Mood:
loudOK....Now, I realize that the election is happening tomorrow, I've done quite well, if I do say so myself...This level of aggitation, irritation and a general dislike for anyone outside of my family and a pretty close circle, usually sets in several weeks before an election, so the weekend before an election...well, I deserve some serious kudos for growth....
Mom (Jon's mom), if you're reading this...you *might* not want to continue...I promise you there is nothing cute about any of the kids in this post...I've done my duty in telling you...I'm sure you're going to read anyhow...but buckle your seat belt...
OK...So, generally, my husband isn't much of a "talker"...like most guys. Things came to a head yesterday when I had to go pick the kids up after he told me he was going to take them for the day. My picking them up wasn't in the agreement...I didn't ASK him to take them...wouldn't have, didn't. PERIOD...So HE offered to take the kids with on Saturday night, so since I'd been up with Sam for a couple hours by the time sleeping beauty got his ass out of bed, I went and layed down to sleep for a bit. An hour later (granted, I was grateful of an hour of sleep because Sam had been poking me in the eyes all night and I didn't get to sleep at all), he comes in and makes a lot of noise and blames me that he has no socks... (my answer is consistent on this...if you put your dirty socks in a hamper, or SOME kind of dirty clothes pile, you will have clean socks because the *laundry fairy* gets it done...they're not in a pile or the hamper...sorry charlie...I just spent two weeks looking for one of the kids' new shoes...I'm not spending three seconds looking for a 38 year old's misplaced SOCKS!) and then announces that he's taking Jonah with him. Fantastic...well, since I'm still groggy from an hour of sleep and that's pretty much it, I was a little confused...I thought you were taking Sam...(again, I didn't ask, I wouldn't have asked...he offered) So he says something stupid like "Well, if you get up and get him dressed..." WHAT?!?!? Because everytime I have to leave the house with the kids, I call you home from work to get the baby dressed? Little bit confused...So apparently Jon's arms are broken because I have to dress Sam...(That was VERY irritating to me...When I take him out, I have to get him dressed...period...) OK...so then comes the phone call that I have to come pick the kids up because he "has a meeting"....what ever....You know...Now, this probably sounds like absolutely nothing to get irritated over...Granted, even though I get precisely ZERO breaks, EVER...I still didn't ask him to take the kids...but when combined with Jon's apparent lack (forgetfulness?) of driving skills (exactly how many red lights does a person have to run in, say, a 20 minute period of time before you are allowed to call him or her a bad driver? How many times turning into oncoming traffic? (Same time period for argument's sake) How about how many times stopping at green lights and then turning once it turns red?) So, between the driving thing (of course with the cell phone plastered to his ear the entire time) and his lack of ANY words...(Don't worry...I get plenty of communication all day long...Sam knows how to say "yeah" (even though he doesn't know the difference between yes and no) and he also can say "Elmo"....that should be plenty for me...sorry I expect anything of you)...
OK...now...Jon, while being a big contributor to the problem, is not the whole problem...the problem boils down to a very few words....let's see: Politics, Egos, Insincerity, oh, I could go on...but those are a few. When I picked the kids up yesterday I had to say something to Jon about priorities...invariably it comes up before an election...I think ALL politicos' spouses have the same conversation a hundred times (just for the record, it does not good)...I had to leave however, when Jon said something to the effect of those who are working in politics are the saviors of the people. HHMMMPPHHH....I drove away...Egos in action.
So, that speaks for ego in and of itself...Not another story is even needed for that one! OK...what I want a politician to get...the next one who comes to my door begging for my vote...and they have the NERVE to insincerely ask me what concerns me....I'm going to have to lay it out on the line... What concerns me? Where do I start...I guarantee that NOTHING that concerns me is even REMOTELY on their radar screen. This is real life. It may not be a glamorous life, but oh...rest assured, its real. And I feel sorry for these people because they don't get it...so, here goes...for the sake of brevity, I will limit my main concerns to those that have occured in the past 11 months, JUST THIS YEAR....January through March included 2 hospitalizations for Sam, pneumonia and a medication reaction...oh yeah, and the fabulous news (which thankfully turned out to be another stupid doctor talking out his a$$) that my one year old has bone cancer. A couple more months for following up for that and holding him down several times a week for blood draws cleared up that "little misunderstanding". Let's see...February was also a hospitalization for Jonah...several days of inpatient EEG monitoring...June saw another hospitalization for Sam, pneumonia again. August...Jonah headaches & increased seizures and confustion...to the ER for a CT scan...shows a cyst or tumor...FANTASTIC...so he had an MRI the following week, had a looney toons reaction to the anesthesia & we had a "wonderful" (ego again) resident call him a monster and me a saint (yes, because he was having a reaction coming out of anesthesia)...good news and bad news...and I find this out only an hour after Jonah's reaction, on our way home from the hospital...Jonah doesn't have a brain tumor! (YAY!) But Jonah does have brain damage and, well...nothing we can do about that. Thanks and have a good life...Let's see...not to be outdone, September saw eye surgery for Sam, only a few seizures after anesthesia...all in all good...October, Jonah took a header from a game of stratego gone terribly awry...'nother CT scan....a few days ago...'nother header into a tree...I can't bear to take him to the ER...at what point is DCFS called into a case...how many head injuries is a 6 year old epileptic kid with cognitive issues allowed before "bad mom" comes into play...THAT's a practical question that you can answer me! Now, those were just the hospitalizations, a couple of the ER visits, surguries etc...my everyday life consists of meds 4 times a day, every day, split over 3 kids...I did the math once...It really is an obscene amount of med passing that I do, conservatively lets just say 25 doses a day, I'm sure if I counted, its more than that...double that if they are sick because its tylenol/ibuprofen alternating every 3 hours around the clock and that adds another 24 doses of meds...not to mention seizure rescue meds...speaking of seizures...I'm on daily seizure watch and my children's seizures are considered well controlled for them...Jonah "only" has 10-15 a week and Sam is probably hovering around 5-10 a week...Oh...but this is "easy"! We lived for two years with Jonah having hundreds a day, every day...so what am I doing complaining about "only 15-25 seizures a week?" Being on perpetual hold with insurance companies, doctors offices, therapists, pharmacies...having strangers in my home several days a week for therapies, waiting for these people to call me back, not knowing what the future holds for my "defective" children (not my word)....and through it all, I KNOW that our lives are blessed. I KNOW that it could be a hundred times more difficult. I have friends who are going through it and have the added difficulties of having children who can do nothing for themselves...I KNOW how blessed we are... But because I can't seem to squeak out time to volunteer for you, I'm not worth the time of day. Because my kids are the way they are the people whose salaries we are paying (teachers, principals, the school district superintendent) have made poor choices not in the best interest of my "slow, difficult to teach" children...so in addition to all of the health stuff...I'm also their teacher. And they are doing better now than they did ALL LAST YEAR...So, to every last politician out there who REALLY DOESN'T give a crap about people...I'm a person. This is real life. YOU don't have a CLUE for one second about real life....I can see the headlines now...You'd jump off a bridge if you had to deal with the things I have to deal with...I don't have a scheduler and a driver to get me to where and remind me where I need to be...THAT is not real life...I do it all, scheduler, driver, nurse, teacher, chef, "campaign" manager, general consultant, banker...TRY THAT...THIS is real life... its not "charmed", its not glamorous, but it is real...my kid may not be able to talk, another one may run himself head first into trees and drool a lot...I'M SO FREAKING SORRY if you don't want to see it or hear about it...THIS IS REAL.