How we got here
Why we got here
What we're doing here
Book four
That last bit ended with a spot of bad fortune. Stress out the wazoo; evicted from our home, a new job I wasn't sure I could handle, children struggling to survive in the jungle that is school, and a looming law suit. And to think I survived to live another year. Let's find out what happened!
Being the Mother that I am, my first thoughts were of how to make these large changes in our lives with the least amount of upheaval for the kids. School had just started, and the youngest three kids were enrolled in schools they had been in the year before. I didn't want to change that, so I felt it necessary to stay in the same school zones. We needed to move quickly, but wanted to buy our own place. Buying a home is not something one should do under time pressure! So we moved into an apartment.
It was small and icky. The apartment complex was just across the street from the day care where Diva and Twitch went after school, and only 1.5 blocks away from the middle school Twitch went to. The elementary school was just down the hill from the middle school, so that was very convenient. The complex itself, however, was nasty. Not the worst in the city, but pretty bad. We had a 3 bed, 1.5 bath unit. I left Twitch and Light with their own rooms, because that was how they lived in the big house. Diva and Sproing shared a room. Superman and I set our bed up in the living room. It was far from an ideal situation.
The house we left was 4000 square feet. It was older, needed significant updating, but was by golly big enough! The attic alone was probably as big as this tiny apartment we moved into. We had a yard sale to get rid of a bunch of stuff, rented a storage unit to store the excess, and squeezed the necessities into this apartment. There was barely any room to maneuver. Most of the apartment had a simple path to get from one space to the next.
I zoned out while we were there. The only thing I really remember about that time was my work and looking for a new home. When I was in the apartment I pretended to be elsewhere. My brain went into self preservation mode. I'm afraid I wasn't a very good wife or mother for those 6 months.
Work was going well, all things considered. I was able to substitute long-term on two different special-needs bus routes when two of the drivers had to be out following medical procedures. I got a taste for the special education system in the district, made friends and contacts with the teachers and some parents. That experience was the only real positive part of my job.
After Christmas break, however, I was assigned to a regular bus route. That was … educational. And really hard. My problem is that I'm too nice. The students, many of them, didn't respond to "nice." I got to know the kids and became fond of most of them, even the difficult ones. Sometimes especially the difficult ones. They have spunk that many easy-going kids lack.
Toward the end of November and into December Superman and I ramped up our house search. We had a few location requirements, but I didn't worry too much about keeping the kidlets in the same elementary school. I knew that if we made it half way through the school year they would be able to stay where they were for the remainder of that year. I did want to stay in the same high school zone, but since there are only 2 high schools in town and the one Light was in is bigger, that left us much real estate to chose from.
I'll tell you this about me. My second most important criteria for location was a short distance to Superman's workplace. If we're close to his work he can come home for lunch. Or, preferably, "lunch." With all the kids in school now, and my work hours leaving me free in the middle of the day, a mid-day twist of the sheets is a very good thing. A very very good thing. J
We put an offer on this house we're in now on New Years Eve. Closing was the end of February, if I recall, and we moved in the first of March. In truth I hate this house. It is way too common for me. It's a rectilinear brick ranch in a subdivision. The location works, though. The young'uns walk to school and it's less than 2 miles from Superman's work. And we were able to move away from the apartments, thank the greater powers!
Life proceeded to transpire. Summer came, the kids got out of school. All of a sudden they were home all the time again. It was easier when they were always home all the time. Once I got used to them being away for most of the day, it was hard to readjust to having them home all the time. By the end of the summer I was really glad for school to start!
And I went back to work. I have always thought of this job as a temporary position to fill my days and help with the bills. I have a love/hate relationship with the job. We will explore this further in later posts. Be warned.
This is now autumn 2005. Everyone is settling in, getting used to home, work, school. I was busy, in addition to work, as a leader in a Brownie Girl Scout troop for Diva. This was one of my "good mommy" activities. I'm glad I did it, but wouldn't do it again. It took a lot of time and especially a lot of emotional energy that I just didn't have to spare, frankly. With the experience of a dozen little girls running around a church classroom or a scout camp, plus dealing with a bus load of 25-50 kids of all ages, I came to realize I don't do well with large groups of children.
I've always liked children, theoretically. When I was younger I had much more patience and stamina for these tasks. I still like children, but in a more theoretical, less practical way. And definitely in smaller groups. Like one or two at a time. As I've grown older, my children-of-preference have matured. Now I am much more comfortable with older teens and young adults.
So of course the powers-that-be put that to the test. In the late winter, early spring of 2006, Light brought C into my life. Let's see how that happened…..
Here she is in her bug eye sunglasses and butch haircut. I took this shot mainly for the t-shirt, even though it isn't very clear in this photo.
Here's a close up of her chest... I mean her t-shirt. To get the meaning of this shirt, you must know that the college she attends is a womens college. She says there is a fairly large percentage of lesbians in attendance. Of course. :)
