Growing Edges
alexa lopezArchive for December, 2008
2008: A Year I’d Love to Forget
Okay, not really. Because then I’d not have gained anything from the experiences that make me want to forget this year.
I learned a lot in 2008:
- I hate smoothies, but if I could afford it, I would drink a “Pomegranate Heart Happy” at Jamba Juice everyday because they are SOOOO yummy
- Deep snow is fun for a couple of days…then I wish I could melt it with a giant blowdryer
- No matter how much the head boss likes you, the immediate boss can still get rid of you to save his own butt and there’s nothing you can do about it (I’m sorry, do I sound bitter?)
- Clutter disturbs my ability to function mentally
- I’m getting old but I still feel really young
- I like being a learning coach for our online public-schooled son
- Driving with a first-time driver is really scary
- Change happens no matter how unwilling I am to accept it, and…
- Change can be quite cathartic
- It’s a good idea to have tire chains no matter how seldom I’ll need them in the Puget Sound
- More people care about me than I ever imagined (thanks, Jenni, Cathy, Lauren, Kelly and many others from MVCN)
- Dr. Seuss books do not make for good feature-length movies
- Brain Age (for DS) makes me feel like I’m doing something to prevent Alzheimers, which afflicted my late grandma
- Sudoku makes me angry, but I like the challenge
- My teenagers really believe that I can’t possibly know the tricks of the trade (Been there, done that…ALL of it, my lovely children)
- Having a husband whose employment takes him far from home for a period of time doesn’t work for me
- Adversity only immobilizes me if I give it power to do so
I’ve learned a lot more but can’t remember all of it. Guess it’s time to exercise my brain some more.
Happy New Year to you and yours. May you experience new mountaintops and some valleys to help you appreciate them…that’s where the glorious wildflowers grow.
© Alexa Lopez, 2008
Monkeys at Staples
My kids can (and do) find ways to entertain themselves when I drag them around on errands with me. I suppose it can be amusing.
Last week, having already trekked through a craft store with four of our kids in search of clear glass ornaments to decorate, we drove across town in the snow to order Richard’s Christmas gift. I was already crispy from the craft store excursion and tried mentally preparing myself not to get irritated with my kids’ boredom at Staples. After all, what’s more boring to a kid than an office supply store?
I went to the in-store kiosk to place an order and pay at the register. That’s it…no perusing the aisles, no comparing of products or prices. I had already done all that online.
A few minutes was obviously too long for them that day because my peripheral vision caught my lovelies scooting around the kiosk on the wheeled office chairs.
“Really?” I thought.
Were my 14-year-old daughter and my 12, 10 and 5-year-old sons really scooting around on these display chairs?
As a parent tries to childproof the home for a new baby who comes along after the older ones are beyond the need for childproofing…I don’t see all the opportunities for “fun” that they see until they’re in it.
I tried giving them “the look” that tells them this is unacceptable behavior, but I could only laugh. I would have loved to join them, but I didn’t. “What would people say?”
I really appreciate that aspect of childhood that fearlessly engages in harmless fun, risking rebuke by someone in charge and the resulting embarrassment.
It does, however, make me think twice before buying anything that has been a display item. 
© Alexa Lopez, 2008
