(no subject)

[altarflame]

These two shots pretty much sum up the drive north.




Well, and this -

Luckily this kid can sleep through ANYTHING.

I had a moment of near despair when we were almost there. I was running low on gas, and needing to get green spray for Aaron's mohawk, and we were hungry...and my debit card wasn't working. And when I went to cash a check for cash, I got told no. Because a stupid company took our big old ($1100) bill payment out twice by accident and made our bank account negative. The mistake was supposed to have been corrected, and they had told Grant by phone that it was - after he went through a massive phone tag hassle with them about us needing to go out of town...but it wasn't, really. So I was standing there in a parking lot just south of Orlando trying to figure out how best to utilize the $5 cash and random car door change I had on me, after a horrible phone conversation with Grant...when he called back and said Shaun had paypal'd us a loan we could give back when the payment was reversed and our account was fixed. It STILL isn't, incidentally - everyday Grant emails and/or calls the same woman who gives him the same runaround. The bank has reversed related fees because it's very obvious what happened, and we have a great bank. *sigh* But anyway, the point is, the day was saved and I was REALLY relieved. On to the Hyatt Regency at Orlando International Airport.

I thought that meant a hotel right next to the airport, but NO. The hotel is actually INSIDE of the airport, like, the room balconies look down on ticketing lines and the windows by the banquet halls overlook concourses. This means it was an insane lot of hooey to actually navigate ourselves to the correct place, and when we found it we got told we had to circle back out of the airport and start over to get to self-parking, since I didn't want to pay the valets and needed to have access to my car because I wasn't sure what we had to take inside. We laughed through most of that, at least...and both of us were super happy about how this turned out.

The shirt was one his whole group had, and they spray painted them in class. Tawanna LOVES Aaron with a mohawk, though, she talks about missing it semi-often since it last grew out. So we did it as a surprise, for the competition, and then realized how cool it would be if his hair matched his costume. Aaron was all blushy and biting his lip like he does when he's self-conscious as we walked through the place, saying "Tawanna's going to make me smile". And sure enough when she first saw him from 25 feet away - as he was hard to miss - she started whooping "I. CAN. NOT. E-VEN. TAKE. YOU!" and snapping her fingers as she ran towards him.



Nobody ever complained about him riding his unicycle all over the place. We had security guards telling him how cool it was, and by Saturday evening groups of girls going "There he is! Get the camera!" but I guess they just don't...have...unicycle rules? My sister told me that if she worked at an airport and saw a kid with a green mohawk riding a unicycle she would ASSUME it was a diversion and call for backup :p

It was a new challenge to see if he could ride around in an elevator as it went up and down. First day: no. Second day: sort of. Third day: definitely.

My view outside the classrooms; i.e., what I was looking at most of the time over the weekend. Also, at one point, I spotted a kid from our studio - not a dancer, a teacher's kid - on the OTHER SIDE OF THAT GLASS by the plants. I was on the phone with Grant and had to hang up and run over there. Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez.


Dressed. And nervous. He had never performed on stage before.


And we'd went to SEE the stage, where the competition was well underway and had been for hours but he wasn't due to go on with his group for hours more:

There's another big video screen on the left side, out of the shot, and it was just a big crowded room with tons of lights and a big old camera swooping around on a massive jointed arm. He was very...agog. And energized, at the same time.

I have a horrible confession. I mean, this is BAD. I feel like...hell, about it, I've had to reevaluate all sorts of things about myself because I am just APPALLED, at me. Basically, I was really surprised to meet Tawanna's husband. Because I just assumed she was a single mom for this last year since finding out she had a toddler. And try as I might, there was no reason I could figure out for me to ever think that...except that she is a really urban-dressing black woman and pretty accomplished in the world of hip-hop. I mean...wth is the matter with me? I mean I've loved her and I love her even more than I did last week, now, because of how she took Aaron under her wing and really cared about how he was feeling and when he was nervous and that he believe in himself.

