The Pancakes

In honor of my mother’s 48th birthday today, I thought I’d share a story about her.  When I was about 6 years-old and my brother was 4, my mother cooked us a batch of pancakes for breakfast.  Mind you, she was a young  mother and was not very experienced in the kitchen.  To top that off, she was not in a good mood that day so I knew there was no way she would allow us to eat something else.

When she placed the plates in front of us; I immediatedly noticed how weird they looked.  I glanced at my brother and he looked fearfully at the flat, lifeless circular blobs.  I, too was appalled that she expected us to eat those things!

My mother noticed our reluctance and warned us that we better eat every single piece of our pancakes.   For a few minutes she stood guard over us to make sure we’d do just that.  I courageously took a bite hoping for the best.  It was the worst of times.   Even at my young age I  realized she put too much baking soda  in the mix!  Satisfied with my mouthful, she left us to own devices.

My brother sat there with tears in his eyes while I was busy thinking.  We lived in a high rise and was many floors up.  It finally dawned on me that we could throw them out the window if I was clever enough.  I cut my pancakes in fours and did my brother’s next. 

Glancing around furtively for her probing eyes, I made my way to the window.  The coast was clear so I rapidly dumped some of our pancakes out the window.

I told my brother to shuffle the remaining pancakes on his plate to make it appear as if he was eating.  My mother checked on us again and saw the diminishing stacks and smiled.

When she walked away I excused myself from the table with a napkin of carefully concealed pancakes.  My plan was to flush them down the toilet.

Once back at the table I dropped the rest of her culinary science project out the window.  We were saved!

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Kindle

I’m curious, does anyone own a Kindle?  I think I want one, however, I am reluctant to let go of the real thing.  But, it is a good way to store books without worrying about the space they consume.  Though you couldn’t really loan them out either.  Decisions, decisions!

 

 

First Snow

Today was our first snow of the season.  As soon as I turned onto the main road, I did a donut! Luckily no cars were in close proximity.  It was actually more slippery than it looked.  Needless to say, I took my time getting to work!

Deja Vu

Tuesday morning, right in front of my classroom, a student went into cardiac arrest.  My room is in a pretty isolated part of the building.  Luckily I was in the hall when he fell.  I ran to get the nurse.  The nurse and school police officer performed CPR on him until the paramedics arrived.  I am trained in CPR and was next in line if either of them tired.

It was a very intense, scary scene for well over 30 minutes.  He had to be shocked twice as well as receive other life-saving procedures.  It was deja vu in a sense.  I could not stop crying as I watched the paramedics work so hard to save his 19-year-old life.  The school police officer was also equally shook up having lost his own 17-year-old son a few months prior.

He was finally rescuitated and transported to the hospital.  Wednesday he had open heart surgery to repair faulty valves.  If necessary, they may install a pacemaker.

I wondered why I had to bear witness to this trauma.  It brought back so many painful memories.  This was also the day I ran into my SIL’s husband.  And of course, before I went to sleep that night, I saw a commerical on television and the man’s name was the same as my husband’s.

Yesterday on the way home for school Nicholas was telling me that their principal asked them to pray for one of the 8th grader’s brother who had a heart attack at school.  I didn’t go into details but I told him that I was aware of what happened because it happened right in front of me.  He seemed very surprised–and actually I was, too. What a small world we live in.

Neither one of us mentioned my husband, but I’m sure he was thinking about him as I was.

But it also made me appreciate first responders even more.  They are so efficient, composed, and determined to save lives.  I saw this firsthand with my husband as well as with the young man.  I really have a lot of respect and admiration for what they do.  They are as important, if not more so, than doctors.

Our principal announced that this story will be covered by the news.  However, I don’t want to be in the limelight and will make sure I am unavailable when they do come. 

Some say that there is a message in everything, but I have no idea of what it could be in this case.

Hmmm

Narcotic~any of a class of substances that blunt the senses, as opium, morphine, belladonna, and alcohol, that in large quantities produce euphoria, stupor, or coma, that when used constantly can cause habituation or addiction, and that are used in medicine to relieve pain, cause sedation, and induce sleep.

Neurotic~Informal A person prone to excessive anxiety and emotional upset.

Today a student told me I was a “narcotic.”  He wasn’t angry when he said it so I guess it wasn’t an insult.  Maybe he meant I was a “neurotic.”  Hmmm, I don’t know which one I’d rather be!

Pass the Kids

Yesterday I ran into my SIL’s husband at the grocery store.  I immediatedly asked about the kids and was told that they would be getting the boys in May.  Apparently Eliza has been stirring up trouble from her prison cell with her own sister regarding how she is raising her kids.  Fed up, the sister has decided that she’d rather not deal with Eliza, Ethan, or Evan.

This really bothered me.  The kids would have been fine with me, yet they were senselessly uprooted out of spite.  Doesn’t she see how this nomadic lifestyle will eventually have an adverse affect on her boys?  Not to mention, my SIL is not the best candidate to rear a child.  They live in a two bedroom apartment for starters and are barely getting by.  Her husband has 5 kids outside of the 1 they have together, plus she has another daughter.  My SIL is also half-baked, literally and figuratively speaking.

Her husband is not in favor of this and has decided that if she goes against his wishes, he will move out.  With Evan’s behavioral problems, the number of kids they already have to provide for, and the fact that Eliza and her looney tune brother would never leave them in peace, I understand why he is saying no.