The Sick-o's Have Taken My Sanity

I originally started this blog with the intention of only writing about my art. Well that didn't last long! I guess just keeping it about art wouldn't be my *style* - but throwing everything into a discombobulated pile suits me much better. So here we sit.

I'm stuck in bed today. Not by choice - but because my 10 year old is sick. 103* fever sick. The good news is that my oldest son is feeling better - so I've booted him off the couch and into the shower. (Thank gawd!) He had almost become permanently attached to the couch - thankfully I forced him into the shower before that happened. Although I caught it early, I'm still pretty sure my couch will never be the same again.

Poor childebeast. He's going away on his 5th grade trip next week - which is a rite of passage. Since I went to the same elementary school my kids attend, I remember that trip well. When I was a student there the school went to sixth grade - so we went in sixth. Seeing how fast these kids grow up now, fifth grade seems appropriate...I guess. He's never been away from home this long - and I'm a little nervous. I know he'll have a great time - and he doesn't seem concerned about it at all. Wish mama could say the same. What is it with things like that? You want to strangle them (or at least tape their mouths shut) when they're home...but when they leave, a piece of your heart goes with them. Oh well. I'm sure I can *force* myself to get over it and enjoy four nights of having only two childebeasts at home. It'll be tough...but I'll try.

I've decided that as adults, you make friends in the oddest of places. It's easy to make/keep friends when your a kid - school guarantees you'll be surrounded with peers...whether you like them or not. I suppose work fulfills the same purpose when we're adults - we're surrounded by people we may/may not like. This social interaction provides us with the chance to make friends. What happens when you don't work though? Or you work with mind-numbing idiots and derelicts? (No - I've never had a job like that. Just for the record.)

I haven't worked outside of the home in eleven-and-a-half long years. Which means I've spent most of that time with little people. Childebeasts. Which is all fine and good - especially if you're one of those amazing people who always wanted to be a parent and can't imagine not having them. It's also good if you have a low threshold for mental stimulation. Unfortunately, I'm don't meet either criteria. Not even a little. That's not to say I don't love my kids - I do. With all my heart. But do they drive me absolutely insane? Yes. They've absorbed every brain cell I used to have - without even saying "thank you". Like it isn't enough they call me "mom" when we're in public.

So I've been left to make friends in other ways. One of my favorite ways - or at least the most convenient - is online. I don't know what people did before this computer thang cam along. They probably had to actually get all made up and go into the world and...ack...socialize. The horror! Does that mean that people with childebeasts like mine just didn't leave the house - therefore accepting they'd never have friends? I know I choose to stay home a lot of the time because I just don't have the patience or cajones to take my offspring out in public. I guess some of my reluctance to take the 'beasts out in public is also due to my annoyance with other parents. You know the ones - the people who look at you like you have five heads just because your child is throwing things and screaming. (Not that I find this behavior acceptable - or tolerable. But isn't this what happens when you take small people out to the local WalMart? Or is it just mine??) I have grown tired of the looks I get - and of the comments people make "under their breath" - which is a stupid term. If they made these comments "under their breath", would I hear them? I think not. My observation has been that the more expensive the store we're in, the more intolerable adults are within earshot, or the more I threaten my children that they'd better behave, prior to embarking on an outing...the worse they behave.

So I don't chance it anymore than I absolutely have to. Instead I prefer to stay at home and put up with their astonishing antics by myself. Which leaves me pretty isolated. Without the computer, how would I meet the incredible people I have? Not to mention that having childebeasts means you have absolutely no money - so my life would be void of the color my friends in far-away places weave into my life.

All of this is the result of the seemingly endless support my online friends give to me. The laughs they bring to my days. The way they relate their own experiences to me - especially on the days when they are living lives parallel to mine. What would I do without these people? Without their support? Without their humor?

If I didn't have these phenomenal people in my live - even if their presence only exists in the cable line that runs into my house - my childebeasts would certainly have driven me to a padded cell by now. With no return ticket. Laughing all the way.

It was a long way around...but I owe a huge thank you to all my Internet friends. Without your humor and love I would have flown this coup a long time ago. A local friend of mine actually moved - and left no forwarding address - when her last child turned 18. I doubt I would have made it til my last one turns 18. Or I would have become the town drunk...which would have been quite the accomplishment in a town this size. I'm incredibly blessed to have these kinds of people enriching my life - and I know that even though I'm completely broke, my life will always be rich with friends like I have. I love you all!

And that's about as much as poetic waxing as I can take for one day. ;)