To the perfect parents at the zoo...

To the perfect mothers and the one perfect father in the zoo's parent's room:

I would just like to say thank you. Thank you so much for your passive-aggressive condescension and judgmental sideways glances. As you saw me angrily and tearfully scrubbing my daughter's pants - who was running around throwing a fit in her t-shirt and diaper because I had no way to secure her into anything, the stroller being covered in bodily fluids - you did not feel the need to inquire as to my own upset, or to even give me a hint of sympathy. No, instead you think you know exactly what is going on...a mother who is angry at their child for messing themselves. I don't particularly blame you for jumping to that conclusion, as I was angry and frustrated. But not for the reasons you appeared to think. You see, I was not angry with my daughter for having "an accident". She did not mess herself and her stroller. What you failed to notice, or to understand, was that my child - not 10 minutes prior to my entering the parent's room - had thrown a tantrum so hard she threw up all over my hands, herself and her stroller (everything we had eaten 20 minutes before "the colossal fit of 2016"). No. All you saw was a "poor (or bratty, pick the parent)" 2 year old, running around, screaming/crying as hard as she possibly could and a mother who was incapable of being in two places at once. And what you failed to see, not 10 minutes prior, was me, walking with one hand extended away from the stroller, trying to keep my vomit-covered hand clear of anyone and anything because I stupidly tried to catch her projectile puke with my hand so that other people and their kids wouldn't have to step on it while trying to come and go from the playground. How inconsiderate of me.

You see, my child is 2. She's not a brat (usually). She's 2. I am not a bad mother. My child is my oxygen. She is my life. Without her, I'd rather die than keep on going. But toddler-hood is a very difficult time for every person involved - parents and the toddler. But I can only assume from your behavior, that you have not yet had the pleasure of parenting a toddler. And right now, your precious, quiet, well-mannered infants are just that. They are infants. They are immobile and the extent of their fits consumes the very tiny amount of space they take up. Other than breaking sound barriers, your infant isn't really capable of affecting other people around them. When your child throws a fit, you hear "oh, someone must be tired"...or "poor mama, this phase will pass"...and believe me, it will. Then you get to join the ranks of mothers who, upon having to deal with older children who throw fits and vomit in public because they aren't getting their way - and said parents refuse to give in to said tantrums just so your perfect little bubble isn't ruined by this (admittedly) obnoxious screaming - must also deal with people like you. Perfect parents of perfect infants.

One day, you will be where we are now and I hope, for your and your child's sake, the strangers around you will be kinder to you than you were to me.

OMG! I love this family!

Okay, I can't (for some reason) give ya'll a link for the videos but they are HILARIOUS! It might be because they're uploaded to facebook. Anyway, if you get a chance and are wanting to kill some time, look up The Holderness Family on facebook. If you're a parent, especially, you'll love this!

Oh, but I found a link to their blog. Enjoy!

http://theholdernessfamily.com/

Ugh, not this again! Proof that what you drill into children's minds at young ages has a long-lasting impact.

I haven't said/thought about the Lord's Prayer since my grandfather's funeral 5 years ago. No, I don't believe that this is some sign from the Heavens, instructing me to go back to church. What this is, is the product of the years of my Catholic childhood - where they drilled certain rituals into your wee little heads from a very young age. It's proof of exactly how resilient and pliable children's brains are. The fact that, at *cough* 31 *cough*, I can still recite a good many prayers without even thinking about it is proof of just how remarkable our brains are, as well as the fact that it is incredibly important to fill your children's brains with things of substance while they are young. I mean, think about it. What are the things you remember from growing up? 25 years later, I still remember various prayers/hymns, as well as my first address, home phone number, and various numbers of friends whom I haven't spoken to in almost as long. The only reason I can remember my last cell phone number is because I used it as a reference to look up gas rewards memberships and other crap like that.

