Joys of Single Motherhood

There is a paperback copy of Twain's Tom Sawyer hanging out on the coffee table these days. Momentarily intrigued I picked it up and read the famous " white wash" chapter in which Tom tricks his friends into helping him paint Aunt Polly's fence. Unlike Tom, a modern day kid wouldn't be able to fool anyone into helping. On a warm summer day like the one that Aunt Polly chooses for white washing the fence there wouldn't be a kid over the age of four within a mile. A modern-day Tom would be at archery lessons and Becky would be away at dance camp. There are always new studies and plenty of commentary about the increasing length of childhood and adolescence. What I've not seen anyone say is this: adulthood sucks. Of course today's kids delay taking on adulthood for as long as possible--it's no fun and there are few rewards. Voting? Meh... "adult films"...another meh...already seen it on YouTube.. Driving? Many kids in this town don't b...

Al Qaeda publishes an online magazine called "Inspire". I find this hilarious. Remember when this group was a dark, mysterious fear-inducing bunch? Perhaps not so much now. I wonder if "Inspire" is the radical Islamist version of Norman Vincent Peale's "Guideposts"? (We used to get Guideposts when I was a kid. All the stories were about horrible accidents or diseases and they were always described in graphic, gory detail e.g. "Billy didn't know it but his leg had been severed and now the remains of the shredded artery were on the side of the road". Faith in god coupled with desperate prayer always prevailed. More importantly does Inspire currently have any full-time positions open in the editorial department? And does the job include benefits? What about dental? I can't stop laughing long enough to write this---here's an excerpt from The Washington Post's report: U.S. intelligence operatives covertly sabotaged a promine...

I have discovered Instagram and I get it. And it's fun. Today there was a tiny baby fawn that had wandered away from its mom and into my neighbor's yard. It had gotten confused by the gate and had hidden itself behind a tree in the corner. So I snapped a pic and posted it. I am so hip.

We have now accrued two hours of "supervised driving" experience. She needs fifty hours of driving plus a graduation certificate from a driver's ed program. Once she has done this, she can take her road test in six months. Our driving has been going well. She is very good at making accurate turns, backing up and staying in her own lane. Remembering to signal a turn is somewhat shaky. And she takes some turns a bit fast but she is quickly learning to eyeball the angle of a curve before she turns into it. She scares me only when she seems to be moving too close to the right-hand side of the street. Kid 2 played back-seat driver this afternoon and it is allegedly my spatial perceptions that are wonky. Only once or twice did she truly come too close to parked cars lining the right hand side. Kid 2 described the noise I make when I'm scared that she's going to hit something as sounding like a constipated flamingo being strangled. I solved the problem though. I plead ...