Some people like to race their weiners

Wow. You can see their buns.

hysterical threadjack alert!!!



REAL LETTER I GOT FROM ONE OF MY DOCTORS:

A little embarrassing to admit, but yes. It was constantly annoying me, interrupting my peace and solitude so frequently that I had to take a look. It wasn't easy--I had to climb onto the kids' swingset to get a good look.

Do you suppose the songwriting doctor could still treat a yapping weiner?

Well, he is an ENT. It would depend on what sort of treatment was needed. I suppose that, if the weiner was supposed to be singing but was yapping instead, that might fall under the N or T part. Or, if you heard it yapping when it was making a different noise, that would fall under the E part.

Yes, he could treat it.

BUT, he won't because he retired from clinical medical practice.

Now, to be honest, I have been to a gig my internist was playing at a local bookstore. And, I went to a soiree once where all the members of the band were on the staff of a major local hospital. One of the musicians was the Chief of Surgery.

In the spirit of the wiener discussion - here's more:

Wiener Olympics

Soiree is a marvelous word.

This is a bit of a threadjack, but DD5 had her very first soccer game on Saturday. Her team is the Purple Unicorns, and she looked incredibly cute in her purple jersey and socks. She did fine in the game--kicking the ball when it came to her, chasing after it when it didn't, having a clue about the goals. She was tentative but had a great time.

To be honest, I was a little disappointed. A group of five-year old girls in their first soccer game, and none of them broke off into side conversations, or picked flowers, or any of that stuff--and I had been looking forward to that. A couple of them were pretty good players and kind of dominated the field.

The SCQ was not in attendance. It was my full weekend with the kids. The SCQ stopped in at day-care to see them Friday afternoon but didn't tell them anything about the soccer game. DD5 asked me just before the game whether her mom was going to be there. I said I didn't know. DD5 didn't seem to be looking for the SCQ or notice her absence, or at least she didn't comment on it if she did. DS8 probably noticed but kept it to himself. I was just as happy not to see her there but disappointed for the kids.

Last night I wrote a letter to DD5 and marked it For DD5 when she is an adult. I didn't include much in the way of details but described that what's happening now isn't what I wanted for them and how hard I fought to prevent it. I think it was a good thing to do. I'm going to write one for DS8 today.

Weiner Metals

Good for you on the letters, I didn't write my children letters. They were 4 and 2 when their dad left. They are now 17 and 15. I don't know where the time went.

She missed DD5's first soccer game? DD will remember that for a long time.



Chasing or running from bugs is a classic.

For a long time, my son was the chief grass picker on his team....and he didn't start playing until he was about 7 or 8. Played for about 5 years. Only had one decent coach who could motivate him.

I was at a pee-wee football game several years ago and got to witness one of these moments. These kids could barely stand up in the helmets and pads. Just as a play was about to begin, one of the little defensive backs finds something on the ground and comes running to the sideline yelling "Coach! Coach!"

When he gets there he has a beaming smile and hands the coach the quarter he found on the field. The play went on with out him and the coach promised to hold the quarter for him and sent him back out out on the gridiron. Fun stuff.

DS8 was a conversationalist at soccer. Just not his game. Baseball suits him better.

We didn't talk about the SCQ not being at the game, but I did mention it in the letter.

5 year old girls at their first soccer game,,,,it just doesn't get much more precious than that!!!

While I am sure it was a bit easier on you for the SCQ not to be there, I could just strangle the SCQ for DD's sake! I'm glad it wasn't brought up after the game, but it will be something that she'll find out and/or remember for all of her life that her Mom wasn't there.

I love the idea of the letters. I have written Ladybug a letter each year on her birthday.

You are a great DAD.

Thanks, Bugs.

Maybe you're the one I got that idea from--my plan has been to start doing that as well.

Maybe I'll even be inspired enough to finally write the "On the Day You Were Born" essays I've always meant to.

SD
Great idea on the letters. Wish I would have done that.

I saved one from my daughter's pre-school (she was about 3 then) that said:

"Dear Mrs. Chai,

Today DD pulled down her pants and exposed her buttocks to the other children."

I wish I would have paid more attention to it then. A sneak preview of things to come.....

Anyway, one day I will give it to her.....

Oh my.. I had that same letter last year.. DS was 3 at the time as well.

I'm almost afraid to ask what comes next...

James,

Not sure if you've read my thread at all, but my DD26 has a drug addiction. A very sad thing. I look back and not sure what I could have done differently. It seems that she was always drawn to that kind of lifestyle and those kinds of people. We had a difficult time with her from age 12 on. For some reason, she thought it was "cool" to be associated with kids who rebelled.

I found out that my old cat died tonight. The cat the SCQ and I had since before we were married and the SCQ took when she moved out.

I went to watch DD5's soccer practice, but afterwards, the SCQ scooped the kids up and hurried off. A bit later I got a VM from the SCQ asking me whether I could keep the kids because she was going to have to deal with Augie dying. (Her original name was Audrey, but one of DS8's first words was Augie, and so that became her name for the last half of her life. She didn't seem to mind.)

I didn't get the message right away, and by the time I did it was already over. Things got worse at the end and so she went ahead and had them put her down. I got to talk to both kids and try to console them over the phone while fighting my own tears. Tomorrow I get the kids back.

I would have liked to see her one last time to say goodbye. And now I'm regretting all the times I could have stopped to scratch her behind the ears when dropping off the kids. I mean, it's not like I was plan B'ing the cat.

She was a big, dumb, timid, not particularly affectionate cat, but she was beautiful, and she didn't have a mean bone in her body. She lived to be seventeen and a half, so she had a pretty good run.

I think I'm grieving everything right now.

SD, I know what you mean. I've been there. So have many others. Many of us have lost dearly beloved pets and we all know how badly it hurts.

For your children, there are some books that may help, The Rainbow Bridge, Cat Heaven, and (?#) Good Things About Barney. All of them deal with the loss of a pet.

For you, well, life happens. I'm sure Augie would have liked more ear scratches but you can't do that constantly. Remember that she knew she was loved and that you gave her a good life.

SD,

It's going to be one of those days. You know, something happens and you go into a funk again.

I'm sorry to hear about your kitty kat. And yes, you will probably start mourning everything today - the loss of the cat, the loss of the M, the loss of a family, the loss of a dream, and so on. I do the same thing whenever there is a trigger of any sort.

It's Ok though. I think that we need those days of grieving to rid our souls of the sorrow and slowly replace it with happiness. Out with the old, in with the new. I just wish it was that easy. Unfortunately it is a slooooow process.