Back to Blogging

Q: How does one know when it's time to start blogging again?
A: When one finds herself with more to say than her husband wants to hear in one sitting!

So here I am, ready to blog some more. First of all, under the headline of Blog World Collides With Real World: Last Friday, I was at McDonald's, a place for Food, Folks, and Fun as the advertisements used to say. And we had all three: in addition to seeing a friend from church there, I saw a little girl running around who I knew I knew from somewhere. I just couldn't place her face, even after scanning all the adult faces in the kids' area where we were. Finally, it hit me. I've seen her face at Hale-Yeah!--that's Brian Hale's daughter. Looking around the room some more, I recognize (again from pics at his blog) his wife (Jacinda) and younger daughter! Unbelievable! Of course I had to go say Hi to this complete stranger who I already felt like I'd met! You can go meet her too at Jacinda's blog!

During the same visit to McD's: As I mentioned, we were sitting in the kids' play area where they have the big play structure for the kids to safely climb up in, across, and slide down. Unfortunately, it's safe because it is totally enclosed, with very few "windows". So when I (rather unwisely) allowed my two-year-old daredevil to go up, while there were about ten or twelve other loud kids swarming, I lost track of her. I sent my four-year-old up. Did you see her? Yes. Where is she? (Pointing up high) Right there. Was she happy? Yes. Okay, fine, if she's happily playing up there, no problem. But I was still searching for her through one of those "windows". Finally, as I got closer, I heard crying over the noise of the other children, and another mom asked if that's my daughter, that she's been crying and is over there, pointing up the stair case. The tight spiral staircase that even a five-year-old couldn't stand up in. After quickly determining there was no other choice, I crawled through the small entrance and up the stairs to find my daughter at the top of the stairs, scared and crying, just sitting there while other kids stared at her, wondering if they should do something before continuing on their journey through the bright plastic cavern. Of course I felt terrible that I had let her go up there and then didn't even know she was crying for I don't know how long. I inched my way down the stairs with her on my lap. One really little girl coming up the stairs stopped when she saw me and just stared. Finally she (rightfully) laughed and went on. We emerged and I tried to comfort my poor little girl who I was certain had been traumatized for life. But she wouldn't let me. The tears had stopped and she wanted to go back and play. Is this what they mean when they say kids are resilient?