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10.22.2013

Extremely Funny


It is close to midnight and I am still wide awake. 
Might be because of a chocolate buzz.

Might also be due to my day.

Spent many hours at the hospital with Kika. She needed a bone scan to rule out the possibility of a stress fracture in her leg.  She thinks it is from playing soccer, while I think her leg hurts in her head.
She finally won 1st place in a high school XC meet and then promptly refused to run again.
If it is a stress fracture I will apologize edit this post and act like I never thought it was mental.

While waiting for the dye to work for the bone scan, Kika asked me if she could have some friends over on friday before  going to a high school football game.
I said yes.

After we got home from the hospital, Gabi and I drove waaaaay out of my radius, as in 12 miles away north to pick up a small animal cage that someone was freecycling to me.
(We did not need another cage, but thought a small one might be useful for long car rides her bunny might take with us.)
As we were leaving the house of the freecycling woman, I overheard her 19 year old son needing a ride to his job at a Boston Market that was on our way home. So we offered him a ride.
Small talk in the car disclosed that he was a music and theater major.
So I asked him to sing.
He did the Aladdin duet, A Whole New World--singing both male and the female voices--perfectly.
I laughed so hard I almost wrecked the car.
After dropping him off,  we stopped to shop for a birthday gift for a party Gabi is attending on thursday before heading home.

Back home, over a quick dinner of Trader Joe's frozen macaroni and cheese--
Kika asked me if on friday, some boys could come over too.
With some trepidation and not a few admonitions about house rules, mob mentality and kids' stupidity,
I said yes.

Then the girls and I were off again.
This time Kika, Gabi and I went to decorate the school gym with posters for the 8th graders on Gabi's volleyball team.
In the time it took to decorate the gym, there was a green tea incident to transcend before
Kika's "some friends on friday" mushroomed into a party.
I, in a Nagasaki moment almost shut it down.
But I didn't.

I decided that the best way to make informed decisions about allowing Kika to attend parties in the future would be to actually host one.
I also calculated the convenience of an early party wrap up due to a 7 pm football game.
And as added insurance, I told her that it was in her best interest to host her party well.
All of this was discussed in the car, btw--while waiting for Gabi to finish up volleyball practice.

While waiting--
Made a quick call to my australian brother,  who was visiting my mother in NY to apologize for being unable to see him during his trip.
His cross atlantic/pacific travels unfortunately coincided with our kids' cross country season.
And then we went home.

At home, we discovered that Gabi's bunny had escaped from its enclosure.
It was roaming free in the house.
With Pax, the dog that can not be trusted.
The bunny was not killed.

I was suddenly so very thankful that Steve had insisted (in a rather morbidly fascinated way) on introducing those two animals.
Almost everyday of the month Steve allowed Pax some nose-to-nose time with the rabbit.
I would have never done that.
I would have been too afraid that things would end badly.
But somehow, Steve's instincts were correct.
The highly supervised exposure of the dog and the bunny in a limited and controlled setting was absolutely necessary for their peaceful coexistence.

Highly supervised, limited and in a controlled setting.
Eureka moment.
I suddenly realize that although this is out of our comfort zone, we have the tools to host a high school party this coming friday.
We will do our best to make it a nice, quick and wholesome evening for Kika and her friends.
The bunny was not killed.
All will be well.
(that is my prayer anyway)

We are not helping our children by always preventing them from what might be necessary falling, because you learn how to recover from falling, by falling! It is precisely by falling off the bike many times that you eventually learn what the balance feels like.  The skater pushes both right and left eventually goes where he or she wants to go.  People who have never allowed themselves to fall are actually off balance, while not realizing it at all.
~Richard Rohr, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life.