I mean really this is somebody who's danced at the VMAs and choreographed televised shows and I am there because SHE is paying my son's way and buying my son's costume and I still have the nerve to harbor some preconceived notions about her based on total bullshit - O_O - WHAT? *sigh*

One of those great times she was there for Aaron was that first afternoon, she called him over to where she was sitting with a whole entourage of adoring teenage dancers, her family, older people asking her questions, and had him sit down right next to her and introduced him to everyone there, and told him everybody's scared at first. Then Brandon was walking by and she yelled for him and he came over - Brandon Bryant won Star Search couples dancing with Ananda's dance teacher Candace, several years back, and then he placed second on last season's So You Think You Can Dance. We've never seen him personally around the studio but watched him on tv and YouTube when everyone was going crazy voting awhile back. So Tawanna says, "I've got someone I want you to meet" to Aaron, and "Do you know who this is?" Aaron answers, with a lip bite, "Yeah, from tv!" She told him she used to teach Brandon just like she teaches him, and then she tells Brandon, "Aaron doesn't know how good he is yet" with this significant LOOK. So they hang out for awhile and of course my picture (also featuring Timmy) comes out all blurry and stupid, but whatevs.


Tawanna had them rehearsing. You can see the concourse down below.


"Enough with the PICTURES!"


So when the time came, I was taking bootleg video from my spot off to the side in the midst of the crowd. We ordered the actual JUMP dvd though. When we went to watch it when we got home, there was no audio. So Grant sync'd my crappy video's audio with the muted professional video, hence the weird crap like how there are seconds of silence at the beginning and end. You can hear Tawanna and Brandon cheering them on very close to where I'm standing, at times, and I like that you can hear how INSANE the crowd was going in general. I was panning the audience at times in mine, because everyone went NUTS. That was all the kids could talk about afterwards; everybody jumped to their feet and started screaming while they were on stage, it was really awesome.

He messed up at the very end and went the wrong way :p I didn't notice at the time, probably because I'm so far right it was hard to see him at the end. I wish the better video hadn't faded in and out right as they were doing their two breakdancing moves though, he held it well. :)

So we went for a walk, with him skipping and leaping and unicycling and cartwheeling with glee, and on the way to the food court look at what we found.

Can you hear the violins starting? It's not even all in the shot! It's a SUPERSTORE!! A LUSH SUPERSTORE. I had to restrain myself somewhat, but I did bring Ananda back one of their new Oz bubble bars, it's a sky blue with a little rainbow popping off of it. And I restocked my karma supply - 2 bubble bars, soap and solid perfume. I also got a couple more I've Been Mango'd..s.

The event was sponsored by Capezio, so there were racks of dance clothes for sale at outlet pricing, and shoes out. He picked out a tshirt to give to Annie when we got home, and I found her a set of stretchy shorts and a halter that would be perfect for her accro class, in colors she would like (forest green and jeweltone blue).

We got back to the award ceremony and it was kind of intense, how that auditorium was packed, so beyond capacity with every dancer and supporter at the convention packed in at once. The group category for Aaron's age group (youngest ones there, called "Minis", 7-10) has medals labeled bronze, high bronze, silver, high silver, gold and high gold. They actually got the high gold!! They were SO psyched.

There's also sometimes a special High Score award if there are enough competitors in a category and the high gold comes out by a big enough margin, and they got that, too, which means they get a gold JUMP license plate to hang at Dance Empire and $500 towards their competition expenses for next year.

Aaron called Grant and my sister on the way back to my Aunt Deedee's, where we were staying. It's just over an hour from the hotel, and we didn't get out of there until almost midnight that night. Stopping for gas on the way out of the airport, I vowed to NEVER, ever run out of gas at an international airport again - it was $4.79 a gallon! WHAT?! For reference, where I live it is about $2.79. Which is similar to Orlando pricing, outside of the airport.

I almost killed him on the hour long ride. The kind of crowd noise and packed areas and booming music - just general constant sensory bombardment - he held up under for that long had him grabbing at my arms, banging on the window, rapid-poking buttons and knobs and flipping around A/C vents until I told him I was going to pull over and put him in the backseat if he didn't knock it off NOW.

