Oy.  More like weeks like this...

When, oh when does this parenting thing get easier?  It was tougher when the kids were younger and most of the work was physical.  Now it's emotionally more draining.  I've made so many mistakes along the way, and frankly there are times when my kids deserved so much better.  Last night was one of those days where I felt that way.  Without going into all the gory details, Eddie  is acting a bit like a jerk and making some really stupid decisions. Nothing drug wise or something that would put him in jail  - just put him at risk of not graduating and definitely not getting himself in the best position possible if/when he does graduate.  I say the least little thing and I am "in all his business".  Empty nest is sounding better and better.  And feeling that way feels really crappy. 


 In the meantime, there are lots of things to do to get ready for Thanksgiving.  Today I plan on making a shopping list, finding the best price for a turkey and doing some cleaning.  Other than that... nothing really planned. 
 

It's been a good last few weeks.... what a whirl-wind!  So many things going on.  Aside from being a tiny bit annoyed with a certain teenager, everything is pretty darn good right now.  Yep, I know.... I shouldn't jinx it! 

Watching the world series was a lot of fun.  I think I had just as much fun knowing people I love/like were enjoying it way more than I was was even better.  Liam and Colleen are Phillies nuts.... Liam has been to enough games to have gotten mugged along the way.(technically on the way home at a not so great hub connecting to the suburban rails.  He now goes a different way)  Col apparently has been since she managed baseball in middle and high school.  She's funny - yells at the players.... So much fun to watch her.  Then there's one of the younger teachers I work with.  She  played basketball with one of the deaf students there when I first started working there.  She's definitely one of my favorite teachers to work with -  so excited about what she teaches.  She has a mug with a pic on it from a game she went to with her parents... was crazy when they were in the world series, and yes went to the Parade. 

Then there was election season.  Wow.  I can remember watching the Democratic National Convention back in 2004, and thinking, "who is this guy?".  There was just something about him - to me it went past the oratory.  Obama speaks of an America most of us believe in but had not dared to hope for in a very long time.  It bugs the begeebers out of me that our country has been governed the way it has been for the past eight years.  Much of what has happened has been a direct result of an agenda that Rumsfeld and Cheney have had for a long time.  Shame on them and us for allowing that to happen.  Colleen worked at one of the offices... not as much as she would have liked - we live in suburbia and public transit around here stinks.  We've had  a sign in the front door and out in the front yard  and a bumper sticker on my car for a while. Normally when I do that, my candidate loses.    At one point, Colleen said that if McCain won she was going to move to Canada. (she doesn't even have a passport but hey....) 

Jamie waited in line for 3.75 hours to vote.  She had a pizza delivered and shared it with some 1st time voters near her.  "I was afraid they were getting as tired and grumpy as I was and would leave".  (there were kids in a college in another county nearby  that waited 5-6 hrs ...the town would not move the polling place to the historically black college that offered to have it there in a much bigger venue - go figure)  Colleen took Eddie's buddy to vote for the first time.  Hey, who can say no to a pretty, older girl?  She's a smart one.  Liam always votes - he says if he doesn't his childhood friend's mom will call until he does.  (she's an election official)  

Election night I found myself going between the computer and about 2-3 different news venues and the tv.  I was getting a little crazy about it.  Made myself go take my bath to get away from it for a little while.  Colleen was taking notes for her newest blog venture.  The popular vote was close.  For some reason, I was not expecting it to be called right after 11pm.  (when the polling places close out by California)  It was... and I found myself with that same feeling I had when Obama made the acceptance speech at the DNC this year.  I, being the pink girl I am who was raised by a kind and loving, slightly racist mom really did not think I would see an African American (who yes is half white) become president.  I thought it was going to take into my kids' lifetime.  It's interesting that my own kids kept trying to figure out why I was crying and didn't quite get it.  To then see people celebrating in the streets not just here, but throughout the world was an amazing thing. 

It's not going to "fix" everything overnight.  Surely nothing and no one can.  And hey, who's perfect anyway?  I feel bad for people like my buddy Niety at work.  She's finding out things about the MaCain/Palin ticket she did not know (although we did try to share information) and is feeling very betrayed.  Listening to McCain's concession speech I could not help but feel bad for him.  The GOP did a number on him.  Had he been allowed to speak the way he did on election night - which I think was a far closer glimpse oh who he is and what he can do - he very well could have won.   In some ways it stinks there has to be a winner and a loser.... think of what we could do with all that time, effort and money.  I think Great Britain may have a much better handle on how to have an election.  Some of the stuff you heard at rallies in the month or so right before the election and some of the things some people still believe do give me pause... I hope the secret service et al will be on their toes.  More though, I hope people can stop hating and start working together.  Yep, I'm a little naive... oh well. 

