1. My son has a lovely girlfriend who has 2 little boys, so they are like my almost-grandchildren. I went and picked up the 5 year old and spent the weekend with him. He had finished kindergarten on Friday and had his very first graduation. We played Legos, colored, drew pictures, read books, swam, counted fireflies, and made homemade ice cream.
It was a pretty perfect weekend, actually.
2. This whole debate in social media about the child who climbed into a gorilla enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo and the gorilla was shot and killed is horrific. Everyone is vilifying the mother of the child. From the accounts I have read BOTH parents were there, why are we blaming just one? I don't like the blaming and judging that goes on from women on other women and their parenting. We are all guilty of it. My first thought was "why did the mom allow her child out of her sight?" I took a step back and can see all sorts of judgment and blaming in my own mind. It's a fucking tragedy with enough responsibility to be spread around. Let's hope all the parents who know of this will now educate their children on how to act appropriately in a zoo setting, and that the zoo officials will find more ways to keep the animals safe from this happening again.
3. While thinking about this zoo/gorilla/parenting debacle I have been going over and over in my mind how would I have acted. What would I have done differently so that my kids would not end up in that life threatening situation? I don't know. I do know that I was really strict and clear about what behaviors were appropriate in public venues. I see friends and family who parent differently than I do/did and I try not to compare. But we all want to justify and validate our own decisions so some comparisons are going to happen. My hard and fast rule with little ones was always if I am not touching you or holding your hand we have to be able to see each other's faces. If you can't see my face you are too far away. I think for me this came from living in a city on the border where we were told on the news damn near weekly about children being abducted from under your nose and taken across the border before you could blink. So a fair amount of paranoia and fear were at play here. I hope like hell that my kids don't feel scarred and smothered by this. They haven't ever said so and they are both pretty great and well-adjusted adult people now. That's the thing with parenting, you really just have to go with your gut and good intentions and hope that the love and care come through.
4. Are any of you watching Outlander on Starz? Season 2 has been confusing me mightily so I have started reading the books. I am now on book 2 which seems to be different than the show. Jamie is fantastic, both in the books and the show. Why Claire would think twice about that dry, boring Frank especially knowing his psychopath great grand relative Black Jack is beyond me. But Claire does bug, irk and annoy me.
5. And while on the Scotland topic I am doing more and more research on Ancestry.com. And Scotland and Ireland are both difficult countries to do deep research on. I need to get more details on names, locations and dates so that I can plan a trip to see what all I can find. I am more than a little afraid that I will get to Scotland or Ireland and never want to return. It does call to me.
6. After getting my DNA done on Ancestry I came up with a vision of a tattoo I would love to get. I keep picturing it in my head of what the components are and how to do it. Then I get on Pinterest and what do I find? A whole bunch of people have come up with similar visions! WTH??? I was so thoughtful on what I imagined as a very original idea. Good Lord. Now I am unsure about it. I don't want it to be what everyone else has since I may be chicken and it could very well be my one and only tattoo.
7. It's been a month since my good and dear friend Jon died. It seems like yesterday. The pain and grief are still so very fresh and my feelings so raw. I need to find a positive way to honor him and deal with my sadness. Any ideas?
That's it for now. This is my closing thought.
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