After an initial sulking period we managed to talk a bit :p

Deedee's house is great, she gave us a tour and Aaron washed all the green out of his hair while we looked at her craft stuff together. I tried to grit my teeth and ignore the unceasing racket of him drumming on the walls of her shower after I'd apologized to her about it twice. She was good at pretending it wasn't making us crazy. He showed her and Eddie his medal and was polite as they showed us all their awesome art (it's all by the same Key West artist and he is really good) and it was like 1:30 when we just had to go to bed, because as it was to eat breakfast somewhere and make it all the way back he'd still be missing the first class the next day...even getting up at 6:30. I called Grant first and he put me on speaker phone to talk to everyone at once, and then I got on with Ananda, Isaac and Elise individually. They were all camped out in the tv room at home, together. Ananda told Aaron that their caterpillar, Fred, had built his cocoon that day and he looked sad to be missing it.

It was sweet to sleep with Aaron, we haven't done that since he was tiny and at home it's always Jake and Elise in our bed. Even if I did have to read to him and then resort to therapeutic deep tissue massage to get him to calm down and be still o_O

Breakfast at Bob Evan's the next morning. He was in love with this strawberry stuffed french toast. I could not BELIEVE how well he woke right up, slipped on clothes and stumbled out to the car.


Classes were much more grand-scale than I was expecting.




For instance, this is Aaron's first tap class (well, since he was 3) and there were more kids than floor. They were doing things like taking 5 steps to the right or left or back, even. I don't know how it worked at all. But he LOVED it. Loved all of it.


This is how he spent one of his entire lunch hours:

Well, variations of that anyway...the energy is boundless.






Saturday I sat for awhile with this amazing woman who's name I can't even recall, who had teenage daughters there and was doing work on her laptop. We discovered sort of by accident after talking for half an hour that she was also very attached, natural parent who wanted to homeschool but couldn't as a single parent. She told me about her first love dying and this new guy she's with and her master's degree and I told her about Grant and I, and writing, and how worried I get about how Aaron has kind of usurped what has ALWAYS been Ananda's thing. It was just good to click with somebody for a little while.

Then came the second time I realized what a total asshole I am. There is another mom at Dance Empire who I just, for reasons I don't even know how to explain, grouped into a stereotype of being one of the rich and snobby dance moms. She wears a lot of makeup, really thick, and has super light dyed blond hair and really, there is no justification for this. But I projected a lot of crap onto her. Anyway this woman approached me to tell me she is just amazed with my son, it's like he doesn't even know the audience is there, and it's unreal that this is his first year dancing (again, since he was 3, but that was mostly sitting out sulking). She was telling me how he throws himself in with so much feeling, he never gets distracted like the other kids or complains or does anything halfway. She also said she is always trying to tell him how good he is and encourage him, partially because he's off on his own so often while the other kids talk and hang out and she feels bad for him being left out. So I told her about SID/SPD (the name is changing) and the autism spectrum and how he actually cannot HEAR her when he's in a crowded room trying to dance, even if she's right next to him and yelling, because he just kind of shuts down. And how he really doesn't break into social settings or have many real friends, though there are a few kids he talks to here and there. Anyway this woman ended up teary eyed, and talking about how much he moves her, and how she has some "spray cement" stuff she's going to bring him, for the mohawk, and how she really thinks he can do anything and we talked about the piano and how out of the water he blows me, with it, and how I almost stab myself in the eye trying to get him to do schoolwork, or chores, and how he sometimes wigs out on Ananda in really unfair-to-her ways he can't help. It was just the best talk and I SHOULD NOT BE SURPRISED TO FIND DEPTH AND SINCERITY. IN ANYONE. I didn't even really consciously realize I was judging this woman - it was on the periphery of my thinking, she's someone I've seen on the other side of rooms or from across a parking lot as I drive off. Who in the world do I think I am? Like Kimya sings in that last entry, "We are all so complicated - I am complicated..."

There was a preliminary thing that afternoon, with scholarship winners for some particular category (he didn't get one). The teacher in there, doing the announcements, talked about how she didn't care if she got a scholarship when she used to go to dance conventions because she knew she was the best dancer in the world so the judges were just stupid. Everyone laughed, but before she started passing them out, she made them repeat after her:
"If I don't get a scholarship...
I don't care!
I'm the best dancer in this room.
If I do get a scholarship...
I don't care!
I knew I was good before I got their dumb scholarship!"

