In Sickness and in Health

The Sun is Setting on Spring Break

It is the Sunday night of Spring break.  I've been sick for nine days.  My life force returned to me this afternoon at about 2:00.  Full energy.  As we learned in our Hawaiian yoga--my chi is finally flowing again.  I'm happy I'm feeling better but I'm so bummed I missed my week to really get ahead in the house and yard.  I had this herculean list of Spring break tasks and it serves me right I guess that I barely touched it.

This morning a u-haul moving van pulled up next door.  Apparently our neighbor's girlfriend is moving out.  This is our same neighbor who is so sick recovering from strep A and being in a coma for several weeks. It is a life changing illness.  It pretty much cuts to the chase of vows versus no vows. The old in sickness and in health thing.  Of course we have no idea of the whole story and it is obviously none of our business but she sure doesn't look good on paper.

That really made me sad.  

I got to take Mary to gymnastics this week. I was happy to watch her but in between her stunts I re-skimmed Barbara Coloroso's book Kids Are Worth It.  Coloroso spoke at our Suzuki Conference several years ago and I forgot how great this book is.  A few sample chapters are:

Three Kinds of Families--brick wall, jellyfish, and backbone
Settling Sibling Rivalry without Calling in the Cavalry
The Big C and the Three Rs: chores, relaxation, recreation and rebellion
Sexuality is Not a Four Letter Word
Getting Your Kid Out of Jail and Other Mega-problems

If those titles aren't intriguing. . .

After re-skimming I was inspired to be my very best parent and also to keep my kids out of jail.  I guess because I was high on my rekindled zeal for parenting I felt like we had such a great weekend.  The kids helped us get ready for company on Saturday, and Sunday (after the 2:00 return of my Chi) Calvin helped Bill and I burn the thrash pile of stuff down by the lake.  He stuck with it until the end and never asked for anything in return.  Just proud to be a good helper.

We applied for Calvin's passport on Friday.  It took both parents and the kid getting to the Dakota county office with a money order and a birth certificate so you can imagine the hoopla.  He's going to Switzerland with my mom this summer.  He's really growing up.

He winked at me when I asked when the Easter Bunny is coming.

He's had a runny nose again for the last two weeks.  We can't seem to break the cycle and I know it wears him down.  I hate that I and wish a had a magic wand to fix it.  He just blows and blows to try to clear it--I've told him 10,000 times that won't help--I just don't know where he gets the obsessive compulsive thing.

Seriously--it bums me out when he is distractingly congested--when it keeps him from focusing on what he needs to do--like piano. . . .

He asked me to ask him before writing about him in this blog. That's cool.  He subscribes.  (I write tonight with permission.)

He practices band all on his own.  He does the bare minimum and he gets marked down for that, but to Bill and I--for a kid who plays Beethoven Sonatas and Bach concertos to have to go rat tat tat on the snare drum for 20 minutes, without EVER being reminded-- doing the minimum gets an A+ in our book.

To see your kid showing appropriate bursts of responsibility and self sufficiency is heart warming.

One small step toward intrinsic motivation, and I might add--staying out of jail.

Here's to health--mine, Calvin's and our neighbor's.  God bless us all, in sickness and in health.