- You know, sometimes life is to be lived. Other times, it’s to be endured. I mean nobody ever wants to admit it, but there are times when the only thing you can do is grit your teeth and power forward knowing it will get easier soon and you can live again.
- I am in that place. I have so much going on right now I feel like I’m drowning and it really isn’t in a fun way. Last semester of grad school, writing for 2 websites, super busy in other work, three kids, trying to figure out what to do with my tween, my boy (see #8 below), myself after I graduate. The toddler. Hay fever. Lack of funds.
- I’m so sorry for not writing much on this blog. I will come back. I WILL RESURFACE. I will write FTM Friday each week, and on Fridays (ok that might be pushing it). Hang with me, ladies and 3 or 4 gentleman. You know I love you.
- I went on a “press trip” in April to San Antonio through Parenting magazine. I got to stay in a hotel for 2 nights BY MY FUCKING SELF and drive a BMW at high speeds on a wet track. You can read about my trip here. You might get a kick out of it.
- We’re starting to plan family and friend summer mini-vacation trips. I’m holding on to them for dear life. June 1, people. June 1 and I get my life back (school and grading is over by then).
- On a super positive note, one week from today I will be at the Crest Theater as a cast member for the “Listen to Your Mother” show. I wish I could express to you how lucky I feel to be a part of this, how genuinely struck I am by the other cast-members, by the power of the stories they’re telling – by their humor and depth.
- There will be a lot of strength in that room – a lot of heart. A lot of the badassness (dude whatever it’s totally a word) that makes us women. And mothers. And no, we aren’t going to stand up and talk about our birth stories. We’re going to stand up and BLOW SOME MINDS. That, at least, is the plan.
- I sincerely hope you will join us, and if you do, come and say “hello” to me after the show for goodness’ sake. I’d love to meet you.
- Speaking of plans, my boy has been officially diagnosed with dyslexia. We’re trying to figure out what to do. You know, once again, it sucks to not be the people with thousands and thousands of extra dollars. Do you know how many programs are available for dyslexic kids if you have 5 or 10 thousand dollars? Do you know how LITTLE is available for people who don’t? God damn it the whole thing makes me sick.
- Also, my house. OMYGOD my house. It’s so bad it makes that picture I posted look orderly. Not quite. But almost.
Hold me. It’s almost over.
Anyway, here’s what we’ve been up to…well, the good stuff. xoxoxo
P.S. JUST GOT AN EMAIL: I passed my exam. I got my degree.
Sigh.
Hell yeah I’m proud. That was a long time coming.
YES!
Sticks don’t hurt people…Georgie, on the other hand…
barefoot fishing? it’s simply perfect.
needed this day…I live in a beautiful county.
When the hell did this happen?
the dimples, people. the dimples.
moments like this sure mean a ton to me now…
he’s totally learned to skateboard
to celebrate the fact that the hotel was so nice it had robes, I made duck face and sent this photo to my dad, who was supposed to be my husband. I AM A LOSER.
Marisa
Sunday, 5 May, 2013 at 14:59Congratulations on passing the exam! Yay you!
Dorothea
Sunday, 5 May, 2013 at 15:15Your family is beautiful!
Jenn
Sunday, 5 May, 2013 at 16:04Congratulations!!!
I’m a new reader. Love the way you write.
Les
Sunday, 5 May, 2013 at 16:19Well done on the degree!!!!
Breezy
Sunday, 5 May, 2013 at 17:08Holy goodness, congratulations on your degree!!!
Mia
Sunday, 5 May, 2013 at 17:14I love everything you post–even when it’s a “why-i-haven’t-been-posting” post! Congratulations on the degree and being in that show, I wish I could come see it! My blog link is going to show a post from a million years ago because I haven’t posted much lately either (it’s garden expansion season with four small kids running around for me… yikes)
looking forward to the FTM friday’s or whatever!
carolyn
Sunday, 5 May, 2013 at 17:35My son has dyslexia, but the bad part of our testing-it did not happen until he was in 4th grade. I was sure something was wrong when he was in kindergarten. Needless to say he thought he gotten stupid over the summer. We were very lucky because he got in a program in school called Wilson . Wilson teaches people had to train eyes to see differently. My son had a very hard time through school but was amazing with computers. He had wonderful teachers whom took time to challenge him and he is a wonderful adult now-I live in NJ and children with special needs have a thing called an IEP -with an IEP ,as a parent you may make requests with education to benefit your child. Congrats and keep fighting the battle for your son.
