Dear Todd (We have a Teenager)

With apologies to Margaret Wise Brown November 19th, 2016 Dear Todd, Ode to Aden... In the great tan space There was a poster And an illustrated face 
 And a sculpture of- An AT AT on a shelf in its place 
And there were three little crafts A boat, a car, a raft And two wrestling awards 
And two school poster boards 
And two Lego Star Wars Ships 
And a bag from some Potato Chips 
And a laptop and two speakers and a pair of smelly sneakers And an 80lb Aussie who was snoring and bossy Goodnight space
 Goodnight face
 Goodnight AT AT on a shelf in its place Goodnight crafts
 And the wrestling awards
 Goodnight Ships
 Goodnight Chips
 Goodnight speaker
 And goodnight sneakers
 Goodnight Aussie 
And goodnight saxophone
 That was one day played
 And goodnight photograph that needs to be framed
 Goodnight stuffed koala bear
 who you called "Kalupticus." Goodnight Star Wars blanket
 Made with love from all of us
 And goodnight to the childish...

November 17th, 2016 Dear Todd, Yesterday was one of those days when our native languages failed us and the result was me wishing all my fingers could turn into the middle one and I could angrily wave Jazz hands at you, and you clearly wishing you could ball me up into a reasonably tight package and drop kick me through the roof. Let this be a message to those who are dating...seize the opportunity to go back to your own place while you can. Or if you've decided to go for the "long haul," practice being stuck in each other's space knowing that even if you leave, you have to come back. Unless you wanted to get a hotel---but then you are just spending more of "both" of your money which is destined to cause another battle down the road, when clearly you could've just come home--after all Timmy needs braces and plays for a traveling baseball team. Unless, of course, you are being beaten/abused. Then get the hotel. Preferably in a different state.  And u...

November 14th, 2016 Dear Todd, I haven't been able to write in a while---there's been a couple things on my mind. I think I need to get it out in order to remove this "block." Things like: 1. How will our 7th grader's wrestling season go? Will we all be miserable, or will it be a year of triumph and victory so sweet that nothing could strip that joy? 2. White Supremacy 3. How to recover our daughter's original story that she worked on for weeks only to have it saved under the same name and "replaced." 4. Racism 5. How to re-stitch an original stuffed animal creation to make it stand upright and be more symmetrical. 6. Safety Pins 7. How to get the leaves out of the gutter with a short ladder. 8. Wanting to give this President a chance, and have ALL acts of violence and cruel treatment of humanity disappear and not be linked to acts of enthusiasm by some of those who "won." 9. Wanting to actually have a neatly folded ...

November 8th, 2016 Dear Todd, This entire next little entry is to be read to the tune of "Favorite Things" from the Sound of Music. "Vomit in kennels and never ending laundry Kids who need breakfast and showers and laundry, Yes, I repeated the word laundry twice Cuz it's become something that controls my life. Extra-curricular, medical and dental So many costs it can make you go mental How many things can one child need? As if one's not enough we decided to have 3! When the dog barks! And bites Jackson! When he eats his sock-a I simply remember I once had a choice And I chose to drink Vod-ka And with my free-thinking and late nights of drinking I never guessed that a boat could keep sinking Just as it drys with a work day's rewards The water starts creeping its way through the boards! When the car dies! When the screen breaks! When there's just no end I simply remember that we made a choice Again...and again...and again....

November 3rd, 2016 (Day after the Cubs won the World Series) Ha! Right?! Crazy! Cannot believe it's true! Finally! Dear Todd, I decided to read to our daughter tonight. It has been a while. And she asked. So... I went and climbed into bed with her and Petey. I had gone no further than two paragraphs when two boys appeared at the foot of the bed. It was like that scene in the Sound of Music where there's a thunder storm and all of a sudden everyone shows up and sings about their favorite things.  Only we did not sing.  We barely even read. Because shortly after the boys arrived, low-impact "dog wrestling" started. "Don't push him off the bed on his back!" I loudly cautioned. "We won't," they replied in unison, just catching enough breath from laughing to get it out. "You will. And you are about to," I continued, "and you will be paying for the vet bill yourselves if he falls and hurts himself." "Petey...

November 1, 2016 Dear Todd, As I pulled up to the school this morning, I noticed a large black suburban at the tail end of the drop-off line.  It was parked. Not dropping anybody, but parked.  So I slowly pulled forward in an effort to claim some curbside real estate to drop off our two and realized there were 3 more cars. Parked. I pulled awkwardly in front of the silver Subaru, wedging myself behind the white Chevy and had the kids jump out---as if I were DROPPING THEM OFF.  I then sat, and watched "Alice" lean out the passenger window from the driver 's seat to talk with "Judy" who was walking her son on the sidewalk. Just then, Alice's son came back to the car because he, after being on the playground for 3 minutes, had something more to say. And I'm pretty sure that, had his mother not still been sitting there, well...I don't want to even imagine the trauma that could have caused. Thank God, she was still there. In case, you haven't no...