Wednesday, October 7, 2009

A long days journey in run-on sentences

"I grabbed hold my old guitar, and Carter started up the car
We left with no goodbyes.
Didn't know where we was heading
just as long as we was getting
places afar
We were on our own and glad to have no home
We were flying free, that crazy man and me"

From "Carters Song" by De Leopold



It has been a hectic, crazy overwhelming week here. I planned on writing all about it yesterday. I thought "I'll just get the kids off to school, fix a big cup of coffee and write" Sounds simple enough, right?.. but nothing could be further from the truth...


I woke up at my usual 5:30..hit the snooze button..5:40...hit the snooze button...5:50..You get the idea..So when 6:20 rolled around..I was a frantic half crazed woman in dire need of coffee..rousing my kids from bed with a "C'mon!! We're late!!" Rushing down the stairs in a flurry of confusion and caffeine withdrawal..only to be met by an ENORMOUS pile of dog poop.
The kind that you can't ignore and wait for your husband (the man who had to have the three dogs) to come clean it up. This was so gigantic and odoriferous, it took half a roll of paper towels and a lot of bleach to clean up.(I hadn't had coffee yet) In the mean time, Lily being in fine form, took my distraction and lack of caffeine, as her cue to antagonize everyone else-especially Sam. Now Sammy is not a morning person. He prefers to be left alone, to take his time waking up. There I am cleaning up the dog mess while at the same time "encouraging" the kids to get moving, while Lily is simultaneously singing at the top of her lungs and grabbing Sammy's feet (she was lying under the table -why? I don't know). Sammy, stomps off to the living room, furiously wiping tears from his eye saying "I'm fine! I'm not crying!!! Sigh...I try to sooth him without referring to the fact that he is indeed crying, when I hear an "oops!" from Lily...she had knocked over her cereal bowl..off the table and onto the carpet-that I can't clean because my vacuum cleaner is broken. (I can't figure out why I haven't found the time to fix it) I somehow manage to get the cereal cleaned up, kids in sweaters, backpacks packed and everyone on the bus.(without coffee) As I am waving goodbye, I happen to look down at Zoe who is standing in the doorway also waving, only she is stark naked. Crap. 7:30- I now have one hour in which to clean up the dishes, make the beds, get myself (and Zoe) dressed before the electrician shows up at 8:30. I have a doctors appointment at 11:00..so I should have plenty of time. Right. 8:30 rolls around...no electrician...9:00...nope..I call Omar..he calls the electrician. The electrician calls me at 9:30, he is going to be late. REALLY????, I reply..he doesn't get my subtle humor. 10:30 rolls around-still no electrician..I call Omar.."I have to leave!!!" He says he will cancel the electrician for the day...and for me to just go. Just go? On any other day that would be easy. Today however, there is sewer work being done in my town...so there are detours..lots of them. Thus the fifteen mile trip to the doctor turned into a 45 mile excursion....I am late but thankfully, that is o.k....the doctor can still see me. I am starting to think that maybe the day is turning around..I have had coffee, got to my appointment..It is going to be smooth sailing..Until Zoe decided that she liked the doctors waiting room...liked it so much that she threw a hissy fit when it was time to leave. I had no choice but to carry a screaming squirming child ..past the annoyed looks of other patients...out through the building and across the vast parking lot and into the van. (at least she was dressed!) Another 45 miles later-we finally got home. Where lo and behold, I found the electrician waiting for me! HA! HA! or so I thought...I told him to please wait while I opened the side door for him- To please not open the front door, as this would let the dogs out. Can you guess what he did? That's right. He opened the front door-releasing the hounds (so to speak) Who of course headed towards the sewer work and the very busy road. Back into the van I went (Zoe was still in the van-as she threw yet another fit refusing to get out when she saw that the electrician was a man, and she "DOESN'T LIKE BOYS") -Back along the detour I drove..flashers on, yelling at the dogs to get in. I felt like a deranged kidnapper, all I needed was some candy and a raincoat. Eventually, after what felt like hours, I caught up with them. I got (dragged) them into the van and back to the house. I was home free!..yeah. As I opened the door to let them in, I was greeted by an ominous presence..a whiff of foreboding..I was consumed by a sense of dread..right there, on the center of the floor...mocking me with its very presence, was a huge pile of dog poop. sigh... I just didn't have it in me to blog anymore.


I had intended to write all about Sammy. How he had just turned eleven last week, and of my sister (eleven years my senior) who died a few days later. I wanted to talk about how Sammy lives on the autism spectrum and how my sister died from cancer....about those parents of autistic children who claim that they would prefer that their kids had cancer. How very wrong and misguided I thought that they were. But instead, I wound up writing the above.


I had wanted to honor them. Sammy, for the young man he is becoming-loving, joyful-a gentle soul...and my sister-one of the most difficult, yet brilliantly talented, wickedly funny people that I have known. I wish them both peace and light. and absolutely no dog poop.

8 comments:

Kim Wombles said...

Thank you for both the laughter and the tears. I'll let you keep the dog poop. I have some cat pee, if you're interested.

Happy birthday, Sammy!

You already know how sorry I am for the loss of your sister, but it never hurts to share it again. I hope the afterlife is pleasant and includes copious amounts of coffee and laughter for her. ((()))

kathleen said...

My dog poop and your cat pee...together we can take over the world!!

Clay said...

So sorry about your sister. No, there's really no comparison of cancer with autism. I really can't understand how some people's hatred of autism causes them to entirely lose their ability to think straight.

Um, the snooze feature on My radio/alarm clock only works for 3 times, then gives up. I had to back it up with a smaller alarm, (that I would set for the latest possible wake-up time), that was Very Annoying, and wouldn't take "No" for an answer! I placed it on the other side of the room, so I'd Have to get up to make it stop.

Kim Wombles said...

:-) Now that's optimism!

kathleen said...

Thanks Clay...You know the "Sharper Image" catalogue used to have a "hover" alarm clock. It would actually fly up in the air so that you could not reach it..:)

denise said...

Shoot, my comment disapeared. I will try again. This was a really good read Kathleen.I wanted to knife the electricians tires for you-but probably just because I myself haven't had any coffee yet.

I'm so sorry to hear about your sister. I'm wishing lots of strength for you and your family right now. You've always seemed to have it in droves though.

On a side rant:

The stupid cancer/autism argument doesn't surprise me at all, it's because society has such an ass backwards view of what cancer is.
Like all of the people who proclaim them selves as cancer "survivors"-they've always seemed just as looney to me as "warrior mothers". They HONESTLY think that they somehow 'fought' back against cancer and 'willed themselves' to live. Nuts. And how many morons nod their heads when some alternative med "pro" says , "Cancer is an emotional disease."

I think the average Americans grasp of their own anatomy and "how their body works" is even worse than our abysmal sense of geography. I'm not usually one to rag on my own country-but it seems that the whole,delicious, "We can do anything, we're the best!" take on life has led too many people to believe that they can control whether or not disease affects them, and it's starting to affect public policy now, and driving me up a wall.....

rant over :)

jazzygal said...

Oh Kathleen.... so sorry to hear about your sister. How sad. I hope that she is very much at peace now.

As for the rest...EEw...Eew!! Hate dog poo!! Thanks for the laugh though...even though you had a mad, deranged kind of a day! Just shows you though .... life does indeed go on.

And a very Happy Birthday to Sammy. xx Jazzy

kathleen said...

Denise-I love your rants...they mirror my own so well-0:)
Jazzygal, thanks so much for your kind words..yes indeed life,just like dog poop goes on...and on :)