The Kid or The Carpet?

Earlier this week, a coworker of mine fresh from maternity leave experienced one of her first panic attacks as a new mother. She was carrying her infant son down the stairs and somehow tripped and fell down the last few steps. In an instant, she managed to lift him above her head to keep him steady and safe. He whimpered for a second, but was fine. Telling the story a few hours later, it was clear she was still a bit shaken. While telling her that I was sure he was fine, I couldn't help but think of a similar experience I had with my own mother when I was younger. However, my story ended a bit differently.

I was in high school and walking down the stairs by myself. My mother was in the bathroom at the top of the stairs getting ready for work. Halfway down I slipped and tumbled all the way to the foyer, landing on my butt with my legs flipped up in the air back toward the stairs. I happened to be carrying a glass of orange juice. Because I screamed a little and made quite a bit of noise, I knew my mom would appear, worried about what happened. Sure enough, I looked up and there she stood, curling iron in one hand and a mug of coffee in the other (if she had another hand, it would have been on her hip).

"Did you get any juice on the carpet?" she asked.

Now don't get the wrong idea. My mom is the sweetest lady and spent most of my childhood worried about my safety--it was prompted by things like sporting events, field trips, sleeping in my bed at night. But eventually, I suspect that my mom, like most parents, got to the point were she just couldn't sweat the small stuff anymore. During this stair surfing incident, I was a teenager, not a baby or toddler, and perfectly capable of letting her know if I was truly hurt. She obviously knew I was okay or else she would have been down those stairs in a flash. But she wasn't overly concerned about clucking over me either.

Still, it strikes me as funny. When and why do parents get to that point? Is it the age of the child? Exhaustion from years of worrying? Brand new, really expensive carpet?

Someday my coworker will probably watch her son take a bad spill and tell him to rub some grass on it or walk it off. But right now, she's definitely taking the kid over the carpet. Where are you? Vote in my poll to the right and be honest. Somewhere, some way, your mother is watching you...

P.S. Mom, if you're reading this, I'd like to remind you that I didn't get any juice on the carpet that day. So maybe consider cutting me some slack on this post!

Duck for the Oyster, Dive for the Clam

This past Saturday, I did something I thought I'd never do.  Y'all, I went square dancing.  P's family hosted a corn roast that included a bonfire, homemade chili and a square dance caller after dinner.  I really wasn't looking forward to it because I prefer to make fun of things I'm not familiar with, but much to my surprise I ended up having a lot of fun!  It was very casual, with the grass as our dance floor.  No professionals, nothing serious.  Just a bunch of friends and family having a small town Saturday night!  Check out some pictures from the night:

This is Duck for the Oyster, Dive for the Clam with the whole group.  I called for a sub on this one and took pictures instead.  

The same thing, but with a smaller group.  

P sporting his cowboy look.  At first, not so much.  But toward the end of the night, I got used to it.  You know, once a year is fine.

P and I after some dancing.

That's a Long Distance Call - Doug!

Football season's got me thinking about one of my all-time favorite athletes. That's right: Terry Tate, office linebacker.

If I Had a Million Dollars

Think about it. What would you do if you had a million dollars? How drastically would it change your life? Would you quit your job? Morph into a different person? Develop expensive tastes?

I can't immediately answer all these questions, but I can give you three absolutes: I would buy my dad a boat, I would hunt down and purchase the Addams Family pinball game for my mom, and I would continue shopping at Value City. Because basically, a trip to Value City is a priceless experience and I assume that even as a millionaire, I wouldn't stop having fun. Snobs just don't know what they're missing. Here's an example of something I saw while shopping there earlier this week:

African Blow Dart Recall - Not a Child's Toy! Please Return to Store Immediately!

Seriously, where else are you going to see an African Blow Dart recall? The flyer even explained how it had been sold as a child's toy, but it in fact, was a fully functional blow dart. How does the buyer for Value City make that type of mistake? Amazing. Priceless. Hilarious.

I will never stop shopping at the VC--I'll just stick to my rules of no toys (see blow dart example), no off-brand electronics (fire hazard) and no Christmas or birthday shopping there (see blow dart example). I don't want to be responsible for any of my nephews shooting up their neighborhood friends with the brand new blow dart Aunt Mo Mo gave them.

Swapping CDs: Illegal or Common Sense?

I was talking music with a co-worker earlier this week, and during our conversation I mentioned that I sometimes go to the local library, check out CDs and download the songs I like to my iPod.  I thought nothing of it, and only mentioned it because he was telling me he was trying to decide whether or not he should buy an entire CD based on the snippets iTunes allows users to hear.  Really, I thought I was giving him a tip.  

Instead, he told me that he feels uncomfortable even letting his friends borrow his CDs just so they can burn them or download them to an MP3 player.  Now, I've always been known as a follow-the-rules type of person.  The last time I was at the hospital, I asked the discharge nurse where I should take my $150 co-pay.  But not letting my friends borrow my CDs?  Even I'm not that much of a downer.

To be fair, this guys really loves music.  And maybe rules, I'm not sure.  His intentions are good--he feels that the activity of file sharing is ripping off artists.  But haven't we (and by "we" I mean society) been file sharing for years?  Books, movies and music are all available for checkout at your local library.

So what do you think?  Am I taking advantage of my library by downloading music from their CDs to my iPod?  If so, should I also stop checking out books?  Because those artists aren't seeing a penny from me either.  

Hmm.  How technology changes the world.    

I'm really interested to see what Jimmer thinks about this one.

Never Wanted Nothing More

Vacations are a tricky thing in life.  If we took them all the time, we probably wouldn't appreciate them as much.  But still, this past Labor Day I think I could have managed a few more days of boating, camping, reading and trading stories around the fire.  It's sad to leave, to close out the summer, but like Practically Netter, I welcome the fall.  A whole new set of activities await and for some reason, fall does something for my soul (it might, however, just be the chili P makes during football season).  

That said, the 2nd Annual Labor Day Dale Hollow Extravaganza was a great end to a wonderful summer!  Check out a few pictures from the trip:   

This is the pontoon boat we rented for a few days.  It's just not possible to have a bad time with this boat and the crew we had on board!

Here is the view from our campsite.  Sigh...

P, his cousin, his brother and little sister out on a morning barefoot run.  His sister is the one out on the boom.  She has more guts than me, although I did surprise myself by jumping off the top of the pontoon boat by the end of the trip.  With a life jacket on, of course.  

And finally, this is me reading and relaxing out on the Cabana Islander, which is quite possibly the second love of my life.  I'm considering inflating it and putting it in the family room this winter if I miss it too much.