Well, let's begin in October. A lot was going on, so not too many posts were made. To say there was a major upheaval in our little corner of the world is an understatement.
Most of you are aware of my ongoing battle with Southern Lehigh School District and the way my children are perceived. Southern Lehigh, as it was just described in the Marketplace magazine sent out in this area, is an 'upscale, exclusive region with houses in $1-4 million price frame'......duh, when we first moved here in '96 it was still fairly rural and median income......now, although I doubt that most of the housing is in the price range they quoted, more and more developments with huge houses with garages that back into their neighbors' garage door are popping up all over and are populated by doctors, lawyers and Indian chiefs....if your kid gets picked on in school and you go to the principal you are met with 'I can't punish that child, do you know who their mom/dad/stepparent is?' Or a school trip is a cruise? Come on people.........for getting out of the eighth grade do you deserve a dinner/dance/cruise that lasts all night on the Hudson River line?
My husband was a blue collar skilled laborer, mechanical maintenance, until he really tore up his arms. He was on disability for over three years, between having corrective surgery and being retrained (you can teach an old dog new tricks......he graduated college after being out of school for over 30 years in 2005!). Although I went to college, with four kids, we had decided that I would stay home to raise them. When he was hurt, I went back to work....nothing spectacular, but I ended up mid-level management at Walmart...not pretty, but we ate. He is now an Occupational Therapist and I am back to being mom, but in this location, we are still looked down on as the 'hep'.....why waste your time on the kids when you can get an au pair and you can get your nails done....we are the oddity. This also grates on the school, because if something isn't right, guess who shows up? Here's a clue - 'it ain't the au pair'.
My youngest son is now enrolled in a cyber school. It took the whole month of October to pry, wheedle and finally threaten to sue Southern Lehigh to release his records. They didn't want HIM, but they didn't want us to make the decision to change schools. He is happier than he has been in a long time. Things are looking up for him......the instructors here judge him on his work, his personality and his heart......not the type of house he lives in, how much $$$$$ mom and dad make or how much bling he wears to school. He is starting to drive and is turning into a decent young man, which is all you can really ask for.
His older sister just made Honor Society at college. She has made Deans List ever semester she has been enrolled. Not bad for a child, now young woman, who was told by said school district to not apply for college since being Type 1 diabetic, she was going to die soon anyway, so why take a college slot a more deserving 'healthy' student needed. Moma went off the rails.....the lovely guidance counsellor who told her this told me, and I quote: "I'm not dumb enough to put that in writing, but she IS taking a healthy child's spot. So go ahead and report it, I'll deny it and where will we be? hmmm?'....I have never wanted to meet someone in a dark alley with a club as I did that woman. But, I am seeing the old adage come to pass....'Success is best revenge'.....She is doing wonderful. He is doing wonderful.....Southern Lehigh was wrong. Now to attempt to get my youngest in one of the Charter schools and good ol' SL can kiss my saggy white......well, you know where this is going.
In the midst of all of this, my eldest son's girlfriend gave birth to their second, his third, little boy. Brennan John was born on the 13th, full of personality, as you can tell by his winking at the camera when he was two days old. He's a dumpling, not nearly as big as his big brother Lucas was, but he's a keeper. It's been hard not seeing him, but October has been the month of the 'sickness', so we have kept our distance. We all at one time or another have been diagnosed with sinusitis, ear infections, the common cold, etc. that we DON'T want to share with the baby. Fortunately, we have been spared the Piggy Sniffles, as Jamie likes to call it.
We are finally coming out from under it all. November is the month of the All Souls Novena......we remember those we lost and celebrate those who we still have. We thank God that He is good all the time. He brought us to October and He brought us thru it. As a parting shot, October bombed my washing machine....it gave up the ghost (should I add it to the Novena? -wink,wink). It owed us nothing as we only had it 13 years, but we could do without having to outlay another $500 on top of paying $500 to get one car ready for winter and inspected, and $500 to fix yet another car because it started to slowly fall apart on us....nothing like $1500 of unforseen expenses with the holidays coming up....BUT, as I said, God is Good...All the time....ALL the time God is Good. Cars, washers and the like are inanimate objects, not worth losing sleep over as they can be replaced.
Now, November calls. I have drapes to hang, a house to clean for the holidays and finally that damnable sauerkraut to get out of the bucket? Any takers for some?
Oh, how I love Karma(when it happens to someone else). Please hunt me down, and let me know which one of the counselor's grandkids get diagnosed with diabetes. Please let me know when she comes to you for advice! It's not that I seek anyone's demise. It just reminds me to be humble in life, and to not be judgmental. My kids are old enough to have seen things come full circle. I have seen the snootiest,most judgmental people, have the very same thing happen to them, that they judged someone else for.
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