Just when it seems we were getting our heads above the water...

The wireless router goes out.

The lawn needs to be mowed again.

We are out of bread. Crackers. More cat litter wouldn't hurt, either. A few other items, too, but those three are the most important.

The bills come due so fast, the food runs out so fast, stuff breaks.

Today, #2 Son came running in to beg for permission to go do something with a friend. It was going to be fun and exciting and he had been invited. The other child's parents would be in attendance the whole time. I said sure, and he ran off, excited.

He came back a few minutes later, plan canceled. I asked what had happened, and was told the fine print. Turns out, he also needed $35 plus spending money to do whatever it was. He was smiling, saying, "I just told them 'No, thank you' and came home to tell you I am going to M's house instead." He knows it just isn't in the budget. No begging, just acceptance and different plans in a heartbeat.

They say so much about parenting. You can't give them everything. It's okay if they have to play on the playground, not in a structured play class. They don't need every lesson under the sun.

I agree. I also just wish that, on occasion, I could hand them the money. Just a few times in their lives.

I'm concerned that, by the time we get there, if we ever do, it will be too late. They will be grown and gone by then, the opportunity to just give them something, some spontaneous fun thing like that, will be gone.

Taking an adult child out to lunch instead will be nice, but it just won't be the same as seeing the joy on a smaller face when you can unexpectedly say yes.

I'm afraid it just won't happen.

It saddens me.


Today is:

Festival of Pungarancha (Michocan Indians god of runners)

Festival of Inner Worlds

Independence Day, Chile

Kasteilet (Dividing of the Cheese), Switzerland

National Button Show

National Cheeseburger Day

National Chocolate Day

National Play-Doh Day

National Respect Day

National POW/MIA Day

St. Joseph of Cupertino's Day (patron of pilots, air travelers, Air Force, astronauts)

Victory of Uprona Day, Burundi

World Water Monitoring Day


Birthdays Today:

Lance Armstrong, 1971
James Gandolfini, 1961
Ryne Sandberg, 1959
Frankie Avalon, 1939
Robert Blake, 1933
June Foray, 1920
Jack Warden, 1920
Greta Garbo, 1905
Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, 1905
Marcus Ulpius Nerva Trajanus, Emperor Trajan, 53


Today in History:

Christopher Colombus lands at Costa Rica on his 4th and final voyage, 1502
Ft. Ticonderoga, NY opens, 1755
John Harris builds the first spinet piano in the US, 1769
President Washington lays the cornerstone of the Capitol Building, 1793
Royal Opera House in London opens, 1809
A horse beats the first US made locomotive, near Baltimore, 1830
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is first published, 1842
The banking firm of Jay Cooke & Co. in Philadelphia declares bankruptcy, which starts the Panic of 1873 and a severe economic depression, 1873
Daniel David Palmer gives the first chiropractic adjustment, 1895