Kids And Things: How did we survive?
As a parent, our goal in life is to insure that our children have a better life than we did. But there is no reason we can’t have some fun along the way!!
Escapades of our Children: names have been changed to protect the innocent!! Lol
One of the things I always did with the kids was have them make up little shows or songs to sing for the family and film them. Our firstborn, “B”, was such a ham. Was? Nope, still is! Anyway, if I was filming one of the other kids, she would literally jump up and down in front of the camera. In some cases, she even pushed the others out of the way. She was our little star. Now-a-days, she has the camera control. All pictures must be pre-approved before using or they are deleted. You have to be careful because she will just wipe them right off your photo device when you are not looking if you don’t do it.
She was one of those kids who always strove to excel. She had great grades in all advance classes and was able to do a half college and half high school curriculum. She made some amazing choices. Knowing she was interested in communications and that our local college had a well-known program, she chose to go there, graduate in three years, and then apply to a GREAT grad program for the name recognition. She sent only one application for grad school out and she was accepted in three weeks— NYU! Yes, New York University, where she worked hard and graduated in one and a half years. She got a job in marketing right away and is now the senior marketing director for a company.
She worked hard at school and play. She swam, played clarinet and piano and loved to sing. “B” has always enjoyed performing and I was lucky enough to be going back to school at a time when she started college. We were able to take a couple of acting classes and choir together. I have pretty amazing memories of acting out a script dressed in Klingon-type outfits for the class and going on choir tour together. Hopefully, I didn’t embarrass her too much! We were able to perform in several musicals together. It is really amazing to get to share that with your children. We did The Apple Tree, The King and I, Sorority Sisters Slumber Party Massacre, The Musical (don’t ask–college) and medieval dinner theater–Iolanthe–where she got to play the lead.
“B” as a child, was a bit reserved at times. For instance, she would watch her sister and brother attempt something (dangerous) and if they survived she would join in! I remember her jumping off a 20 foot cliff into a pool–she needed a slow clap from the assembled group for that one. Then, as a kid, while playing in the backyard wooded area with her sister and some of the neighborhood kids, she had to swing off a hanging vine. They all had to go first before she would do it. Today, she is fearless and such a strong young woman. I am so very proud of her. Now she is a mom herself of identical twin girls. Mother’s revenge!!!!!!!
“M” is our middle child! I mean in every sense of the word. She has made it her life work to be totally different from her siblings. What she doesn’t realize is that she is still very much like them at the core. Fearless and intelligent and not afraid to stand up for herself. I wish I could be more like that at times. Was this always a love fest?…..Hell NO! She took a few wrong curves along the way but eventually she found her way back. She has had much to deal with in her short life so far. At 15 months, she had arsenic poisoning. Terro Liquid Ant Killer, BTW, is one of the most potent forms on arsenic on the market. She found a little cardboard piece at the neighbors’ house and licked the drops off. Four days in the hospital, heart monitors, pumped stomach, activated charcoal down a tube in her nose—and she had no symptoms. BUT her lab results were highly toxic…the little brat. Another time, she had a bike accident and came into my ER (when I was working no less) as a trauma. ARGH. We thought we were going to have to wire her jaw but luckily we didn’t have to. She just lost her three front teeth.
“M” is very intelligent but only excelled when she was really interested in the subject. She did really well in school–We insisted on that but I remember talking to at least one teacher every year all the way through high school. Ha! She actually had enough credits to bypass her senior year (second half) and go to a full semester of college. She discovered that she really liked Psychology. She feels a connection to others from challenges with her BPD–Borderline Personality Disorder. That is one thing I have always appreciated about her–she really knows how to advocate for herself until she gets what she needs. Thank goodness.
Have all the relationships and years growing up been perfect? Probably not, but we are all working on that. I got the chance to sing and work with her a lot since she moved to Arizona. We were part of that musical cabaret group where she finally got to sing and be a part of a great group of people. That was really fun.
I appreciate that she has continued to try in a world that is not kind to her. Through BPD, divorce , Marfan’s Syndrome, risky pregnancy, pulmonary hypertension and motherhood–she has continued on and found herself and some great friends. Did I mention she belongs to TST. TST tenets LOL! This all takes strength and a belief in yourself. I am proud of her will. She will not be assimilated!
NEXT and Last!
Best Uncle Ever! “S”, our last child, is bright (über smart), clever, funny (in that dry sarcastic way), sensitive and just a great guy. He had the benefit of two awesome sisters to teach him. He was really early to do things. I should have known then! He talked in complete sentences at 18 months and was reading words from books at two years old. He played on our first computer, at two, doing dinosaur paint and shapes games.
He almost died several times…. AT OUR HANDS!!! He figured out how to crawl over our fenced-in back yard so he could play by our pond and catch tadpoles when he was two. That got him a paddle engraved with his name as a warning. (I am pretty sure it was never actually used) There was another time when we were all driving to a soccer game of B’s when he systematically threw the contents of my purse out the back window of the car along the 15 minute drive to the soccer field. My husband’s dad and mom got a kick out of that one! This included: license, check book, credit cards of all sorts, money, etc. I did eventually get a couple things back even though we drove the road back and couldn’t find anything at the time. I got back my license, a bank card and my hospital work ID card. I had to pick it up from the local college campus police station where a nice women who found it had dropped it off. I told the cop at the station what had happened and he laughed his butt off. I will NEVER forget what he told me–“that is why, in nature, mothers eat their young!” OMG! I wasn’t sure he was going to live to be ten let alone graduate.
But funny thing is, as “S” has grown up, he turned into an amazing kid. He has had some great opportunities in high school: drum caption of the Marching band, district swimmer, tennis team, cross country team, and Homecoming King. In college, he was able to attend a fantastic university on his own effort and dime. Scholarships and work! He was able to start working in research his first year of college on, duh…DARK MATTER, of course. He got to travel to Holland and do a semester with a great professor there and, as a byproduct, got published. He worked hard and graduated well. He was able to get a fellowship and a great position as a research assistant while going to school and working on his Doctorate in Optical Physics. He has been able to travel to Holland, Germany, Sweden, South Korea, England, Hawaii, and Alaska for his work. He was able to purchase his first house on his own and, even though that had some drama (think asbestos), he has really made it great. Now, he is the first Doctor, PhD, in our family… and he works for NASA. How cool is that?
KIDS–what I have noticed is that while each of them had their own quirks, problems, and growth—they all are smart, funny, intelligent and resourceful—and yes, I will take credit for that. Thank you!
Contact me at: taketimetolivelife@outlook.com