Perspective`

For those of you who haven’t seen the news, there were suicide bombings in Karachi, Pakistan yesterday as former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto returned to her home country. So far, 133 people are dead, and many more wounded – the carnage was stunning.

It wasn’t all that long ago that I was there, a little over two years, and while it was most definitely not all sunshine and roses, it’s surreal and painful to think of a place to which I have a personal attachment from both childhood and my adult life being ripped to shreds like that. Streets I’ve driven down, buildings I’ve passed. It makes me think of the friends I had there, and hope that they’re okay. It makes me sad to see that kind of upheaval and the hatred that doesn’t care about “collateral damage”, which is a term that people use when they don’t want to use the word “murder” or talk about the actual people who are dying. It makes me grateful for being safely at home.

Good to Have Standards

“ Aw, man. Is this going to be one of those movies where everyone dies?”

“Honey, what’s the title?”

“The Last Samurai.”

*pause*

“Yeah – movies about ‘the last’ anything usually aren’t very happy. Unless there was one called The Last Nazi. That might be okay.”

“Or The Last A**hole…”

“Very true. You’re so smart.”

Getting There

A few things down...

Some more things to go...

But at least the work edition of my "things due yesterday" list is getting shorter! Funny how that helps to lighten the load a little.

It's okay, though - I got to break up my day by taking the cats to the vet's office. Nothing makes your day like having two hyperventilating, drooling, miserable kitties howling in the cat carrier next to you. Poor little things, they hate the car.

But then I made lasagna for dinner, and things seemed happier. At least my belly seemed happier.

Question

Have I been speaking/writing in Esperanto or Thermian lately? I'm really starting to wonder. It seems that I can send multiple e-mails and have multiple conversations describing/discussing/mentioning the same thing, and I inevitably get a "this is the first I've heard of it!" response from somewhere, and it's really driving me nuts. I am trying so hard to be clear about things, what with there being a lot to keep track of in my wee little brain. But lately it feels like people have been misunderstanding me left and right and it's making me doubt my sanity, among other things.

Still being up at 6:24 am working clearly brings out my inner bitch. Not having actually slept next to my husband because I've been up working for the past two nights makes her run around, banging on pots and pans yelling "OKLAHOMA, OKLAHOMA, OKLAHOMA!!!!" I'll take a nice, long nap this afternoon once my work is done and let her crawl back into her cave where she belongs.

Note to Self

If you have a bad back, do not play catch with a 40-pound child if the child in question is, in fact, the object that you'll be catching.

Pass the ibuprofen, please.

(Totally worth it, though.)

Left My Heart in Texas

At present, K and I are in a metal tube, hurtling over Missouri or Kentucky at a few hundred miles per hour. Flying seems like such an improbable thing to do, but I suppose we do it all the time without thinking of it. But the reason that we are in said metal tube is because we are heading home after a lovely long weekend with the Texas contingent of my family, namely my brother, my awesome sister-in-law, and my nephews and niece.

We arrived Thursday mid-morning after a loooooong night at home, taking care of work things, cleaning the house, taking care of laundry that had been waiting to be ironed for weeks – the usual. That resulted in us getting no sleep to speak of, and spending most of the journey out to Texas unconscious. However, we arrived, woke up, stumbled off the plane, and were greeted by Stacy and Katie, my 9-month-old niece (who is clearly a physically superior child since she’s almost walking at this early age). The weekend was so much fun – a lot of it was spent playing with the kids and hanging with Pete and Stacy, which was kind of the point, and it was so great to see both of our relationships developing with the kids as the days went past. I’ve always had a close relationship with my oldest nephew, David, but in the last few times that we’ve seen them, I’ve really had the chance to spend some good time with my middle nephew, John, and this time, Mikey opened up and was a whole different kid with me! We were having such a good time with them that we decided we didn’t want to leave to go to our hotel, so since we had time to cancel the reservation without penalty, we did, and just stayed there the whole weekend, which was a great decision.

To give one example of why this was a great idea, this morning Mikey padded out into the living room in a t-shirt and a diaper. I was already awake, but K was still passed out on the other couch, so as I saw Mikey trot over to him and say “Uncle Keef?”, I gently said “Uncle Keith is sleeping, do you want me to read you a story?” So Mikey, who refers to himself as Mikester (“Come watch Mikester play Marble Blast!”), went and selected a book, crawled up on the couch next to me, handed me the book, and said “nuggle me?” in his gravely, deep little voice as he wedged himself between my arm and my side. THIS is something you just can’t do over the phone.

It was also great for K to get a chance to spend time with the kids and bond with them some more. I swear, he’s like the Pied Piper, they just flock to him. Plus, he’s a boy and he doesn’t have a bad back (not yet, anyway), so he can wrassle with the kids like you wouldn’t believe, which I’ve had to cut back on a lot lately (which sucks). It’s awesome to watch. Even John, who is a little more introverted and shy, thinks that K is just the most awesomest, and loves to play with him. When they were in town for our wedding, John crawled up onto the couch next to K one day, looked up at him thoughtfully, and said “I like you today.” K looked at him, and said “Oh, really? That’s good. What about tomorrow?” John looked back at him, and a minute later said “I don’t know about tomorrow.” But it appears that K has continued to make the grade with him.

David is just turning into a grown-up and it is totally making me feel old, but it’s great to see him growing because he’s continuing to grow into a really great person. (I can’t call him a great guy yet – he’s way too young.) He’s smart and articulate, and definitely a track star in the making. Mikey is destined to play Texas football, and he can already take a hit. (He’s got two older brothers, so it’s a skill he learned very, very early.)

And then there’s Katie – little miss Katie who was two months old the last time I saw her, and is growing up so incredibly fast. She’s pulling herself up and standing, she smiles and laughs and knows her name and all those great things. Gah!

So, as I said to the most Fabulous Stacy, I really miss them and wish they were still close by, but I’d rather that they be happy and farther away than close and unhappy. So that’s the way it is, I suppose. But we can always visit, and we will certainly continue to do so as much as possible. I’m not sure what river we’re crossing over now, but it’s really big (maybe I’m totally off on where we are and it’s the Mississippi?). The earth from the air is always an interesting puzzle to look at, and it does make things feel closer. Not necessarily close enough, but closer.