Other than that... working, playing when I can and doing what I can when I cna for my kiddos.  Thanksgiving is coming up and we're having it here.  Kind of intimidating but it will also be a relief to have it here.  Haven't cooked that meal y myself for a while.  Then again,  with the youngest being 17 I won't really have to do all of it by myself. 

Wish it wasn't getting colder.  I do like the first snowfall and the whole Holiday season... guess I need to focus on that!

BY JONATHAN VALANIA 
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
PHAWKER.COM

Because I don’t believe in politicians, but I believe in this man.

Because the rest of the world believes in this man, and contrary to what some would have you believe, that is a good thing. In fact, it’s crucial.

Because words matter and he is a man of his word.

Because he appealed to our best hopes instead of our worst fears.

Because he ran on the content of his character, not the color of his skin.

Because despite all that, he had to be twice as good.

Because he is neither black nor white and neither is the world we live in.

Because he never got off the high road.

Because he always did the right thing.

Because he never made a false move.

Because this is historic. This is noble. This is progress.

Because in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make.

Because he IS a once in a lifetime candidate.

Because I never thought someone like him would come along again in my lifetime.

Because I thought they killed off his kind — the ones who came in the name of love –  by 1968.

Because it turns out you can kill a man but you cannot kill the hope he represents. Just ask Jesus Christ.

Because sooner or later another one will come along.

Because this isn’t 1968. And it certainly isn’t 1963.

Because the modern Secret Service is like Men In Black without the aliens. So I don’t worry.

Because for the last 30 years we tried it their way, and look where it got us.

Because he was right about Iraq from the beginning.

Because he represents something that shakes the powers that be to their very core: Change.

Because power never surrenders without a dirty fight, they say that he is wrong or lying or dreaming or worse.

Because the last 19 months have proven he is none of these things.

Because it has all come true.

Because John McCain has voted with George Bush 95% of the time. During George Bush’s tenure, we have seen a major attack on our homeland, we have gotten bogged down in two no-exit wars, a major American city was taken offline by the bungled federal response to a hurricane, the housing market collapsed and Wall Street melted down, all of which triggered a deep stateside recession, a global financial crisis and the gloomiest economic outlook since the eve of the Great Depression, we started torturing people in secret prisons and using the government’s awesome surveillance powers to spy on American citizens, and we have managed to completely squander whatever goodwill, admiration and respect the rest of the globe once had for America. A vote for McCain, is a vote for four more years of George Bush. Is not the repetition of the same behavior over and over again with the expectation of a different outcome the very definition of insanity? It is, according to Albert Einstein. That is why the only sane choice is Barack Obama.

I can clearly remember watching the Phillies win the World Series in 1980.  I loved Tug McGraw, Mike Schmidt, Lenny Dykstra, Bob Bone et al.  It's been a while since I've watched a game... but I have been to some - back in Veterans' Stadium.  Liam is a huge fan - goes about 4-5 times a year, and would go more if he could afford it.  Colleen used to manage baseball teams in middle and high school and lerned alot about the game.  She played softball too in little league.  So, it didn't really take much for me to get swept back into all the excitement.  Other than a few idiots carrying it too far in the post game in the streets celebrations right after game 5 concluded, this has been wonderful.  (and Col called me from Broad St near City Hall about 11:15 that night - "Don't worry mom, I'm staying away from the idiots jumping on cars"... just what every mother wants to hear!)  Colleen tried to go down for the parade.  She tried to take her bike onto the train for the trip to her boyfriend's once she got into the city... the conductor told her she couldn't take it on Friday... so she goes and locks it up and decides to wait for the next train.  Well, the next train did not stop.... we are about 4 stops into the run from the end of the line to Center City and the train was full.  She came home... figured it was enough that she was there the night they won.  We watched the parade at home on tv.  I had come home sick from work.  It was so cool to see so many people there.  I kind of think I would have felt a bit scared - there were over a milion linning the streets. 

... guess the curse is over.  Billy Penn is back as the tallest pont in Philadelphia.  (since comcast put a min statue on the top of their new building)  Yay!!!!!!!!!!