Friday, July 27, 2007

From a 1987 truck to good health insurance

So the other night Wil, Mollie and I were coming home from my mom's house. I was letting Wil drive my car. (We live on a county road and not in town! It's not like he was on the freeway or anything.) Anyway, Wil and Mollie were having this conversation about what kind of cars they were going to get when they start driving. Mollie was going on and on about the fact that she was going to get a big Ford truck with mud "flappers" on the back. Nothing like a tomboy driving a red neck truck. Wil was saying that he would be just fine to drive Wade's old 1987 Chevy pickup, if the crack in the windshield was fixed and if it had a new coat of paint. This old pickup is totally famous. It was Wade's first truck and the truck that we went on all our dates in and the truck that his brother ran off in the lake, the stories go on and on.....Needless to say, he still has the truck.

Mollie continues with the fact that people are going to think Wil's weird if he drives the truck. Wil says that she just worries too much about what people think. (Way to go Wil!) Anyway, the conversation continues into the house with the same kind of argument. Basically it boils down to this....Mollie thinks she is cool and Wil's not. It's simple in her eyes. So as we are walking into the kitchen Wil turns around calmly and says and I quote,

"Don't worry about me Mollie, I'm going to get out of college and have a good job, and a good wife, great kids and good health insurance."

What does she say to that? Is there really any response to an almost 14 year old boy telling his 10 year old sister that he's going to have good health insurance when she's thinking he's going to embarrass her in the old red truck?

In the war of Wil vs. Mollie this battle went to Wil. She took defeat well. She did what any other person would do when they have absolutely nothing else to say...she turned around and stomped into her room.

I love Mollie's spunk. She has opinions and she's not afraid to express them. She is a bit materialistic, but we are working on that. I love Wil's self assurance and that he's not afraid to be himself.

Two kids...two different views on life!

Sandy C

Sunday, July 08, 2007

The night of the frogs

Recently, here in East Texas we have gotten so much rain that it seems we need a boat for travelling. We are to the point that it's weird when it actually doesn't rain on a particular day. I think we went 12 days in a row with significant rain. Our yard looks like no one even lives at this house. I'd show pictures, but I'm embarrassed to do so! (It also interrupted District softball play, but I will save that for another post.)

So a couple of nights ago, it was coming down in buckets. We had been to the movies to see Evan Almighty and had come out of the theater with a need for our own ark. We got home and into bed. About 2 am I woke up to this very odd, screeching sound. Just so you know...I love my sleep! I can get irritated very fast when my slumber is interrupted by snoring (Wade), dogs barking, clicking ceiling fans and basically anything else this side of an emergency. At first, I thought one of the kids had left their television on or the cat was playing with something. When I decided it wasn't going to stop,I got up and investigated. As I got closer to the front door, I realized the sound was coming from outside. I opened the front door and the sound intensified about 100 times. Then it hit me...FROGS!! The sound wouldn't have bothered me if it had been anytime between the hours of 7 am and midnight, but it was 2 in the morning, for crying out loud! It was so loud that I swear there had to be about 50 giant frogs in the flower beds outside the front door.

So, there I am on the front porch in my night clothes with a stick beating on the rain gutters. I guess I thought, in my hysterics, it would make them stop croaking. It actually worked, for a short time. I got back in bed and had probably been asleep for 15 minutes, then it started again. Only this time, my little croaking friends had moved directly under our bedroom window! What made me so mad was that Wade was laying there totally unaware of the symphony going on 10 feet from where he was sawing logs.

I just got out of the bed. There was absolutely no reason for me to lay there and listen to the amphibian nonsense. I got out of bed with my pillow, shut the bedroom doors and went into the living room to the couch. I turned the TV on and drowned out the frogs.

As I lay there, attempting to go back to sleep, I realized that we had been in a drought for so long that I had forgotten about how a summer night is really supposed to sound. Croaking frogs have been non existent for 2 or 3 years. I'm thankful for all the rain. God has replenished the lakes and ponds and my yard is greener than ever. I finally went back to sleep.

I haven't heard the frogs the past couple of nights. I don't know if they have moved on to someone else's flower beds or because I have taken two Tylenol PM before calling it a night!

To happy slumber!

Sandy C