Samuel Jerome and Richnightder

Samuel Jerome and Richnightder
Our boys in Haiti

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

The karma of life is knocking on my door

Literally 20 minutes ago I was reading this blog http://livesayhaiti.blogspot.com/ and was thoroughly enjoying reading about this family's seemingly bad luck everytime the husband travels out of the country. Things break, toilets get plugged, kids get sick, etc, when as I am laughing out loud, I hear wretching......as in hurling.....coming from the bathroom. Yes, the gods in charge of karma thought it was pay back for enjoying someone else's misery just a little too much.

Thomas is barfing, the dog has cancer and is on chemo, and i have yet another honking big zit on my chin. What in the hell is happening??? Do we live in the damned Bermuda Triangle?? If we do, I wish the aliens would take me away, because I could use a vacation sans kids and a stylish tin foil hat. Oh, and our credit card company called Sunday night to inform (question) some recent activity on our card in FRANCE. Seems our card is having a little vacation in France without us, and paused long enough to need, of all things, gas, tires and car parts. Trust me, if I was in France, buying car parts or tires would be the last thing I would be buying. Besides those would make lousy souvenirs and they are damn tough to pack and get thru security at the airport.

I guess I should stop laughing at others' bad luck even when it is funny as hell, because it always comes back and bites me in the ass. Note to self: suppress all laughter and giggles forever. I can't afford humor anymore. ;-)

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Give a Haitian kid a fly swatter and..............


Jerome is the happiest kid ever. He smiles most of the day and is just generally happy. He randomly, without prompting, will hug and kiss me and tell me he loves me. Even when this kid is in trouble and is understandably angry, he puts his hands on his hips, purses his lips and lets out a little sigh. That's it. No yelling, stomping of feet, slamming of doors...nothing.


Yesterday I gave him the task of smashing flies or moosh, in Creole. He took this job with a smile and a determination to rid our house of the Amityville Horror look. He stayed focused on his job for a good hour at least, as I completely forgot I had told him to do it. Hey, I was just happy that all 4 kids were doing something, anything, that didn't cause a fight with anyone else.


I went to my bedroom later in the afternoon to fold some laundry and noticed a pillow shoved into one of the celestory windows above our bed. Hmmm, I thought. Odd place for a pillow. I climbed up on the bed and took the pillow down and what did I find but a smashed pane of glass. I beckoned...well, maybe yelled...for all 4 kids to come to my room. I had them all sit down and gaze at the broken window.


I proceeded with my interrogation of each kid adding that unless someone fessed up, everyone would be staying in their rooms. Jerome briefly accused Richnigthder who looked like he was going to KILL him, but quickly admitted his guilt. Seems he was moosh swatting and obviously got a little excited and smashed the hell out of the window. It only broke the inside pane, but with our cold weather approaching, we have no time to waste in getting this suprisingly expensive window replaced. Oh, and the shards of glass were scattered across our bed. I suppose it was good thing I realized that before we fell into bed.