Category Archives: A Year In The Life

Our Mosque Visit

by

1

The morning of our last day in Dubai we finally got around to visiting a local mosque and were given a brief introduction into the Muslim religion.  The tour is put on by a local organization in an effort to help educate those of us that have really never experienced the Muslim world.  Although I am somewhat exposed to the religion on an almost daily basis, as I work with Muslims locally and overseas, I will say that this experience was rather enlightening and one that I wish we had had the opportunity to do much earlier in the trip.

Prior to our visit, when I was around mosques and the traditionally dressed Muslims I found myself feeling uneasy and avoided eye contact.  One day when taking photos of a beautiful mosque just down the street from our hotel the call for prayer went out and I immediately felt intimidated and uneasy and tried not to look anyone in the eye as they entered for their prayer time.  Even as I type I now realize just how foolish this sounds.  The basis of religion aside, it is akin to feeling uneasy and not looking someone in the eye as they enter a Christian church for prayers.  Put this way, it sounds ludicrous and after our visit to the mosque, at least for our one remaining day, I sought out eye contact and it was often returned with a smile and welcoming look.  I now wonder if they feel the same when surrounded by Christians?  I wonder if, because a very small percentage of extremist Christians behave aside from what our bible tells us, they too feel uncomfortable around us?

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Don’t Let Them Grow Up

by

2

As I watched Cutler walk himself down the long hall to his classroom on Friday I thought to myself that I wished time would stand still and he wouldn’t get any older than he is now.  While both he and Mason were babies and getting older I was always very careful to never say to myself “I can’t wait until they grow out of this stage” because I realized that at some point it was going to be the last time that I got to enjoy those stages with them.  With Cutler and his battles we missed out on some of late night bottle feedings and watching him learn to crawl that we did with Mason.  These were our last chances to enjoy those stages forever…at least until our grandkids come around, but that is never a given.  So on Friday after thinking of it, I realized that our boys may have hit the “perfect” ages for us to hold on to them forever.  Mason is old enough to be pretty self-sufficient, he enjoys sitting down and watching an entire sporting event, he can read and comprehend at a pretty high level and discuss intelligently what he reads, and more importantly he still likes to cuddle up with his parents and isn’t afraid to tell us he loves us.  Cutler is at the age where he still calls us momma and dada, he loves on us and regularly accepts the love in return, he still enjoys holding our hands when we walk, yet he doesn’t require us to do everything for him, and everything new he experiences brings out a new glistening of joy in his eyes.  But that was Friday.  Today the boys bickered nonstop with Cutler pushing Mason’s buttons every chance he got and Mason always having to be right…about everything.  As aggravating as it got, I won’t say it and I never will.  I still don’t want them to grow up.

 

 

He Knows Everything

by

1

This morning on the way to Cutler’s soccer game we were discussing some topic that I don’t remember, but he was essentially arguing with me based on something one of his fellow four olds told him. Apparently I am not nearly as educated as his peers. I told him that his friend doesn’t know everything and his reply was “you’re right, but I know everything because I have two belly buttons!” I guess his gtube helped him ingest nourishment for the mind three years ago.

I’ve Got Nothing

by

0

It’s funny how writer’s block works with me.  As part of my A Year In The Life series, I am trying to write a post per day.  Here I am, only 23 days into my effort and I am struggling already to put pen to paper (fingers to keyboard) in order to get this written within the next 12 minutes.  It’s not a matter of procrastination, it’s just a matter of this being the first time I have had all day to sit down and write (damn work, extra long lunch with old work buddies, kids’ sports, adult kid’s sports).  All day I had plenty of ideas of what to write about, but when it comes to sit down and write there’s just a huge void inside of my head.  I suppose this is why I should write down my ideas throughout the day and try to develop them when I finally get a chance to sit down and write.  Perhaps I need to keep a running list so that on nights like tonight I can always thumb through my list and find some inspiration, because right now I’ve got nothing but this rambling, which is at least a very true representation of how my head works on a regular basis.  I knew I would have days of nothing, I just didn’t expect them to hit this early in the effort.  Here’s to hoping for something inspirational tomorrow.

The Next Great Orator?

by

4

We just got back from the school district’s MLK Jr celebration where Mason read his letter to Dr King that I had mentioned in earlier posts.  As a reminder, his letter was submitted to the district after he was selected from his school’s 2nd grade and he was one of four kids in the entire school district to be selected to read his letter.  Yesterday he read the letter to his school during the morning announcements and tonight was the big night to read it on stage in front of quite the large audience.  I am beyond proud of what he wrote, but also extremely proud at how he got on stage with little to no nerves, as the first of all the kids to read and knocked it out of the park while being shadowed by the Teacher of the Year.

PISD's educator of the year

PISD’s educator of the year

Mason's educator of the year, his current teacher Mrs. James

Mason’s educator of the year, his current teacher Mrs. James

 

Washing Away The Brown

by

2

Last night I got home from Mason’s batting practice and went into Cutler’s room, who was already in bed, and started talking to him and I asked if he took a bath.  He told me he did and that he “washed away the brown”.  I asked him if he was that dirty and he told me he was brown in a couple of areas.  I assumed it was his way of telling me he was dirty until he took his bath…that was until I spoke with Melanie this morning and she informed me that he had accidentally pooped in his pants and in an attempt to clean himself he had gotten all over himself.  She thought that she had cleaned it up and put him in the bathtub and then looked in the water and saw the color quickly changing to brown.  Apparently when Melanie said he had it all over himself, he really had it ALL OVER himself.  Fortunately by the time I got to him in bed, he had washed away all of the brown.

 

Day 19 – The Prodigal Dog Returns

by

3

After spending the past 2 1/2 months away at military school, Rookie has been allowed back into the house.  He seems to be a much calmer dog and didn’t run after the kids across the street so I initially thought we had a great success and transformation.  That is until about an hour or so after being back he decided to remind me that he is still a puppy by pooping in the middle of the hallway.  I shall be repeating the serenity prayer on a constant loop over the next couple of weeks.

prodigal dog

Day 18 – Let The Reprogramming Begin

by

1

Just got home a couple of hours ago after traveling for more than 24 hours straight and our reprogramming effort is already under way to turn our kids back into our kids away from being full time grandkids.  It feels great to be home and get the warm hugs and cuddling we got from both of the boys.  Even better, I got to watch the last quarter of the football game with Mason.  We can’t thank Grandma, Aunt Pat, and Grandma Pam enough for traveling down and exhausting themselves trying to keep up with the boys’ schedules.  Without them, I wouldn’t have been able to join Melanie on a great vacation with just the two of us.  It makes the reprogramming well worth it.

Day 17 – Spent and Ready To Come Home

by

1

Today, our last day in town, we started the day off with a visit to one of the local mosques where we were taught about the Muslim religion as well as some of their customs.  It was very enlightening and I have an entire post already written in my head to be shared, but I am just too tired to write something as insightful as I plan.  We then wandered around the Emirates Mall, no skiing today, and stumbled upon a Katy Perry concert (another post to be), before watching a movie and listening to everyone talk around us.  Lots to be told about everything, but it will all have to wait as I am still overdue on our dune drive, our trip to the market, boat ride up the Dubai “creek”,…and the list goes on.  For now I am exhausted and going to pack it in, get on the plane, and pass out for our flight to London, then enjoy a three hour layover before heading to New York AND another three hour layover before finally getting to Dallas and our boys.  I think we hit the maximum time away yesterday and are very much ready to get home and spend some time with our boys as well as kick back and enjoy the comforts of our home.