Moments

Over the past few days there have been some interesting moments in TN.

First, the kids in Caetie's class (she's in 7th grade) are calling her "Yankee" because we are from "up north". So, it's bothered her, but not too much. Apparently on Friday she'd had enough because she said, "Yeah, well, we won the war." and the kid next to her says, "you did?"

The weather has been so beautiful to this Chicago girl. I LOVE it here. The weatherman confuses me, though.

Last week he was giving the seven day forecast and said it will be in the mid-70's all week. Then he said, "Well, I guess it's time to put away the shorts." Put away the shorts? If we had a pool, we'd still be swimming! I don't know if we are going to put away the shorts this year for quite awhile.

Jon said that this past week they have gone through a TON of chili at work. Now that the temperature is "put away the shorts weather" he is selling a lot of chili. So, he's talking to his co-manager and says, "Make sure that we have enough chili meat, we don't want the Tennessean's to get frostbite."

Shawn said, "Do I have to say "purty" instead of pretty? I don't want to say "purty"..."

The vice-principal at the high school is frequently overheard saying things like, "What are you all carryin' on about, this ain't no hootenanny!"

The elementary school called me, but I missed the phone. So, I hit redial on the caller id. It said that it couldn't connect me, so I found the direct number and called. Here's part of the conversation before I poked my ears out.

Kim: "Well, I am not sure who just called me because I missed the phone and there wasn't a message. Is it possible for you to find out if all of the children are okay? I have three there?"

Secretary: "Do you have any children at this school?"

Kim: "Yes, three; James, Shawn, and Megan."

Secretary: "Oh, well I don't think they called you."

Kim: "I understand, can you call to their rooms to make sure that someone didn't need me to pick them up, or had a medical issue?"

Secretary: "I don't know, will you hold a moment?"
Secretary: "Ma'am, I don't know who could have called you, did you say you have children at this school?"

I finally got ahold of somebody else that could answer my questions and everyone was fine. There apparently was a line in the morning at breakfast and James didn't make it to his classroom before attendance and he was marked absent. When someone is absent, the "automated" system calls home and lets you know that someone is missing from school.

If there was a kid or kids home from school, wouldn't I already know?!

Shouldn't the message say something like, "Because you're probably cleaning up puke or comforting a feverish child or possibly sick yourself and you are all in one room in the "sick bed", we understand that you didn't call us to inform us of that. We would appreciate that in the future, after you clean up that you give us a call. Thanks!"

I got my first political solicitation call EVER in my 35 years. I have never received a call from anyone asking if I would support a particular candidate.

Walmart in TN is the same as Walmart anywhere else, it is a space/time vortex and you lose time in proportion to how much money you spend.

Lisa likes school, it's harder than she thought it would be. If there is a message in there it is this, go to school first, go when you have no responsibilities but yourself.

I saw a quote on my friend Janeen's email today that I liked.
It says,
"Going to church doesn't make you a Christian anymore than standing in your garage makes you a car."

I missed the season premier of Criminal Minds, the premier of CSI: Miami only taped 15 minutes of the end, and the 650th episode of Cops was a rerun. Out of all of that, I love that I am more concerned that Hal Sparks made it to the finals on "Celebrity Duets" than I am about any of the other shows.

All in all, today was a good day. I was productive today. Oh, and I may already have won 2.1 million dollars...
(Loud noises, bells, whistles, yelling and screaming in the background, clanging...)

Well, that was a couple of moments in my life.

Tell me yours.
Was today a bad day? Was today a good day? Was today the BEST day?

Pass it on...

My mom told me to check out this website because I would really enjoy reading Aimee's words.

http://www.askaboutaimee.com/index.html

I did. Then I got angry.

I kept thinking about Aimee's words to her daughter about her neurons being likened to mailmen retiring to Florida to go to Disney World.

Couldn't stem cell research help with ALS? Isn't this something that we should be voting on in the upcoming election year? Lo and behold it is.

It's crazy the controversy about stem cells. There shouldn't be any question about using them in the studies of Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, ALS, spinal cord injuries, etc. Why are there questions?

If I threw away a desk and my neighbor needed a desk, it's not against the law for her to come and get it from the curb.

Why isn't it the same with stem cells that are being thrown away? If they are at the curb and my neighbor has a need for them, why not?

I'm angry that I will most likely outlive Aimee. I'm angry that I can't "do" anything to help her. I am angry that I feel small reading about her fight to do things that I take totally for granted.

I am also thankful that Aimee has her website, so that I can see that ALS isn't just a disease, it's a family and it's personal and it doesn't just affect Aimee, but her husband and children and family and her community. Now it affects me and mine.

I know that my opinion is only one in the vastness of cyberspace, but check out Aimee's website.

While, I might not be able to help Aimee personally or specifically, I can help to raise awareness of ALS and voting folks who would like to see more stem cell research into office is free and my right and priviledge.

Pass it on.