R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Girls are loved; boys are respected.

Girls are hugged and spoiled and protected, but not respected. Even when we are grown women - umm, female human adults, people insist on calling us "girls." But love without respect is no love at all.

Boys aren't hugged enough and forced not to cry, but they are told they can rule the world. Even as a boy, they are called "young man." Respect without respect for who that person really is, is no respect at all.

I'm just sayin'.

What MY Little Boy is Made Of

Click on pick for full effect.

Who Told Him?

I signed Boo up for a social skills group run by a Masters-level psychologist with training in Applied Behavior Analysis for children with disabilities. I told Boo at dinner that there would be four boys; three boys plus him.

"Four boys? No girls?" he asked.

"That's right, just four boys."

"Good. It'll be quiet."

I laughed so hard the soup almost came out my nose.

*

What I Learned This Week

If you get one of those new-fangled cars that have one of those video thingies that lets you look in the back, it's best to use it. (Especially if said car is a week old.) So you don't run into your old car parked in the driveway.

But if you do forget to look on your video screen on the dashboard and do run into your old car, get a rag and Sofscrub and wipe off the paint off of both cars.

Not that you'd be trying to hide it from the Hubs or anything. I'm just sayin'.

Join the What I Learned This Week carnival!

Happy Birthday, Boo

Seven Years Old!!
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What is your mom in Korea feeling today?

Dinner at the Fireman's Restaurant

We have a lovely 17-year old young lady to watch Boo, who started today. They must have hit it off, because they've started a business together. I hope you come and support their new venture.
























Spaghetti 100 ...............Pizza free?
Sushi 1000 cents ..........Corn on the Cob?
Pork free
Mac and Cheese free?
Apples 10 cents........... Broccoli soup
Snow Peas 12 cents........ with shrimp 2 cents
Pea Soup 100 ...............Green tea ice
lamb 1 cent .....................cream free?

Strawberry Fields Forever

My little buddy.

When I Was Young

When I was young, I thought I'd vacation in France. Or Italy at my favorite little hotel. Maybe Norway just for a change. Instead, I go to the Jersey Shore, a short drive to a dry town with a boardwalk, ferris wheels, taffy and funnel cake.

Then I was young and unafraid,
When dreams were made and used and wasted.
There was no ransom to be paid,
No song unsung, no wine untasted.

But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hopes apart
As they turn your dreams to shame

. . . So different now from what it seems
Now life has killed
The dream I dreamed.*

In just a couple of weeks, we'll make our fourth trip to the Shore. We'll pack up our car with beach chairs and buckets and frisbees. We'll take a cooler and a blanket and bags of groceries into our SUV. (I've been successful so far at avoiding the mini-van.)
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No. See? See that smile? That love? You see? We create new dreams. My reality has turned out to be better.


* Here are the entire lyrics.

Lettis Sale

Bubble Over

Boo and his dad were drawing churches on the driveway yesterday.

"I don't like the way my church looks," dad said.

Boo objected, "Dad! Don't say that! Jesus wouldn't be very happy. That's God's house!"

Later at dinner, this story was recounted to me.

"Boo, how did you think to say that?"

"Well," Boo replied, gesturing with his hands, "I saw a thought bubble, I picked it up, and stuck it on my head."

*