Life is What You Make of It

Current mood: amused
Category: Life

Currently on my IPOD: Sunray by: Rosie Brown (if you haven't heard of her, you need to. She has the voice of an angel.)

Quote of the week: Friendship is constant in all other things save in the office and affairs of love . . .

Much Ado About Nothing

~W. Shakespeare

Dear Friends, Valentiners and Weirdo's...

Weather today...Sunny, and for Colorado, quite balmy at 40 degrees. Snow expected tonight. Actual Cicily weather outlook? Cool, calm and collected in my mind, and almost to the end. The end of my novel. I can't friggin believe it. But ya know...It's been almost a year and a month or two or three since I started this draft. And of course its not really done, its just the first time I get to write the words, THE END....After this, the weather is likely to change to a slight bit of trepidation with an afternoon shower or two of frustration lingering into the morning hours. Almost time to start the heinous process of re-writes, revisions and rewhateverittakestomakeitbetter process....

So, what is Cicily going to talk about today. I'm going to sway a little bit off the topic of writing and write on topic of the title of my blog. Yep, caught another person in the act. Writing about you when you're not paying attention...

This little incident happened to take place at the LA airport. As a mother, I know that there are days when you want or absolutely need to pull your hair out. The kids are everywhere, screaming, shouting, wrestling and generally causing premature graying on my part. Those days infiltrate my dreams, my writing(generally, I have a day like this and you can bet someone's getting killed in a story or my book...Really I am a nice person...) Maybe this is why I keep having this dream where all of my teeth are falling out (Which is something I generally fear like some people fear heights, I fear losing teeth...Haven't lost one yet, I am meticulous about dental hygeine) anyway..., and after I pick them up off the floor, my hair starts to fall out...I have it at least once a week. Anyone interpreting dreams out there? What the hell does that mean? Personally, I think its stress.

ON with it Cicily...

Okay, so I am in the airport with an unexpected extended layover of two hours. And btw...LAX has the best security checks, took me less than two minutes to make it through their security. I take my seat in the appropriate terminal after buying my obligatory bottle of water and just as I am about to slip my headphones on my head and relax, I see this family coming my way. FOUR kids, two parents and a crap-load of bags and paraphenalia from Disneyland.

The stroller was full, the kids had at least two noise-making dolls or whatever's in their hands and the mother was carrying balloons, candy, and a plethora of Mickey Mouse ears. The father...carrying nothing but his laptop bag. And a small one at that. But of course, what do they do next? They sit right...next...to...me! Literally, not even leaving a seat between us. And there were PLENTY of seats around.

Argggghhh...

I smiled politely and placed my IPOD in my ears and turned it up to full volume. The world was full of Maynard Ferguson and Miles Davis instead of their cries for a moment. But then I thought, this might make a great blog. So I turned the music off, but left my headphones in and observed some finer points of parenting from this anonymous family.

The kids sat obediently on their chairs, playing with their respective toys. My guess is that one was around 9, the others between the ages of 3-7. The oldest: boy, the other three, 2 boys and a girl. The mother, completely ignoring the father, who by this time had his lap top opened and in the middle of some game that he should have had headphones for, went to the oldest child and in a very stern voice said, NO MONKEY BUSINESS. And then she walked off.

The father...still playing the game, hadn't even looked up to see that she had gone. The oldest boy then looked at the others and said...YOU HEARD HER...Don't you dare do anything until she gets back. The father...still playing. I don't know, maybe he is half blind and deaf, but I doubt it. After a few minutes, I thought...Hmmm, these kids are so well behaved its ridiculous. I was waiting for the explosion. I got it.

The girl picked up Buzz Light Year from the smallest child and threw it on the ground, screaming...You leave the hair on Cinderella alone. The youngest then pulled her hair, the next to oldest boy then got up, took some kind of toy airplane, walked into the aisle of the concourse and started throwing it around, the older child went to run after the airplane thrower. Meanwhile, the two kids who had Cinderella and Buzz Light Year in a debacle, were full out wrestling on the ground. Rosy cheeks, pulling hair, breathing heavily and almost killing eachother.

Status on the father: Sitting, playing games on his computer.

Finally, the older kid returns to his seat, I pick up Buzz Light Year off the floor, reattach his arm, give it to the youngest boy, who is now sobbing because his Buzz Light Year had not only been decapitated, but had also become a mute, and a parapalegic due to the batteries dying inside. I tried to console the kid, the little girl was crying too. Her cinderella had most of its hair missing. I wonder how much money these obviously well-made toys had cost the parents. The kids finally settle down in their seats and guess what...The older boy stands up and starts walking, pacing back and forth in front of them, the other three, all have their heads down and aren't even looking. He turns to face them and says...What were you thinking? Santa Clause is watching.

Uh? Its the last week of January. Around this time, the mother returns with four happy meals, another bag that appears to be full of cheeseburgers, a liter of Coke and a sweater that says Los Angeles with bright pink palm trees next to the words. She looks at all of them and says, were you good for your father? You know, Santa's watching.

Yeah..and someone else too. Me...

The father? Still playing his game but eating a double cheeseburger too.

Not a peep. I am not writing this to bash fathers. Not at all. I just think that this man truly had the line of Life is What You Make it, going through his head the whole time. Yes, he could have been yelling at them to get settled down or even involving them in this game or finding a kid appropriate game to play with them. But that is him. Not all father's are like this. My dad? He would have probably been helping me make that paper airplane fly through the terminal, laughing at the businessman having to duck and dodge the plane as it came close to their gelled hair.

So how does this story end? First off, the true characterization and scene of this family as golden, I will probably turn it into a story one day, or you can feel free too as well. But you know, someone is always watching you. The oldest child, obviously in line to be the next leader of the free world, at least in his mind, sta down, slipped on an IPOD, ate his processed nuggets and soda and fell asleep. The others weren't so exhausted, but they were tame. As we started to board the plane, the girl turned to the youngest boy and said, you got your magic undies on? And he replied, Yesssss, no accidents today for me!

The mother and father? She was toting all the stuff from the stroller in her arms, the stroller was checked at the gate and the father, had only his laptop across his shoulders. The youngest kid began to cry, full out screaming and the father finally spoke...Kids who wear magic undies don't cry. They got on the plane and as I walked past them to go sit in the very back, all of the kids were fast asleep.

Maybe the father is right, life is what you make it. For me, I make it into stories, stressed days and careful observations to see what works and what doesn't.

But, be careful, someone is always watching. Go put your magic undies on and get over it, live the life you want to live and dont worry about what others are doing. Right?

Right.

I'm signing off now so I can go get some more writing done today. I hope your days are sunny and spring springs up sometime soon for you.

Yours in Life, Living and Loving,

Cicily