The teachers and classes were all fun. JUMP is the "alternative dance convention" meaning it's not a lot of classical ballet technique. Aaron did take one ballet class, and one lyrical, and one jazz, but like Brandon also taught a disco one and there was "jazz funk". And contemporary, which featured Taylor Swift music and made Aaron curl up on the floor with his hands over his ears in agony. Just like being home :p

Downstairs, making my way to Starbucks, I was on the phone with my sister when I thought I saw Dave Grohl (from Foo Fighters) walk right past me. "I think I just saw Dave Grohl". "What, really?" "Yeah...wait, I think a LOT of people think they see Dave Grohl!" If I had caught him before the small crowd started to gather in, I would have said, "Hey the last time I saw you, you were getting punched before eating!"

Incidentally, Aaron was jealous that he missed this, as he is on a big Foo Fighters kick right now and I had to deal with a bit of a marathon on the way home in honor of his lost opportunity.

When I would drag him away from JUMP and force him to eat, the moving walkways were his obsession. No, his feet are not on the ground here.

I was always vascillating between trying to keep him right by my side and NOT having him making a nuisance of himself, vs being like, you know, who really cares, he's staying out of peoples' way. I drew the line at taking the unicycle on the moving walkways and I carried it on escalators or in crowds.

Saturday we got out of there in daylight and managed to go swimming back at DeeDee and Eddie's place, and then they insisted on taking us out to Olive Garden, which was really good. I wish she lived closer - I know all of my kids would love to be around her more. Elise keeps telling me "DeeDee my home!!" because she remembers when she came before and was mad that we were there without her. They live in this massive retirement community that has it's own stores and restaurants and everything-under-the-sun, all accessible by golf cart. So we rode in their golf cart; there are even tunnels under major roads and to cross major highways, so you can take the cart.

Aaron was a TOTAL flibberdigibit (my made up word for when he's acting like he's having an SID fit) the whole time we were driving there and in the pool, it was impossible to even have a conversation with him. But he seemed to get most of it out of his system to where he was actually having a deep talk with me about all kinds of family things as we changed into our regular clothes. And he managed to be decent in the golf cart and polite in the restaurant and then he DROPPED right after I read to him, that night...which still ended up being about midnight. Then I talked to DeeDee, and Grant, and the kids, and Grant again, and took pictures of myself for Grant, and texted Grant for awhile and finally sort of lost consciousness.

I actually found him asleep like this when I went to bed, with that creepy hand thing on his shoulder.


I wondered more than once if he seemed "weird" to DeeDee and Eddie because he was just sort of hard to get information out of and really spaced out and in his own world. They'd have to ask him something twice, so that I would touch him or make eye contact to get his attention, and add "Aaron, tell Eddie how it was" or "DeeDee wants to hear about your medal" and you could see him like, blinking too much before he answered like he was waking up. *sigh*

He came back from a golf cart ride Eddie had taken him on, just the two of them, and said, "Don't tell him I said this, because I don't want to hurt his feelings...but Eddie is really boring". Eddie IS really boring, he harps on and on about the silliest details, like telling us the right amount of body wash to use in the shower and which is the hot and cold tap in the bathroom sink for our teeth and asking if we know where the lightswitch is in the bedroom - DeeDee kept saying, "He does this to everyone". Aaron said he didn't mind, because he did it in a nice way where you could tell he just cares and is trying to help.

Before falling asleep and as he woke up, he said he was homesick. Several times over the weekend - generally in the car - he said that he wondered what Annie was doing. He doesn't usually separate from her very well.

Sunday we got a really frustrating start, getting lost on the way to the highway, realizing we didn't have my wallet, turning around, him feeling sick (probably from lack of sleep and refusal to eat). Finally we were there, though, and it's like he is FINE as soon as he can be dancing again. His favorite class of the day was definitely the one where they were using this song - the energy in the room was awesome and he kept on skipping around singing this for the rest of the day:

The lyrics are actually pretty spot on for him this weekend, actually, in a sort of 8 year old scale model.

