yer gonna give me a heart attack kid!

My son is prone to giving me fits...I swear, he thrives on it...or perhaps it's just the way of children...I seem to recall being a bit challenging when I was his age...*smirk*

It is my custom to call him after 3:30 pm just to make sure he got home ok. He's old enough now that he can be alone after school for a couple hours 'til I get off work. He enjoys the responsibility...and it has done wonders for his confidence as well. On Wednesday's though, I have class in the evening so I have a sitter that will pick him up on her way home from her job and take him home with her 'til I'm done school.

For half an hour straight I tried calling him...to no avail. I called the school to see if he'd been kept behind for some reason, but no. I called his dad to see if he'd gone there instead, but no. I called the sitter on her cell phone and she was on her way to the house but still a ways away so no help yet. In between these other calls I was calling the house again and again and was getting quite frantic stuck here at work, feeling extremely helpless. I called his father again (who drives me NUTS I tell you...I was stuck across town and he was so fucking laid back about shit like this...'oh he's probably just outside with the dog or something'...)

FINALLY - dufus calls me at work - Ben's fine. He couldn't get in the house because the lock was frozen and he couldn't get in. He was quite chilled by the time Nancy got there to pick him up despite being bundled up in his coat. It's been extremely frigid in these parts these past couple days and we'd had some rain on warmer days previous to the extreme cold snap.

So, I get off the phone with my ex and I start bawlin'...my co-worker says go take a walk and breathe...he's ok now Mom...

He knows now, that if something like that ever happens again he's to go to his dad's house which is only a couple blocks from our house.

When I picked him up after class, I told him "I was SO worried about you!" and right away he says "it wasn't my fault!!"...lol

God I love that kid!

I miss you

My best friend Laura died 25 years ago today.

I was 5 days shy of 13...and it felt like my whole world caved in around me. Indeed, when her mom called to tell me that Laura had been taken to the hospital and it's bad...I collapsed to the floor sobbing, clutching the receiver and that's where my mother found me when she returned home from town. Laura died that night in spite of all heroic measures taken to save her life.

I don't remember when we met...I felt like I knew her forever. Our families attended the same church in Mitchell. We didn't go to kindergarten together; coming from a rural community and living in different townships we alternated days in school. We farm kids went full days to Upper Thames, every other day (and had nap time!) whereas the town kids went half days every day to Mitchell Public. From then on though, we were inseparable...when you saw one of us the other wouldn't be far behind.

I spent many nights at her house...called her parents "mom" & "dad"....she truly was like a sister to me and I miss her every day. I often wonder how different my life would have been had she lived.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year folks!

My celebration was personal and reflective.

Ok, so it was my year with the boy and he was in bed by 10 pm....I stayed up playing Scrabulous online (via Facebook).

Ayup...I sure know how to have a good time. ;)

I think I'll go shovel snow...I've been inspired by the god damned plow guy and an insatiable need for Timmies.