked it to the country. Supper in grandma's new home town, a walk in the cute little park where we saw a tree which must be at least 150 years old.

We saw lots of large, sweeping, green vistas:

Then we went home to grandma's AC and a cup of coffee to top off the day while, due to some small miracle, the satellite TV had "Honey I Blew Up the Kid", a movie AB has been begging to see for weeks on end. Really? It was on? Exactly when I turned on the TV?

We woke up early, the kids ate grandma's krispy kreme donuts, I ate a rice cake and drank her coffee and we drove home in time for the story time at the library. The trip home was more John Deere tractors. WG LOVES them. And I do mean, LOVES THEM.[2]


We saw giant irrigation sprinklers watering the endless miles of cotton, corn, soy and peanut.

Then the abrupt changes in landscape to pecan groves followed by wandering cattle on the next hill. (I do believe I'm giving away my location with these descriptions)

In the country, there isn't much to listen to except gospel and country. WG said, "*sigh* Mom. Really? Is that all there is to listen to?" as I mashed the scan button on the radio and it scrolled through the available signals.

"Well, WG, this IS the country. So...yeah."

AB was sleeping (FINALLY!) and Sissy had her mp3 player so WG and I agreed to stop the scan button when the song "People are Crazy" came on. How fitting!



I feel much better.
Much.

[1]CBAY - community based alternatives for youth: a federal stimulus act grant funded waiver for children that have returned home from RTC. The grant is originally a Maryland legislative idea and is now available in some format in 14 states. This grant has made possible for our family - respite, increased unskilled wrap around services, adaptive swim therapy, and social/recreational activities for Sissy

[2]we joke and say that WG is going to bring home our future son in law and he's going to be a good 'ol farm boy, with a pick up truck on monster tires, several rifles and fishing poles and a habit of spitting out his boiled peanut shells on the ground. Their dates are going to be mud bogging, hunting and driving through the fields on a john deere. For her engagement gift, she'll get a new pair of cowgirl boots and a stetson. I wont be surprised if it's not far from the truth!

3 comments:

~Dinah said...

Your version of "Country" sounds much more diversified than mine. I get to choose from corn or bean fields. that's it. No irrigators as God does all that up here. Oh, but we do have JD tractors. And you'd better know which tractor brand is part of which family or you might just insult them by mentioning a JD tractor to a International tractor family. lol

Sounds like a fantastic quick get-away!

beemommy said...

I LOVE his song! Glad you found a way to escape to the country and to grandma's house. (A grandma with Krispy Kreme doughnuts, how cool is that?!)

GB's Mom said...

Sounds like a great get away!