Unexamined

Oh Dear Lord, Thank you that I've never seen the Teen Mom TV show and don't know who those people are that are appearing with regularity in the newspapers.

Like there isn't enough drama already in our universe?

My teenager with social anxiety is doing surprisingly well in his five week job assignment via WIA.  Getting into my truck each afternoon, he's voluble about everything, telling me exactly what he did all day as well as everything spoken to him.  This is so not like him.  I'm grateful that he has this opportunity.

I picked him up yesterday afternoon and his emotional twin burst out of my vehicle, clad only in soccer shorts, squawking loudly, flapping his wings, tossing himself into the grass, rolling around, spazzing, and getting louder by the minute, our family clown.  I was convulsed with laughter, I just couldn't help myself.  This kid is way past hilarious into the Jim Carey School of Slapstick.

My 18 year old is struggling with finishing up in summer school.  Again, we have an excellent school system and he's receiving a great deal of help.  He's gonna need a lot more to finish up his senior year next year, getting out of high school at age 19 1/2 I hope.  He's a sweetie, if he's slow at school, it's just not the end of the world.

And a big ole ouch as the Yankees swept the Braves, late last night as Heyward came up to bat in the ninth with two outs and a runner on first, I sweated like I was ditch digging, knowing he could do this, but it was not to be.

My favorite brother-in-law, a lifelong Yankee fan for some reason, texted, "Whew," as I simultaneously texted, "Crap."

A hot, high humidity day in which I literally sweated, drenched actually, while working in the shade, a garden bed in the back of the house that's been low on my totem pole of priorities. I weeded and weeded, two days of it, and finally it's starting to resemble my original plans.  I called an old friend as I worked, checking on her health as she's been in a battle, I'm still praying for her.

A minimalist blogger spoke of her three years without a TV set, one of the best benefits was that she wasn't so stressed nowadays without a talking head bemoaning the end of the world as we know it, the media always doing a great job of giving us more to worry about than we ever thought possible.

Conversely I do like my TV.  I like my DVR that allows me to record shows thus skipping the lame ads.  I wanna watch Braves baseball and I wanna indulge in some escapists shows that allow me to forget the stress.  The new Dallas show was boring, I feel asleep.  Sarah and I are watching Design Star, ironic in that I have no design capabilities nor aspirations but I so admire what others can do.

I'll minimize in another area - like shoes.  It's my own personal belief that who cares what makes the outfit?  My outfits suck anyway.  Clothes are just to keep us from embarrassing ourselves.  Hermits wear rags and go bare feet.  Heels?  No, thank you. These are all I own.

Two pairs of brown shoes?  Why do I even bother keeping them?  Not worn in years, except maybe to a wedding.  Why do my flip flops appear so large?  Because they are.  They were in a clothing donation bag given to us.  The other two pairs of black shoes?  Grandma gave me one pair when I'd admired what she was wearing, the other pair is from back in my school employment days.  I've now been retired for more'n ten years.

My true shoe wearing only involves these:

Yes, Sarah, I know I need to color the white spot with a Sharpie.

An unexamined life isn't worth living, thank you Socrates.  Why did I think that was Thoreau?

Lily has about 30 pairs of shoes, Sabrina has twice that amount.  Shoes matter to them.  They don't have houseplants.  I allow my children to find what thrills them, not my own comically sub-standards of living.

We hermits wanna someday eliminate our garbage pickup, in that recycling, composting and pre-cycling (not buying anything) should be enough.  Digital music and books further reduces stuff.  Lord knows I wanna eliminate ever having to go inside a store, that's what motivates me to grow groceries.

The Overhang I wrote about yesterday?  I have no overhang at all except on a goal sheet, but I've raised 39 kids.  I use this as an example to my own kids, something for them to strive towards.

My houseplants however?  I'm not minimizing in that area, yet I have little to no money invested in my thousands of plants.  I've never bought a new planter, yard sales supply those for pennies, and I propagate most of my plants from seeds or cuttings.

Water Night didn't happen at church last night due to a scheduling conflict leaving Ray holding his water bazooka and dry towel for no reason, and Mae in tears.  Rescheduled in July, but that's a lifetime away for the kids.

I again got to attend the Wednesday night service, for many years I missed nearly every single one tending to raging kids with severe issues.  I'd be trying to calm down a teenager who wanted to hurt others for breathing.

I was deeply stressed out at the time, frantic with my safety concerns for the family.