Joyce
Sunday, 5 May, 2013 at 18:57Looking forward to the show next Sunday!
Jenn Marshall
Sunday, 5 May, 2013 at 19:19I’m a new reader. Love your writing, so fun to read.
Your family is so adorable.
Congratulations on school! 🙂
Ansley
Sunday, 5 May, 2013 at 19:24As someone who has done the whole grad school thing (twice), I commend you! That feeling when you’re done, the grades are in and you passed……it’s so fast, it’s overwhelming. Kudos to you for doing while raising children!
Love the pictures…..esp the one you sent to your father.
tela
Sunday, 5 May, 2013 at 21:22Congratulations on the degree!! You are awesome.
Heather
Sunday, 5 May, 2013 at 22:08YAAAAAAAY….I knew you would pass! You give your whole heart in everything you do. I can see that just by reading the words you display across the pages. Your heart is so fully in it. Thank you for always putting your heart and truth out there. It’s most definitely why your readers will wait for your words, because it’s quality over quantity! I know I have said this before…but it’s so completely true, You are Quality my dear! I wish so so much I could come out and see “listen to your mother!” It sounds KICK ASS!!!! They are lucky to have you…
Jessica
Sunday, 5 May, 2013 at 22:43Congratulations!!!
Tina
Monday, 6 May, 2013 at 0:19Hey, well done you – congratulations on your degree. Shame I’m on the other side of the atlantic ocean, otherwise I’d love to come and see your show. Sound brilliant!
Dixiebelles
Monday, 6 May, 2013 at 2:17Congratulations!!!
Could have been worse… The photo accidently sent to your Dad!
Becky
Monday, 6 May, 2013 at 6:40Congratulations on your degree! And your trip!
I am diagnosed with dyslexia, though it mostly shows as dyscognia. This font is actually really good. I haven’t used it because I read fine (though I skip around a lot in a paragraph and can cheerfully read upside down and backwards because it’s all the same to me!)
http://opendyslexic.org/
Kyndale
Monday, 6 May, 2013 at 7:34Congrats on your degree.
I understand about the dyslexia thing. My son is 11 and just started reading a bit. We’ve done lots of stuff. Lots of money. I don’t know if it was all worth the money. If I could do it all again I would try and relax more about it. Cranial sacral therapy was worth the money and so is juicing green veg. The speech therapy (we did the Linda Mood Bell program just stressed him out) was not worth it. Good luck!
Shan
Monday, 6 May, 2013 at 8:48<3 <3 <3
Heather
Monday, 6 May, 2013 at 8:52I’m commenting again! 🙂 My husband has lived his whole life with dislexia. He struggled through school and back then they just figured he wasn’t smart and basically just stuck him in the back of the class and ignored him. He didn’t fit the “standards” back then, so he was just forgotten about. He struggled through school most of his life, but I can tell you that he absolutely over came this thing. As an adult that still has dislexia he has excelled in his field. My husband has an extremely technical mind and can see numbers all over the place….it was the letters that would get all screwy for him. I just wanted you to know that your son will make it through this! He will be amazing…he IS AMAZING…because everything is perfect as it is. You are an amazing mother and will always be there for him. Love him as fiercely as ever…he is PERFECT! <3
Russ (The Stay At Homer)
Monday, 6 May, 2013 at 9:51Congratulations on getting a degree! How??!?! When?!?! I tried to open a book the other day and fell asleep within seconds. Hats WAY off to you.
