Society Needs to Be Shot

Good grief, I'm tired! Makes it a little hard to think of something to write. Between the rain (I'm a ridiculously light sleeper), the hot flashes (which aren't hot for near as long as they are clammy), and the number of projects I'm trying to get done before chaperoning the 8th grade trip to Florida this month....did I mention being tired?


So I'm trying to write a blog this morning, and I thought...and thought...and thought...what do I want to focus on....


But then the news mentioned a shooting at a psychiatric hospital in Pittsburgh...


Now before I get gun owners all in an uproar, I'm typing this in a room with guns. I'm as Southern as they come, and with that came the target practice as a youth, the guns in every house I visited, the men talkin' hunting. I thought pickup trucks came with a gun rack just like they did with mud flaps. In fact we made the mistake of scheduling our wedding on the opening day of deer season in Tennessee. Quite a few men who did not make the wedding showed up for the reception, thankfully freshly showered. 


What strikes me about every shooting we hear of is - how did we become a society that thinks we can solve our problems by murder? People piss me off every day. If you've ever heard me talk about carrying the kids to school or been with me in the car lane at school, you've gotten to see it first hand. But, it's never occurred to me to shoot the people who take all day to drop their kid off or text in the car pool line.


Why are we failing so miserably at conflict resolution, at helping those who need it? What can we do differently? It's not just teenagers...it's society...there's a Southern saying - "just oughta be shot" - I heard this all the time growing up. It was a comment on how stupid or ridiculous something was. But nobody ever did it...unless you were a deer...  

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions....Welcome to the Circus

So I'm one of those Mom's. The selfish ones who don't quite make every event that their child is in or volunteer at every opportunity. Tonight is our older son's first ever performance in marching band. He's doing quite well with it. In fact most of the complaints and whines have been mine ("How much money?, "What times are practices?", "Quick, who knows how many traffic lights are between us and the high school?", and "I hate a car pool lane.") Usually those statements are a touch more umm, verbose. What can I say? I love a good whine.

But my life, like so many of us, is a constant juggling act between the kids, and my parents needs. Of course throw in there the house, hubby, work, the never ending yard work, and there you have it, a 16 ring circus complete with juggling and the high wire. 

My Daddy is in the hospital and I am worried. No two ways about it. So I'm sitting here with the "do I stay or do I go" syndrome. If I stay, then I get to see my child perform in the marching band for the first time ever - which I so badly want to do. And I'm already planning on going next weekend which means I'll miss his first time in uniform. If I go, then I can't go next weekend, and will I be able to do everything I need to get done at their house this weekend? Probably not. Plus we have plans for the weekend - which makes me seem selfish.

In between all that someone always seems to "charitably" notice my absences or when I decline to help at an event. It's so very helpful when someone tells me that their life is complicated, too. Especially when I don't remember trying to make it a competition. I even once heard that if going stresses me out so much than I just shouldn't go. Uh huh - to me that really smacks of selfish. I not so charitably have decided they are the chattering monkeys in the circus. They are focused on their own lives (rightly so), but never give credence to your own complications.

As I sit here writing this, I suddenly get inspiration from the Disco channel, yeah, I said DISCO. Sister Sledge is singing "We Are Family" and the lines, "Have faith in you and the things you do" goes past me and then sinks back into my heart. Every day we all make decisions and juggle and hope for the best and all I can do is have faith while I ignore the chattering monkeys and try to juggle in the circus. Please tell me I'm not the only one with the chattering monkeys, guilt and juggling act!