Posts Tagged ‘paige’
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Tuesday, September 28th, 2010
Last night Paige and I had this conversation about Communism, Denmark, the former Soviet Union and the Dalai Lama. I don’t know how we got started, but I know I pretty much blew her mind up with two words – BREAD LINES. The thought of having to wait in line for bread (when her mother bakes fresh loaves at home) is unfathomable. When I told her that bread lines were still relevant to the Soviet Union in the 1990′s, she had two simple words for me – NO. WAY.
WAY.
P: “I thought that only happened in ‘olden’ times.”
We then got on the topic of Communism and China. No one should start talking about China right before bedtime. It’s too much. You can go on endless tangents like – What do you think the factory workers are thinking about when they make those millions of rubber duckies? Do you think that they think Americans have some sort of weird duck fetish? Do they wonder what we do with all those rubber ducks? Or why we keep ordering more each year?
Why? Even I can’t explain why.
I went on to tell her that the government in China used to strongly discourage the practice of any type of religion. Her reaction – “What! What about Buddhism? What about the Dalai Lama? What do they do with him?”
M: “He doesn’t live in China.”
P: “WHHHHAAATTT?”
M: “His home is Tibet, but he doesn’t live there either. He lives in exile in India.”
P: “WHHHHAAATTT?”
M: “Tibet is currently occupied by China. The Chinese government is not fond of the Dalai Lama at all.”
P: “That’s crazy. Who doesn’t like the Dalai Lama?”
M: “That’s a good question.”
Next topic.
P: “Where is Amsterdam? I can’t remember.”
M: “WHHHHHAATTT?”
P: “I heard Amsterdam was a cool place to go.”
M: “Like what kind of cool? Who told you this? Why do you want to go there?”
P: “Geez. I just asked you what country Amsterdam was in.”
Change subjects.
P: “Where’s the happiest place on earth again?”
M: “Denmark.”
P: “Why are they so happy?”
M: “Well, lots of reasons. Free health care. Free education. There is this feeling of equality amongst the Danes. They have a saying ‘Jante-lov’ which means ‘You’re no better then anybody else.”
P: “They probably think the rest of the world is crazy”
M: “I don’t think they even care. But it’s not all great, they do pay a lot of taxes.”
P: “How much?”
M: “Between 40% and 70% of your income.”
P: “WHHHHHAATTT?”
M: “Yep – but they happily do so.”
P: “Mom?”
M: “Yes, Paige?”
P: “Can you please stop talking and leave me alone? I am trying to go to sleep.”
Tags: China, Communism, Dalai Lama, paige, Parenting
Posted in Daily, Parenting | 6 Comments »
Monday, November 2nd, 2009
When Paige informed me that she and her friend Beatrice were going to be an “angel and devil” pair for Halloween, I immediately assumed that Paige would be the angel.
Right? Right?
Wrong.
Well, I would have never wanted to be the “angel” either. It’s too much pressure to be good all of the time. As a teenager, I was always the one to take risks, gravitate towards the edge and jump feet first into new situations – often to my own detriment. To sum it up, I was “trouble.” Or more aptly, I was troubled.
I don’t think I could have raised the teenage “me.” I was a hot mess back then (and sometimes still am). But despite the acting out and rebellion, in the end I’ve tried – Lord knows I’ve tried – to always do the right thing.
Paige, on the other hand, doesn’t even try to be good all of the time. She tries to be good most of the time. She understands the fallibility of the human condition and just tries to do her best. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t and she’s generally at peace with either outcome. She is much more evolved than I was at her age.
So don’t let those devilish horns fool you. She may not be perfect all of the time, but she’s been my angel for the past 15 years.
Tags: halloween, paige
Posted in Daily, Parenting | 11 Comments »
Thursday, October 29th, 2009
No I did not fall off the face of the earth. I am being held hostage. By teenagers. Hungry. Emotional. Hormonal. Teenagers.
As you know, there are a variety of reasons why I made the move to Vashon (instead of somewhere else in Seattle) but the biggest factor was moving closer to Paige’s school and friends. It got to the point where Paige was on the island every single weekend and it seemed like I never got to see her. Ever.
So I moved to an island and things are a bit topsy turvy around these parts. But in a good way. Sorta. My old schedule has been thrown under the bus and I haven’t gotten into a good rhythm yet. Plus, Paige has been around a lot these days – she hasn’t spent the night at anyone else’s house all month. In fact, she actually hasn’t been anywhere all month. SHE IS AT HOME ALL OF THE TIME.
Don’t get me wrong, I love our new family dynamic. But it also means that I am constantly in Mommy mode. And it is exhausting. As much as I missed having Paige around when we lived in Seattle – I did appreciate that from time to time I could come home wasted and anticipate a hangover while Paige was at a sleepover. Not that I did that all of the time, but it’s always a good thing to have in your pocket when you are contemplating that third or sixth beer.
Plus, it hasn’t been just her around here. In the last few weeks, every single one of her girlfriends has spent the night at our house. Or been over for dinner. Or for study dates. Or for no reason at all. Herds of them. I half expect that a teenager will pop up from behind the couch at any given moment shouting, “I’M HUNGRY! FEED ME!”
Here’s an example of the volume of food that’s running through our house on the weekend – 9 kids over for dinner and 4 girls spending the night:
4 large pizzas
18 cans of soda
2 quarts of juice
2 jumbo bags of potato chips
1 gallon of ice cream
1 – 12 inch round birthday cake
1 dozen chocolate cupcakes
1 dozen blueberry muffins
1 pound of bacon
Yeah, it was a birthday party but they really do eat this much on other nights.
So lately, when I come home it’s like I am punching in for the 2nd shift – kitchen duty. When it was just Paige and I, I could give her a fruit roll up and some Goldfish crackers and pass that off as dinner. But heaven help us if we don’t have a balanced meal when we have company over! God forbid that there are any outside witnesses to those eight o’clock dinners over the sink! We eat home cooked meals every night of the week now.
I know. I know. I shouldn’t worry about it. It’s just that it’s early in the game and I don’t know anyone here and I definitely don’t want to be known as that single mother whose got a frozen pizza in the oven as she sips on bourbon and cokes while watching The Real Housewives (Bethenny is engaged!) on Bravo. This is a small island, after all. (Okay, maybe I don’t watch TRH, but the other two are true.)
But enough is enough. I am determined to get back to writing and blogging on a regular basis (really! I promise!) and back to the old exercise routine. And the dieting. And sending my kid off to other people’s houses.
But for now, in this moment in time, we are living the life that we always wished for and things are exactly how they should to be.
Tags: finding happiness, paige, vashon
Posted in Daily | 13 Comments »
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