Tikkun Olam

I just discovered a new comedian named Jim Gaffigan .  New for me, that is.  Yes, I've been living under a rock.  I'm so naive, I'm giving him free publicity. Moronic. As a mother of five, now grown, kids--and a teacher almost my entire adult life, lately of toddlers and even infants, this video speaks to me.  Kids are terrific... ally difficult to raise! Raising kids is the most important job in the world, but they arrive with NO INSTRUCTION MANUAL to teach you how to do it!  Most people just wing it, and that's why the next generation is all messed up (not all, but most. Ok, many. Some.). Enjoy the video.  I hope my kids see it (don't even know if they actually read my blog).

The fine-toothed comb of Time marches on Through the scalp of Life . I knew it. I knew it. I knew that by coming here and taking care of my three rambunctious grandkids I would be entering a time machine and going back in time. And it's happened! Despite my arthritis, nasty knees, lower back pain and fatitude (just coined a new word; you like it?), I am growing backwards into childhood, or rather into being a (younger-like) parent, complete with lacking sleep and not having time to shower for days (don't get too close) caring for three kids under nine. I'd forgotten what it's like: getting kids UP in the morning, getting them washed and dressed (they can do some or most of it themselves, except for the one with the cast on her right arm...) and fed, getting the bathing suits on and slathering them up with sunscreen and putting the change-of-clothes and towels in the backpack and making sure their lunchboxes are also in and that everything is LABELED with their names on...

Well, we're off! Tomorrow we fly like a boid to see our grandkids in sunny south Florida...well, not actually just to 'see' them. More like to make 3 lunches and snacks the night before and pack them in their backpacks with a change of clothes and underwear and label everything with their names on it with a Sharpie and dress them in swimsuits and slather them with sunscreen over their swimsuits and then dress them with clothes over their swimsuits and drive them to camp ever...