Thursday, February 17, 2005

Won't you be my neighbor?

As I drove to school today, I noticed that oh, it's such a beautiful day outside. Cold, but sunny and bright and clear and just, beautiful. It's a lovely day to bundle up and do things outside. If I weren't on my way to work, I'd be home doing things outside.

After school, I was driving down the highway thinking that soon I'll be home, and I can do things outside because it's so pretty out.

And then I remembered that the Honda had another appointment at the dealership.

Sigh.

It was a beautiful day today. Cold, but sunny and bright and clear and just, beautiful. A lovely day to bundle up and do things outside.

Or, to sit in the lounge area of the Honda dealership while your seat belt is repaired.

Either way is, I'm just sure, equally fun.

There were no windows in the dealership lounge. But I'm sure the sun was still shining those two and a half hours while I sat there in the windowless lounge and read magazines and listened to soap operas on the tv because the two old ladies waiting in there with me were hooked on them, absolutely HOOKED, do you hear me, and when they walked into that lounge they went for the tv remote like piranha on a cow's hind leg and grabbed it from where it was sitting on the table in front of me and changed the channel from the program I was listening to, and changed the channel to the one they wanted, and found their stupid soaps, whereupon they provided LOUD non-stop commentary on every character, plotline, writer, and history-of, for four soap operas, each of which was more stupid and disgusting than the one before. . . . .

Notice that I said I was LISTENING to these programs? I don't like to watch TV. I never watch it at home. Sometimes I pop in a movie, but I just don't like TV shows any more.

I did read a good article in TIME while waiting; it was about schools, teachers, and parents-from-hell. Ah, yes. There will be letters a'plenty about THAT article. All teachers have horror stories about parents, as I'm sure most parents have horror stories about teachers.

It's too bad that the good parents, and the good teachers, and the good students, never get any attention. I think if more good students got the attention, there would be more good parents. But noooo, it's all for people who are NOT good. Sweet little kids are neglected in our schools. If you don't believe me, ask your child.

The parents in my blogroll are the kind every teacher dreams of. You people know. You know how to behave and what to say and how to treat a teacher right. Even when you rant and rave and find fault, it's done intelligently and with reasonable expectations. We are all a little blind when it comes to our own children, but you guys understand that even YOUR kids are not perfect and that maybe, just maybe, a teacher or another adult might occasionally have your kid pegged right. Or not, but even when it's 'not,' you guys deal with it properly. Not like many parents teachers have dealt with, I can promise you that. I've seen you admit it when you've been wrong, and forgive, and ask forgiveness, and ask for advice, and just about everything, concerning our kids. Whenever I read your blogs, I stand back in awe and great appreciation of your ideas, humor, attitudes, and reasonableness. Thank you. Someone should do an article on blogging parents as reasonable parents. Could it be partly because we all have each other as examples, so we know what's right and reasonable, and what isn't?

The fact that most of you can find humor in even the most negative of circumstances tells me that you are all intelligent, and awesome, and loving parents to lucky kids. It's sad to think of all the little kids in homes that contain no humor.

Being able to find humor in most situations is a great indicator of high intelligence, did you know that? Well, of COURSE you did. Becaue you are all funny, therefore, you are all smart.

People with lower IQ scores are usually the easiest to offend. Maybe it's because they do not always understand things, therefore, they get mad. Anger doesn't take much intelligence; humor does. Real humor. Every time you laugh, you are making yourself smarter. True story.

Even you few who aren't all that reasonable are still cool. Except for one.

Enough of that topic. I don't want to bring anyone's ire down on me again. It hurts.

But it isn't fair, the way children are treated in our schools. Especially the good little kids.

Hub will be here in a few minutes. We're having pizza at Grecco's again tonight. The sweet MIL is taking us out. Bless her, she knows we love to eat out, and that we can't very often now unless she takes us. So, she takes us. Frequently. (I loved her BEFORE we went broke and she started taking us out, too.)

As for that business up there of me doing outside work on a cold sunny day? I hope you didn't fall for that one! I'm the laziest slug in the whole Jabba family. But I would have opened the window and let the sunshine in. And faced it with a grin. 'Cause smilers never lose, and frowners never win.

Yes, it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. A beautiful day for a neighbor, would you be mine?