Music Monday

Summer is finally starting to slide into fall. The kids are back in school, the weather is almost cooperating, and heck - the calendar says it is so. There's something refreshing about fall. It's as though summer is one big free-for-all and fall is purpose-driven, but not necessarily rigid. There's still time for jumping into piles of leaves, but only after you're done with your homework.

Billy Joel's song Famous Last Words always makes me think of fall. It was his farewell to his usual songwriting, but at the same time it's a farewell to summer. "Summertime has come and gone," but "there's comfort in my coffee cup and apples in the early fall." One season ends, but the next is just as welcome. Life keeps moving on.

"Ain't it sweet after all these years"?

Inspiration

Now that I've whined a bit, it's time to get back to laughing about it. Like Kirsty says on her blog: "If you don't laugh, you'll cry, and nobody likes a crybaby." True that.

I've settled for telling people that A has enrolled in the Disease of the Month Club. It's an easy answer to give to people who ask how you and the family are. I've also come up with a plan for the kid picture for the holiday card. You see, K has vision problems. C has speech problems. A's next appointment is to check out her hearing problems. Can you tell where I'm going with this? It's going to be great.

Stripes

I've been staring at the title of my last entry off and on for the last month. The whole entry seems over-dramatic, except for days like today. I just got off the phone with the pediatrician (again, too many times this year) to discuss the latest zebra. Another incidental finding. Another report consisting of 'everything's ok, but we noted some things that don't belong there'. Maybe they're an issue, maybe (hopefully) not. But go see a specialist to see what (s)he thinks. We've seen this specialist before and eventually been given the all-clear. Please let it be so again.

I am so, so tired of this. All of this - the poking, prodding, what-ifs, and hopefully-nots. Thank goodness I've been blessed with a child who is able to deal with it. Just yesterday she helped convince her brother that the flu shot wasn't really that bad. "I'll go first and show you how it's done," she said. What a lovely, brave girl. Why does it always have to be her?