They're Here
The three GKs arrived Wednesday afternoon. I managed to get the first grader signed up for school yesterday and it went as well as I hoped for, but as of last night it didn't feel right to push for school today. The settling process is going well, but the transition is still too new for full security. I don't expect the security level to be too much higher by Monday, but my sense is that it might be wise to give him the extra days to process the changes from a favorite vacation spot to a home with rules and goals. Explaining those subtle diffs to a six year old isnae as easy as I could wish for. At six, words are still to shifty to take the place of example and experience.
Perhaps the more important event on the current agenda is the arrival of the 20 turkey babies. They are en route and could arrive today. I hope. I find myself anxious of them spending any more time than needed in postal containers. I remain hopeful that helping them feel more at home will help the 3 skin turkeys feel more at home, as well. In my strictly personal recovery, helping others has provided a deeper understanding of how to help myself. Just believing. . . Proof irrelevant for now. . . Hubs and I are well decided that 4H is the extra-curricular activity we wish to pursue for the children. The inner city life the GKs were born to has a thriving urban agriculture scene attached, far closer to home than most of their birth family knows. Personally, I have grown intolerant of the still booming boom, delusion and bustle of "Music City" but the GKs and most of their living family tree is native to the city and deeply rooted there. I still hold considerable respect for that Urban Agriculture scene I feel like a founding mother of. I still daydream about the parents of my GKs recognizing the potential of that urban half acre we still own there as more than a nursing home for middle aged millennials. Just dreaming. . . For now, a heritage turkey flock enhanced by 4H exploration sounds like a solid plan. We see what grows.
Did I just use the "P-word?" I've heard it said many times that if you want to hear God's laughter, tell It/Her/Him your plans. Just praying, Gnarly Old Dickhead. That's a P-word, too, ya know. Letting you lead The Dance, even though we both know I am smarter and more omniscient than you.
Attempted humor aside. . . Holding steady, I think. Stepping small. Itsy, bitsy baby steps.
Replies
4H sounds good. I went to two of those meetings when I was a kid. They were ok. I think we were doing crafts or something. Its probably good to have face to face interactions. I know I lost this after I got involved in computers.
Maybe thats why my friends (everyone I knew) and I were behaving better back in the day. Not sure. Its because no Internet, and noone really had video games.
In my life, I have played with sticks and card board boxes that were from the new washer and dryer. I used to skateboard, and also "Freestyle" (bike).
I went from sticks to digital in my life. From caveman to electronic caveman. Paper maps to GPS. Hmm.
Chicago is a world leader in Urban Agriculture, Chris. I believe The Plant in the old Union Pacific Stockyard deserves credit for putting "Vertical Farming" on Wall Street. The Bike-a-Bee hives in downtown Chicago and our urban outyard hives are out-performing our country bees by an impressive margin. City flower beds kept with conservationist care provide far more bee food than the chemically enhanced hay fields I am surrounded by here on the farm.
I don't care to do the research, but I often wonder if the *good kids* of the 80's and 90's are suffering the most paralysis here in the 21st century. It is undoubtedly true among the children I parented while they were still young and cute. I often hope those *good kids* will go out to play and not come home until their clothes are so dirty that they have lives of their own. Go get politically incorrect, my compliant one, preferably with something deeper than Monty Python or Donkey Kong.
Awesome arfie. Good luck also with the twenty tiny turkeys trotting tenaciously throughout the track lol. Very happy for you
Ah the 80s..... guys wearing blazer suit jackets with the sleeves rolled up with jeans.
Where were you when I was in speech therapy, King? That sounds like one of my speech therapy exercises. "R's" were my most problematic sound, so my righteous rain was always rolling rings around the Arabian deserts.
Chris, I still quote the movie review that declared "Forrest Gump" the defining cultural classic of the 80's. "A total moron getting rich by doing nothing more than what he is told."
Forrest Gump was a good movie. "Stupid is as stupid does". Or something like that. Lots of great stuff in the 80s. Music, movies...or films....
Speaking of R's my mom can roll her "R's" awesomely in her German sort of way. Chrrrrristopha....come home....dinner is ready....
mAh box a chocolates is full-a Noooogates. Where's j-enny
The 80's stigmata??? Excuse me I need to go update my wardrobe...
Arfie, Glad the GK's finally arrived. Praying for you will have the patience and strength. 4H is a great idea for GK's. I agree, childhood isnt childhood anymore. The kids are exposed to way to much these days and peer pressure doesn't make it easier either. When I was a kid, I grew up with my great grandmother across town. I made mud cakes from old p[astic coolwhip containers and sticks for candles hoping one day I might be a baker. Roller skating at the local roller rink. It's one of the reasons why I can't stand cell phones. I believe there will be a generation(s) of kids who grow up without fond memories. I feel sorry they will miss out on what we had when we were younger.
I believe the 90's are when things started going awry....
good wishes for you and the GK's! Way to go Arfie!!
You’re wisdom is showing, did you realize that Arfie? Lol.
You never fail to inspire me with who you are. What great insights into ways to help the GKs acclimate to their new situation and I think your plans to help are amazing.
Though I never was part of 4-H, my parents introduced me to horseback riding a few months after my abuse came out by buying me my first horse. Of all the things that were done to help me through the trauma and experiences that followed, horses were the most healing gift my parents gave me. Animals of any kind are great comforts to the soul especially for children. I cannot, nor would I want to, imagine what my life would have been like after my abuse if I had not had my horses, cats, dogs, goats and even chickens. Horses though were my savior and most consistent source of solace and comfort.
You’re GKs are very blessed to have you Arfie!
Hugs & love my friend!
The feather babies are here, too. I think the entire post office staff was relieved when I picked them up first thing this morning. That was one noisy, little box with those 20 little peepers peeping away like frightened, hungry babies. My guess of the afternoon is that we got 5 each of four different breeds. Just guessing. Don't ask me which breeds. Observation in progress. It is hard to believe that these little things are going to grow to somewhere between 15 and 30 pounds. For today, at 2-3 days old, they are tiny enough to fit through the hexagons of chicken wire.
No gobbling around yet. Turkey babies look and sound like chicken babies.
Will the Turkey babies be grown in time for the Thanksgiving turkey holocaust?
Yay! Prayers abound and triple hugs of support. GKids and turkey babies make quite a handful.