"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Another Buck Gathering

At my house last Sunday. Five grandchildren were missing for various reasons but  numbers continue to grow.

Four generations were present. The intent was for a garden/pool  party and it happened but interspersed with several downpours.

The Tacoma twins were here. At two and a bit, they are the youngest . They were born here and this was  their second  summer in Canada.It  was their  third family gathering. Thoroughly  at home in the crowd.

Cheyenne and Abigail . nine and five,are  great -grandcildren from Bradford. They also know where they belong.

The two youngest grandchildren are twelve or thereabouts.

When  my first grandchild was born, my youngest child was fourteen

I was twenty-one years old when my first child was born.

That means the family has always been young.

I didn't plan  seven children. I didn't plan not to. I never thought of a child as anything but a welcome addition .The financial aspect was never a factor .

My children are  good parents, constant partners. Their  children are lively,respectful and not estranged.

They respond to the call when the date and place is circulated. They enjoy  each other's company.

The whole adds up to a substantial body of experience in one person's life. Mine.

When someone half or a third my age presumes to suggest.I might be out of touch with modern times
I have  a very negative reaction.

None of my own would ever suggest it.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Sick Since Sunday

Nine little monkeys jumping on the bed
One fell off and cracked his head
Mamma called the doctor
The doctor said;
No more monkeys jumping on the bed.

 Actually...  the doctor said.  Intravenous.
Mama said no, sick people at emergency
Foul smellimg yellow pills might do
The  size of small  bananas
Swelling down. Infection reduced.
No more monkeys jumping on the bed
Eight more days of pills instead 
.
In the meantime, no  Blog post.
Better not...Mama said.
Might say something bad or badder than bad
Things might look better in the morning..


Sorry. 

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

The Twins Are Here

For a few days.The place is jiving. I do not remember two year olds being as fast and fascinating as these two are.

 I did not have twins. I thought I could imagine what it's like to have twins. But you can't really imagine what it's really like to have twins.

Having two children close in age is not the same. The older one, no matter how little older, always knows they are older and more is expected of them.

Twins do not have that element of difference. There's only one mother Each knows their rights.

In a short  working career before she became a mother, Vanessa was a teacher in Korea for some months. The children were pre-school . Since she did not speak Korean,  the objective was to introduce  them to  English. Obviously  that  was a challenge.

Since  the twins are first children, there was  no experience with  mothering a single child.Twins are the norm.For them, twins are the norm. For someone watching, twins are amazing.

They are not identical. They are not alike. Not in looks, personality,size, agility, sound or anything one  can imagine. But they are twins. They  have been to-gether every moment of their existence.Nothing they do or that happens to them, happens separately.They have shared every experience.

They are happy, healthy, boisterous, inquisitive, quick and expressive.Twice as much in each as a single child. It seems being two has that effect.

They are a joy to watch. Which is a good thing. Because nothing much else can get done.

I don't have time to edit either