Two satellites collided in orbit, destroying both.
Down here on Earth, the boys are home from school today because we got snow. Not a lot of snow, but enough to make for tricky driving out in the more rural areas of the county. Since these things are decided on a county-wide basis, the kids here in the city—where the roads are relatively clear—get to miss a day as well.
My kids are so disappointed. It’s heartbreaking, I tell ya.
Yesterday the Director forgot to bring his coat home from school. This morning, the temperature was two degrees above freezing, and he asked me to drive him to school so he wouldn’t have to stand at the bus stop in his light denim jacket.
I muttered and grumbled, mostly because I’m not a morning person—at that hour of the day you could ask me if I wanted to help oil up John Barrowman and I’d mutter and grumble about it. But I grabbed my coat and my keys, gave the kid a hug and reminded him that Mom is grouchy in the morning and my muttering wasn’t his fault, and drove him off to school.
I came home, took off my coat, and went back to bed. (Last night was the first time since we all caught the creeping crud that I’ve been able to sleep reasonably well.) I was just dozing off when I heard the Artist cough. The Artist, who was supposed to be on the bus to school by now.
I got up and shuffled into the hall; there he was in the living room. “What are you doing here?”
“Bus never came.”
“Weird. Well, grab your stuff.” Once more I donned my coat and drove a kid to school.
In about half an hour I’ll be going to pick up the Director from school; he likes to get a ride home in the afternoons so he doesn’t have to face the noisy school bus. A couple hours after that, I’ll be picking up the Artist from swim practice.
Sometimes it feels like my main use to this family is my driver’s license.
I’ve been continuing to send out resumes and contact the job sites and temp agencies. However, on the theory that nobody is going to be doing much business of any kind (including hiring) until January 5, I also went to help out at the Thrift Shoppe. I’ve been out of class for over a week, and that’s about as long as I can tolerate being indolent and useless.
The Artist (perhaps I should say The Party Animal) spent the night at a church lock-in with about a hundred other teenagers. My mother reports that when she picked him up this morning he was grinning from ear to ear. I never would have predicted, when he was in elementary school, that he would grow up to be such a social, outgoing guy. Just confirms the adage, “If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism.” Of course, he didn’t get a wink of sleep, so now he’s crashed in her guest bedroom for the day.
Alpha Geek and the Director (my control-freak younger son) spent the evening with the new PSP I got my husband for Christmas. To the great surprise of both of us, I actually managed to come up with a present he really likes. And which, of course, both our kids like as well. My parents chipped in and got him a Big Box o’ Accessories for the gadget, including headphones, car power adaptor, and a nice hard-shell case to carry it in. He took it with him to Ottawa last week and watched movies on the plane. And he wasn’t gone an hour before the Director was asking me where Daddy’s PSP was.
The Director still has a cough from the cold he had a couple of weeks ago. Tomorrow I’m dragging his little butt up to the doctor.
And that’s the state of our household, this first day of 2009. Hope you’re all doing well!