During that class, I was standing by the wall watching and another mom said to me, "He's a VIP?" (pointing at Aaron) I was like, no. This is his first year. She acted really shocked and said, He's definitely going to get VIP. I had no idea what to say. It was the second parent to approach me on their own about him being good in 24 hours, and this one wasn't even from Dance Empire. She said her son made VIP in Charleston last year and they'd been to NYC and LA since then. They were there on scholarship. I told her Aaron's way was being paid by his dance studio (I'm actually not clear on whether DE or Tawanna paid his way, only that Tawanna set it up and bought his clothes for the performance). She also explained that Aaron's dance getting high gold and high score would qualify them to go to NY if they wanted to go there to be in the finals.

I was very....uh...wacked out? by all of that, and called Dama and talked about how overwhelming and MUCH the whole weekend had been already. Until my phone died and I had to find someone to let me plug it in behind their desk.

He had 5 hour long classes before lunch, after his piddly amount of sleep, and never complained once, and then spent his whole lunch hour dancing by himself. Every kid I recognize enough to be more than a face in the crowd at this event, I saw really miserable at least once. Timmy, his friend in his group, was crying two different times. Because they're not sleeping enough, they can't eat when they want to, they're KIDS and they're dancing for the equivalent of a 7 hour schoolday in cramped, LOUD quarters. For 2 days in a row, after a nerve-wracking competition they'd been in special rehearsals for for 2 weeks.

But Aaron never even complained. He just...loves to dance and would never stop, or something.

Anyway, I had a horrible moment at lunch when I realized he hadn't been wearing his number all that day. You're supposed to wear your number at all times so teachers can write your number down as they notice you being talented, and that's how they award everything that they do at the end of the event. So he missed the first class Saturday and Sunday, which includes the only hip hop class of the event, and he only wore his number for the last class on Sunday.
There wasn't much to be done about it, as we were already filing into the auditorium for the awards' ceremony. Which was LOUD and AMAZING, as the teachers were performing, and webcast live so that Grant watched it with Ananda.

STILL, only being in a class with his number on like 4 out of 10 possible times, he got a partial scholarship to a NYC intensive.

As we walked out the Dance Empire mom I'd misjudged and then talked with at length stopped us, and gave him the spray cement stuff for his hair, and hugged him somewhat against his will, and told him, "They don't give those to just everybody!" :D

Calling Dad to tell him, as we left the airport for the last time:

He actually told him, "You know what the best part of this weekend was? ...Not having to do my chores!!"

I could not stop myself from laughing hysterically. I also told him he could have whatever he wanted for dinner, and he said strawberry stuffed french toast from Bob Evans, so we went back and had that again. DeeDee met us this time.

He spotted fireworks from Disney and search lights from Universal Studios, on the way home, and we saw the upside down WonderWorks building when we stopped for gas and Starbucks. Because I was NOT going to stay awake for that whole late night ride after the amount of rest I'd had, and I hurt everywhere from walking all over the airport with my laptop case slung heavily over one shoulder whenever I wasn't stuck in a car getting stiff. But, Grant had told the kids I was coming home that night, and they were waiting up for us, and even though she only nurses a couple of times a day anymore - my boobs were seriously hurting by this point.

It was a great homecoming. We all slept in the tv room on wall to wall mattresses after tons of hugs, nursing, picture sharing (both ways) and talk. Ananda loved the things we gave her and Isaac was so cuddly and Grant and I even managed to "slip away" for a bit, which was pretty much awesome.

While we were away, Grant outdid himself back home with the other four kids to keep them feeling safe and loved with me so far away.

Breakfast one morning.


Grilled hot dog dinner the night they observed earth hour and turned off the electricity.


At his job's company picnic.
















