Saturday, June 10, 2006

Unsystematic Saturday

Today I had the opportunity to play with the Albuquerque Concert Band for a G.E.D. graduation. A local community college provides a program for people to earn their High School equivalency.

It was interesting to sit there near the stage and listen to a few of the speakers talk about the trials they faced in their lives, and what made them decide to change their lives around and seek out an education. It was really quite inspiring and at the same time made me and others in the band comment afterwards on how appreciative we were for the lives we have led.

One speaker that was a part of this year's graduating class told of his experiences. He is 33 yrs old. At the age of two he went to the hospital for injuries from abuse of the hands of his father. At the age of 15 he dropped out of school. He worked in construction for awhile, and through that job he was introduced to cocaine. At the age of 21 he was convicted of aggrevated assult and numerous other crimes that were related to his drug abuse in Texas. He was sentanced for 10 years. After 2 years he went before the same judge that sentanced him. The judge could tell he had done a complete 180 and allowed his sentance to be reduced. He then returned home to Albuquerque and went back to working construction. He got married and had two little girls. While on a construction site the ladder he was on broke and he fell 18 feet breaking his shoulder. After two years of worker's comp the insurance ran out and his employer let him go. He didn't know what to do. He decided to go back to school. He got his G.E.D. and a few specialty employment type classes.

Another speaker only had 2 years of formal education. She was born in Louisiana. She and her 8 brothers and sisters were all abused. One day they loaded up into their family bus and drove around the country. They would sell things on the side of the highway in northern New Mexico. They spent a lot of their time following the Greatful Dead around the country. She was able to meet a lot of different types of people. While living in New Mexico she went to 1st grade and half a year of 2nd grade. She taught herself how to read using the "hooked on phonics" program. She spent most of the time while traveling the country reading books. From age 14-16 she travelled with some different people still following the Greatful Dead. She then went back to her family who were in California. After a few months she left her family again to try and figure out what to do with her life. She somehow ended up in Albuquerque and at the age of 21 was the mother of two small boys. With the support of her fiance she went to the community college to take some beginning math classes. She took the equivalency test and barely passed. Her english, writing and science skills helped her to pass the test.

During the ceremony they present an award entitled "The New Reader Award". It was given to someone that overcome the inability to read and write. They told of a woman that had dropped out of school in the 10th grade because she couldn't read. She had always been a shy and quiet girl and she thought that is why she kept slipping through the cracks. They told of how the woman felt that life had been so difficult for her because she didn't know how to read. Now today at the age of 75 she can now read and write. As they told the story of this woman it was hard to choke back the tears. When they presented her with the award everyone stood to applaude this woman.

The morning truly was an inspirational time.

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My hubby also had a music related gig today. Actually 2 to tell you the truth! Two weddings on the same day. And with my band thing today our schedules overlapped. The older couple in our ward that has given us now TWO sets of tickets to the symphony are like honorary grandparents. They volunteered to watch the kids for a few hours. I'm so greatful for people that understand what it's like to not have family nearby and are willing to fill that roll. My kids refer to them as "grandma jill" and "granpa harold". It's really sweet.

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Tomorrow I will most likely be leaving after church to drive up to Kennewick. It would be another trip for just the kids and I.

I have known for a couple of weeks now that my grandpa is dying. For awhile now he has had multiple myaloma. It's a cancer of the bone marrow. He's had diabetes for a number of years, so it was tricky to try to treat the cancer. They had to give him a drug specially for diabetics. About a month ago my grandma had broncitis. My grandpa caught it and it turned into pnemonia. Because of the chemotherapy he was on he had no way of fighting the infection. They took him to the hospital where they discovered that the chemo hadn't been helping. The myaloma had spread throughout his whole body. They gave him a few blood transfusions while in the hospital and antibiotics to help with the pnemonia. The pnemonia improved and he was starting to feel better but the cancer was beyond their control. He was released from the hospital but not to go home. They admitted him to a long term elderly care. After much prayer and fasting my grandparents and my dad and his siblings decided to stop having grandpa receive transfusions. Continuing with the transfusions would only extend his life by maybe an extra week.

It's almost two years since the last time I was in Kennewick. My daughter was only 3 months old. She'll be two middle of July. I am going up to see him while he is still semi-good health. I don't know if I could handle it seeing him going down hill.



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I feel like the walls are closing in around me. Maybe it's that there is so much stuff between me and the walls that the rooms seem smaller. Whatever the case maybe I feel like I'm about to go insane. Everywhere I look I see chaos. With the bathroom remodel going on we don't have a closet. All our clothes are in the 3rd bedroom. This room has also been designated as the computer/piano room and the toy room. The kids have been sharing a room for a few months. Little Sy has figured out how to climb out of her crib. There was no keeping her in. Tuesday of this week I took the crib down. I made the bunkbed into two separate beds and bought some cute girly twin-size bedding. She's been doing really well with it. She has been taking naps without a problem and sleeping all through the night. It's wonderful.

I have this urge to purge. I want to get rid of all the baby stuff. The crib, swing, bouncy, crib bedding, carseats, maybe even baby clothes and toys for 12 months and under. When the time comes to have another baby then we would get all new updated baby stuff. I would try to sell the baby stuff through the classified newspaper at my husband's work. The money would go into a savings account to be used for future baby stuff.

Am I insane? Why do I have the urge to get rid of all this stuff? Is it the right move to clear the house of things that aren't being used? I feel so wishy-washy about the idea.

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Today my hubby asked if he should become a jr high/high school orchestra teacher. He's been having a rough time at work. Over the past year there has been a big shake up in management. A few have retired. A few others have moved on to something else.

He had always planned on staying with this job for a minimum of 5 years and a maximum of 10. One of the hiring perks when he got the job was that when he wanted to get a master's degree the company would pay for it. I had always assumed he would have started that immediately but after some discussion I learned that while he felt comfortable and relaxed with the job he wouldn't pursue other positions or even think about going back to school.

This morning he was looking at Master's programs at University of Phoenix. He said he gave himself maybe another 3 years at this job. (That would be between 5-7 years here).

I knew he was having a rough time at work, but I guess I didn't realize it was that bad. He's ready to move on to the next step.

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Last night on the news they showed a restaurant on fire. El Bruno's was a favorite stopping point for my family on the way down to Albuquerque. It's a tiny little town called Cuba between ABQ and Farmington. A little (New) Mexican restaurant that seriously had the best chips and salsa I have ever had. It made me so sad to see it in flames and smoke. I immediately called my parents in Washington to tell them the news. My husband admitted he was bummed because he hasn't had the chance to eat there yet.

This morning my brother in Farmington called to see if I had heard the news. He saw it on the front page of a newspaper on his way to work. He asked how W was doing. I casually (and with humor) said "Oh, he's a terror..." My brother responded "oh ya. Like me." In response I joked "ya but you didn't have a younger sibling!" We both said "oh poor Sy".

He is driving me crazy. He's constantly getting into things, and he's pestering his little sister just for the heck of it. Daddy and I have both caught him pulling her hair. We've found him chewing up bit of food and spitting it on her. And she's come in the house from playing in the backyard with her hair full of sand. Half the time she's giggling while she's being tormented. The other half she's crying. It's the constant crying I hear from her that is driving me crazy the most! I don't know what to do. I've tried the normal punishments and they don't seem to be working.


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I've now purged my head of all my thoughts. When do I start feeling better?
Posted by ABQ Mom :: 6/10/2006 01:30:00 PM :: 7 Comments:

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