I'm thinking that all the sun I'm getting from swimming, that the red/tan my skin turns will help disguise the red blotches on my face! Those blotches horribly remind me of the movie "The Blob," that I saw when I was a kid. A bunch of us went to the Skokie Theater and paid $.35 to see this movie. The gist of the movie was this giant, red blob that was trying to overtake a city. It was made in the 50's or 60's at the same time they made "Godzilla." Now we would watch these movies today and just laugh because they were so unrealistic and ridiculous. But back then, I'm sure we were scared to death. But then the Skokie Theater was scary itself. There were always older kids throwing popcorn at us from the back. It was dark and spooky, you could hardly find your seat. The screen was hidden by a huge red, velvet curtain that opened quite majestically when the show was to begin. There were no commercials back then, except for maybe an advertisement to buy popcorn and candy. The show always started with a cartoon or two, but because this was a scarey movie, I don't think it had one. I know - my imagination runs a bit wild at times. The red blotches on my face really don't compare with "The Blob." It's far worse.
Poor Jas. His plane has now been delayed 3 times. He was due in here at 6, and they keep delaying it by the hour, so now he's due in Tampa at 9. It takes an hour and a half to get there, so I should leave here about 2 hours ahead because I have no idea how to get there. I just spoke to him and he said the kids are running wild. I told him to let them! What else can they possibly due in an airport? Besides, they'll run until their little legs are tired and probably fall asleep on the plane. That's what he wants, because there's nothing worse for you or the other people on the plane, than to hear a kid wailing. I was always fortunate when I flew down to see my parents when my kids were babies. The whir of the engines must have something to do with lulling them to sleep. That and threatening them to be quiet or to the bathroom we would go with the "wooden spoon." Little did they know that we both wouldn't be able to fit in the tiny closet they call a bathroom, much less me spank their tushy with the spoon. Just the threat was usually enough to quiet them down and go to sleep.
Micah dreaded the wooden spoon, because he met with it the most out of my three. He had a stubborn streak and a naughty side that most people don't believe today. Oh... but he did. One time in church, and we always sat up towards the front in the 2nd or 3rd row on the right side, Pastor Grant was preaching a rather long-winded message and Micah was getting very antsy. He kept whining and asking when we were going to go home and I kept telling him, "Soon, soon." At one point in the sermon, there was a lull when he took a drink of water and Micah stood to his feet, looking straight up to my pastor and said, "Are you done yet?" Well he was loud enough so the first few rows heard what he said, as well as Pastor and his reply was, "Yes, Micah, I'm almost done." I was so embarrassed, I whisked him up and to the bathroom we went, with wooden spoon in my side pocket. People were laughing, so I didn't spank him that night, but there were plenty of other nights that all I had to do was put my hand on the spoon and look at him, that he stopped the naughty thing that he was doing. Out of my three children, he was the most strong-willed and I broke many a wooden spoon on his behind. He survived - and I'm very proud of him, because today Micah is an associate pastor at Christian Life Center in Stockton, California and he has an awesome ministry with his wife, Jasmine, and the young people in their church, ages 18 to 35. He's working on his Master's Degree now in Theology, and works full time at the church as well as teaches some classes at the CLC college. Jasmine teaches at the CLC school that is on campus and is also involved in the music ministry, as she has a beautiful soprano singing voice.
Leah just finished her Master's Degree in Psychology and will be looking for work when her, Parris and Shanti move to California. Leah was fortunate enough to get her education online while she stayed home with Ashanti. Parris also just graduated from steam-fitting school and after he finishes a certain number of hours of on-the-job training, he will be an official union Steamfitter. I'm so proud of both of them. Going to school while raising a child is not an easy task, but Leah completed it with a high grade point average. More important than that (to me) is the fact that Ashanti is a wonderful, polite and caring little girl who minds her parents very well. Leah and Parris have done an excellent job raising her thus far and I'm real proud of them. Raising kids in this day and age is incredibly difficult. But Ashanti has a great head start and besides, she has ME for her grandmother, so she can't go wrong!
Jason got his Bachelor's Degree from the University of Wisconsin and has been a Madison police officer for several years. I'm very proud of him, even though I wish he would get a different job. Being an officer is one of the hardest jobs you can have and I worry about him when he's on the beat. There are insane people out there doing insane things. Just another reason why I pray for my children and grandchildren every single day. Jason has two children, Jade and Donovan, who he shares custody with his ex-wife. They do every other week and he has them this week, which is why he is coming down now. I can't wait to surprise my mom. We were going to do it tonight, but now it will be tomorrow because she usually goes to bed early.
Frankly, I don't know where my kids got their "smarts" from - it surely wasn't me. I was lucky to get C's and D's in high school and what's worse is that I could have cared less at the time. But the bigger question is, and I don't condone running out and getting pregnant, but who said that a single mother can't raise kids that stay out of jail and go to college? Just sayin....
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