I think I'll keep him ;)

Jake is acting really bizarre with me, like I've betrayed him terribly by weaning him months ago (even though he was turning 4...and I've nursed him a couple of times since...) and refusing to give me any affection at all or even talk to me nice most of the time. It sucks. Our relationship has been really different ever since I cut out the milk, and it frustrates me a lot because we used to be so sweetly, wonderfully close and lovey together, and I nursed him for a LONG time, and we made a deal about the weaning that he was happy to stick to. But he hasn't slept by me in the bed once since last October :/ *sigh*

I've already bleached some of Annie's hair for dying purple (it's the length she's going to cut off soon, which will leave just her natural hair after this interim fun period) and taken her out alone, and almost finished James and the Giant Peach with Isaac (movie ready and waiting), and played Chutes and Ladders with him, and taken Jake for a bike ride that he treated as a truce, and I've snuggled and tickled and rolled around with Elise tons and tons. Cooked for everyone a lot yesterday, which Grant had off. It's nice that we don't have any activities this week since it's Spring Break.

It's good to be back :)

Comments

[failstoexist.livejournal.com]

Wow...sounds like an awesome experience!

Just wanted to let you know the boots came today...they are *gorgeous*..now if only it would stop pouring buckets so I could actually wear them! :) thanks for the quick shipping and all that.

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

It was crazy good :)

And, I'm SO glad you got and, more importantly, like them!

[seanclocks.livejournal.com]

AWESOME!

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

I so know dude. Also, thanks.

[noelove.livejournal.com]

you're a great friend Shaun. <3

[seanclocks.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[theneolistickid.livejournal.com]

You like how I blurred their junk?

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I think it's weirder than leaving them naked. But I know most of the internet disagrees, and they were your posted pics.

[theneolistickid.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I kept the original, but I didn't want Flickr (or the trolls) freaking out

[babyslime.livejournal.com]

I also found it weird. It made me stop and stare and wonder what was wrong with the image, rather than just keep scrolling.

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

Well, you are like the one other person on the internet who thinks innocent young child bathing nudity is ok to post publically ;P

[theneolistickid.livejournal.com]

I tried cropping, but it didn't look as good. I have nothing against naked kids. As a matter of fact, I fucking LOVE naked kids (wait, that didn't sound right), but Flickr doesn't love them. I'm currently under the oppression of THE MAN, so cut me some slack. ;(

[noelove.livejournal.com]

p.s.

[theneolistickid.livejournal.com]

Oh snap, I didn't know today was opposite day!

[noelove.livejournal.com]

It was on the calendar noob!


Also, can you tell stella to stop trying to grab computer wires?

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

......I just got that this is probably related to that 365 pic he posted with the wires :p

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

She does, good job there. I had never heard of it but oh the raving stories I heard :p I think they could do infomercials for the place....

And yeah, thanks.

[schmecks.livejournal.com]

I thought the same thing about them living in the villages - I just heard about it on NPR this morning. It sounded kind of creepy, but in a benign way, if that makes any sense.

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

I can't believe they were featured on NPR, how weird.

Anyway, I think it's kind of creepy too, in a somewhat less than benign way...I don't understand this idea of active, able bodied people giving up on real/outside life and going to hole up in communes. My Nana and Pa did the same thing, and it's like...crazy, to me, to be 50-something years old and decide you want to live, work and play where there are ONLY other people over 50. The communities are IMMACULATE because there's no young people ever dropping piece one of litter, let alone spray painting or whatever - but immaculate in this brave new world way, totally fake and overly intricate landscaping and all these pools and hot tubs everywhere that nobody ever gets in and...I don't know.

Nancy, my old midwife Nancy who is now my friend and visits from Boston? She's 67 I think? She lives in her own awesome house in a regular neighborhood, attends births regularly, has a boyfriend, speaks at conferences and is writing another book - she goes and excercises everyday and is just...still in the world, if that makes any sense. You know?

I dunno.

[(Anonymous)]

It's interesting that you mention the lack of children/young adults, because they talked about that on the NPR piece as well. One of the residents was saying that the community is so beautiful, and everyone seems to love living there, but it was eerie to look around and not see a single kid. Even weirder is that they have a charter school on the property, but it's only open to children of people that work there.

Oh, and they also have this downtown area with old-looking buildings with historical plaques, but it's all fake! The place was built in one year in like 2002 or something.

The other thing that struck me as weird is that there are all these retailers (including luxury golfcar (yes, 'car' not 'cart' retailers) that are owned by The Villages and they all advertise on the Village radio stations, but there's no mention of the affiliation. It's just weird. Really weird.