Kate
Monday, 6 May, 2013 at 10:06Congratulations on passing the degree! I can tell you worked very hard. All three of us in my family deal with dyslexia. Here are a few small tricks that really help. 1. Read (study, do math, whatever) under natural light or at least incandescent. Fluorescent light is the worst. Ask his teacher to let him sit next to the window so he can have natural light. 2. Let him try using a straight edge under or over his sentences, or even run his finger along the sentences. I like my straight edge plain white, but others prefer and are more successful with a color, or one with a “window”. 3. To insure his interest in reading, find stuff he likes to read: Captain Underpants, or The Deltora Quest series, and Star Trek/Wars books are popular with boys. 4. Read with him still(of course you have so much time!), and read one or two grade levels above him, stuff to pique his interest. 5. I’m pretty sure you knew all this stuff, but I so love reading your stuff I couldn’t resist sharing. Congrats again!
jackie
Monday, 6 May, 2013 at 11:47I love your Georgia jeezus I do! You look fab in the photo to your dad btw. I miss your posts but makes getting one 100% guaranteed to be read;)
Sorry about the dyslexia. I live in canada where healthcare is free, but we have the same situation with special needs and children. The government coverage for these treatments/programs is disgustingly low so only the rich with kids can get them the help to make them better functioning adults. Maybe start a fundraising website? Why not? Seriously, it’s for him, not you. It’s hard asking for money when you can find someone who you think needs it more. But if you don’t ask, no one will think they can give. Done.
Congrats lady. You rock.
Momtothree
Monday, 6 May, 2013 at 12:08You are awesome. Your writing is powerful and grounding, empowering and inspiring. Of course you got your degree. Congratulations J. Really. You earned it.
Sorcha
Monday, 6 May, 2013 at 15:42I never got my son officially diagnosed, but I’m pretty certain he’s dyslexic. What drastically helped him was re-training phonics (from the very beginning) while wearing headphones, listening to music only in his left ear. I know it sounds totally screwy, but I read that what goes in the right ear goes to the left side of your brain, so for kids who are right-brain dominant, you need to find a way to get the phonics lessons to the left side of the brain. I just used a free online phonics program (www.progressivephonics.com). We did one book a day, 5 days a week. It was about 20 minutes per day for several months, but he honestly is reading much better now. We also did some other, minor things, but I think that was the biggest factor in his improving. I hope you find something that works for you!!
Kendra
Tuesday, 7 May, 2013 at 8:16I love your blog. I love you. I’m happy you passed your exam. Keep writing mama and ill keep reading.
Kateri Von Steal
Tuesday, 7 May, 2013 at 10:25Hi! Long time… No see…
I’m not sure what happened, or why blogger took your blog off my reading list…
But, I’m glad to have finally found you again!
I’m so happy you passed your exam!!!
The pictures are great! I make the duck face in pictures toO!!!
Kristin
Tuesday, 7 May, 2013 at 12:37First, Congrats on your degree!
Second…at least you had the robe on when sending the picture to your dad instead of your husband! It could have been way worse.
Mollygirl
Friday, 10 May, 2013 at 5:28Love the way you write, always. Not even a mother, just spend a lot of time with small children.
Hey, hey, hey, I have an idea! It’s too bad I’m in another country so I can’t directly help you out here. I am a student working on certification to work with kids with learning disabilities. FIND A STUDENT (in addition to whatever else you can–I know you’ll want to give Rocket the best help you can because duh). If you’re looking for supplemental private work…students are often very experienced, nearly officially qualified, super enthusiastic, and will do anything for very little or no money.
Best of luck!
Caryl
Thursday, 16 May, 2013 at 17:38Congratulations on the degree!
Hollah!
Caryl
Thursday, 16 May, 2013 at 17:41Hold up. You were in my city and I just found out!?!
Smack smack smack me!!!
I hope your show was awesome! The Crest is a great theatre!
Caryl
Pam
Wednesday, 22 May, 2013 at 6:35I was just reading your Happy Mother’s Day post, (tearing up) and I was thinking “Where does this woman live?? Does she live in a LTYM city? This stuff was made for a LTYM show.” And BAM I read this and I am beyond excited to watch your reading on You Tube this summer.