What brought about this spoken-word earworm? I'm writing a paper on Rotter's Expectancy-Reinforcement Value Model and decided to use the trigger-word "trespass" in reference to those who bully a particular individual. And now for the next day or two, I will constantly be reciting the Lord's Prayer in my head. There's a good message in the LP - forgive others and be greatful for what you have (though most "Catholics" recite this prayer just as numbly and automatically as I do. The message seems to be lost on a good many of them, anyway) - but since I am not Catholic, and because frankly organized faith  makes me uncomfortable - having it stuck in my head is less than ideal.

Checking in

Everything is pretty good here, right now. My daughter just found me hiding in my bedroom. I am trying to do homework and I have no idea how she knew I was here but the little blood-hound found me. Actually, what was most likely the cause of my discovery was the fact that I hide "num-nummies" in my closet and, unbeknownst to her on her illegal entry into my bedroom, she found me instead.

It's interesting, being a college student. I go through various emotions in moments - most often they are moments of "ohmygodIhavesomuchtodohowthehellamIgoingtogetitalldoneFML!" But interspersed with those feelings are feelings of gratitude that I have the opportunity to go to school and to get the education that I am.

Take a moment to think about the things in your life that you have to be grateful for. It's a good habit to get into.

Please, please, please watch this. And better yet, pass this one on.

If there are only a handful of you who read my blog, please, pass this on. Whether or not you agree with the President, or if you dislike or even hate him, what he says has 100% validity. Now, I try to avoid politics as much as possible. It drives me nuts when I see post after post of political propaganda bull shit on my facebook news feed. But this is something I feel strongly about. His main point, for those of you who are too blinded by bias to watch this, is that it is not unreasonable to require all people who wish to purchase guns, and all retailers, must go through a mandatory background check. There is absolutely no reason why this should not have passed the first time it came around but thanks to the Republican party, it didn't. And because it didn't, we've lost a ton of people needlessly.

Obama proposes a few other things that are incredibly important to dealing with gun violence and I also think that every single person would benefit from them. Who's going to pay for it, one may wonder. We are. And you know what, I'm just fine with that. To make sure that my kid can go to school without having to worry that they'll be shot up by some whack-job - or some teenager who has some deep-seated issues that no one had caught because no one was paying attention - yes, I'd gladly give all of my salary in order to make sure that could happen. Because I actually give a shit about my children. I really hope all of you can say the same about your own.

Any contrary retorts that someone could possibly have, btw, he addresses. I just wish we could have seen the entire address, not just his portion. I feel like there was some things he referenced that we missed because we were only shown his part of the proceedings.

Happy New Year!

It has been a while since I have posted, mostly because it was the end of the year and who ISN'T busy, amiright?! I have 11 days until the next term and have been spending as much of that time with my daughter as I possibly can. Hubs has been working a ton.

Today has been a day of walking around the city, followed by documentaries. The first was "Being Elmo: A Puppeteers Journey". The second was "Russel Brand: End the Drugs War". I suggest you watch both of them. The Elmo doc is touching and if your child is as obsessed with Elmo as mine was, you'll probably find it as interesting as I did.

But really, the documentary I want to speak about is the Russel Brand docu. I have been saying this for a long time - it's time to decriminalize drug use. Now, I'm not advocating drug use. There are many hard-core drugs that people should not be doing. What I am advocating for is the treatment (and thus elimination of) addiction, instead of placing drug users in prison for personal drug use. It is costly to the tax payers and does nothing more than stick sick people behind bars. The rate of recidivism is high for drug users BECAUSE we aren't treating them while we have them. If you want crime to go down, treat the problem - addiction - don't just put a band-aid on it. It has been proven that institutionalizing drug addicts will not stop them from using or resorting to various measures (prostitution, burglary, larceny, etc,) in order for them to sustain their state of self-medication. It is not a means of prevention.

I will undoubtedly talk more about this in the future. But for now, if you have Netflix, watch the documentary.

Note: here is a report on the effects of decriminalization of drugs in Portugal.
Drug Decriminalization in Portugal: A Health Centered Approach