The one positive thing I remember hearing about it though, was that there are tons of activities, and that most of the residents are busier there than when they lived "outside" and had jobs, etc. I can see how it would be good for an older person that didn't have much family or whatever, but it just seems kind of bizarre.

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they put up big old signs right by brand new construction saying, "Florida's Friendliest Neighborhood!" before anyone even lived there, and they have these "downtown" centers where they pipe in music for dancing. I don't know.

My main gripe is, I can understand the allure for someone who, say, is in their 70s-80s, has little family on the outside, their vision is fading so they can't drive a regular car anymore...I don't know. But like my Aunt DeeDee is like 52, she's got thick dark curly hair and bright blue eyes and a good sense of style, and she's driving the length of Florida to see people in Key West every other week. I just don't get why she'd want to be surrounded by exclusively super old people. Her husband is way older and one of those people who is x-military and wants everything in order all the time, but...blah.

Likewise my Nana was only like 53 when she moved to a less expansive and insane but otherwise similar place (they also have a stupid golf cart), and she was working at Publix and missing us terribly to where it really made her miserable, for the last pre-stroke years of her life :/ It just makes me sad, she was BLOCKS away from us and the boss, at her job, and knew all her (varied and different) neighbors. She said she regretted it but it was too late, once she got there. Now she CAN'T live independently anymore and it makes me feel bitter for her.

That is off the topic of the bizarre creepiness of the villages, I just type the way I talk, which is all over the place :p The fake plaques is so over the top I almost can't deal with it. And yeah I heard about how some of those golf "Cars" run around $35,000.

[babyslime.livejournal.com]

WOWYAY! Okay, that's about all I can say to this.
And whoa Aaron is good. Marika came over here while I was watching the video and was like, "Holy crap".

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

Thank you :) I think so, too, particularly in the "just started dancing" way.

[aelf.livejournal.com]

What an amazing experience!

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

Definitely "more" all around than I expected!

[wanderinganima.livejournal.com]

This post made me laugh and cry all at once LOL and being post-op it was a good hurt :)
GO Aaron!

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

Aww, I know just what you mean because it's pretty much how I felt.

What did you have to have done? Hope everything is going well!

[wanderinganima.livejournal.com]

Hi.well I had a couple of hernias( read 3!) removed on the 19th (supposedly day surgery @ 3 days in hospital lol)and this is the 3time having stomach surgery hopefully the last. I feel fine tho and tomorrow afternoon I get the staples out YAY! ...I'll feel so much better when they are gone as they freak me da fuck out!
Sorry :D
btw still no cigarettes :o)
hope you are well and have had the chance to relax a bit ...
the part about Jake is what made me cry and I hope you will feel a little closer to him as I type this.
take care Teresa

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

SO AWESOME, about the smoking! Go you!

[noelove.livejournal.com]

way to be a judgemental hosebeast Tina. GOSH.

I can't get over that kid! He's amazing. And how lovely that you got to spend some time with just him. I bet he was blissed out of his mind for that one. :)

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

I know, right? ;) The truth is I know everyone harbors all kinds of unconscious prejudice, I just try to root it out of myself when I become aware of it, and to BE as self-aware as I can, about it...

I can't get over him either, he really is...and it was great. It's been interesting coming home and going from kid to kid doing totally different things again and thinking of how different it was to focus on just one of them all day for a few days. Aside from when Ananda's first year of life, I've only ever really done that when I've had a newborn I was still in-patient with.

It balanced out well, for him, though - he was blissed out, but he also missed Ananda, and his cat, and felt homesick or sad that he was missing Fred's cocoon building at times. I can tell he's glad to be home and was ready to come back.

[noelove.livejournal.com]

I love that you are aware of your biases. I totally have them too! I love how openly you write about it. :)

There are times in the mornings when just Isaiah is awake and we have these little quiet conversations under the covers. I love those moments.

Or when Stell and Isaiah are asleep and its just me and Aiden before bed time, OR even better when he holds my hand walking from his big kids gym to pick up Stell and Isaiah at the little kids gym. And its just me and my baby. My big baby.

Oh thanks Tina, now I'm tearing up. BITCH.