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Moving Day
Sunday Morning, 7:48 A.M. We've already been up for an hour, working on organizing the day, so that when the three college students arrive (our own kids) we can appear to be efficient and ready. There will be pancakes, which will give them at least a nominal reason to get out of bed this fine morning. Their job: moving boxes and taking apart furniture. We are taking bets on: 1.) How late they will be (they were summoned for 9:30 AM) and 2.) How long they will last (this will vary. Richard's daughters are more the fast-twitch types--short spurts and fast burnout; mine is definitely slow-twitch--slow to start but with some stamina, if not attention-span).
7:52 A.M. Richard opens the Sunday new York Times and reads this aloud:
When the Golden Rule Insurance Company rejected her application for health coverage last year, Peggy Robertson was mystified.
“It made no sense,” said Ms. Robertson, 39, who lives in Centennial, Colo. “I’m in perfect health.”
She was turned down because she had given birth by Caesarean section. Having the operation once increases the odds that it will be performed again, and if she became pregnant and needed another Caesarean, Golden Rule did not want to pay for it. A letter from the company explained that if she had been sterilized after the Caesarean, or if she were over 40 and had given birth two or more years before applying, she might have qualified. (Barbara P. Fernandez for The New York Times)
"Another reason we are leaving," he says.
8:00 A.M Richard shifts to the Washington Post and reads this:
U.S. Campaign to Promote Abstinence Begins
Groups Are Enlisting Parents in Effort to Lobby for Changes in Sex Education
Proponents of sex education programs that focus on encouraging abstinence are launching a nationwide campaign aimed at enlisting 1 million parents to support the controversial approach.
The National Abstinence Education Association, a Washington-based advocacy group, said that it sent e-mails last week to about 30,000 supporters, practitioners and parents to try to recruit participants and plans to e-mail 100,000 this week as part of the first phase of the $1 million campaign.
The e-mail is promoting the Parents for Truth campaign, which the group hopes will eventually involve 1 million parents nationwide to lobby local schools to adopt sex education programs focusing on abstinence and to work to elect local, state and national officials who support the approach.
"There are powerful special interest groups who can far outspend what parents can in terms of promoting their agenda. But we recognize that parents more than make up for that by their determination and motivation to protect their own children," said Valerie Huber, the group's executive director. By Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer)
I don't know about you, but we now feel we have to stop pouring so much of our money and energy into promoting UNSAFE sex for our kids. We don't want all those PRO-TEEN-SEX organizations to outspend Parents for Truth, after all...
Richard and I agree to tell the kids we are joining the abstinence-only movement...just for the momentary looks on their faces.
8:10 am: I start calling the kids. No answers on their cells. I wake Larry's father and ask him to engage with our son. This is going to be a PROCESS...
Updates to follow. Meanwhile, feel free to share the news of the day, as we will be moving on from the instant news cycle...
***
9:15 AM: The drama continues. Will Larry make the 9:20 train? He has called three times already, trying to renegotiate the deal he agreed to, proposing an 11:30 am arrival instead of the 10 am arrival he was supposed to achieve. Who does he think he is? Harold Ickes? His Dad is on the case and on the job, promising me that he WILL be on that train...
9:19: The girls just called. They are "running late." Pancakes will be at 10 am instead of 9:30...shocking. Also, they asked "how long this will take." I told them no more than 10-15 hours.
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Karen -
Good luck!!! It sounds like an exhausting, if not somewhat exciting day!
I hope the troops have arrived, and that the pancakes are being enjoyed. The day we moved to MA we heard the song "The Way" about 20 times on the trip here. That song reminds me of you two as well.
The Way - Fastball
They made up their minds
And they started packing
They left before the sun came up that day
An exit to eternal summer slacking
But where were they going without ever knowing the way?
They drank up the wine
And they got to talking
They now had more important things to say
And when the car broke down they started walking
Where were they going without ever knowing the way?
Chorus:
Anyone could see the road that they walk on is paved in gold
And its always summer, they'll never get cold
They'll never get hungry
They'll never get old and gray
You can see their shadows wandering off somewhere
They wont make it home
But they really dont care
They wanted the highway
They're happy there today , today
The children woke up
And they couldn't find 'em
They left before the sun came up that day
They just drove off
And left it all behind 'em
But where were they going without ever knowing the way?
Anyone could see the road that they walk on is paved in gold
And its always summer, they'll never get cold
They'll never get hungry
They'll never get old and gray
You can see their shadows wandering off somewhere
They wont make it home
But they really dont care
They wanted the highway
Theyre happy there today , today (repeat)
Karen,
Have your camera ready when you tell them about the abstinence program. This might make a useful bribe later.
I hope your moving goes quickly. Hope the kids carry 99.999% before they get too tired to carry-on.
Just a hint: don't unpack the kitchen stuff until the very end. Then you have an excuse to eat out or carry-in.
Congratulations on doing this!
Bon Voyage!
UPDATE: Kids are much less grumpy than they were when they arrived...pancakes were effective. They are working well. We met new neighbors and the 'hood is going to be a funky and hip place!
Thanks for the comments and support...
Don't forget to give your loved ones your new address etc...
Best of luck & good hugs to all involved.....
Karen and Richard, I wish you well in your new beginnings. Enjoy all the surprises that will greet you each day.
On the *abstinence* drive, I am ever so grateful that Australia's invaders were convicts and not puritans. I'm grateful for every single grandchild I have. All 5 of them. My eldest was just 19 when he and his girlfriend brought his first daughter into my home.
Have fun in your new neighbourhood. It sounds great.