Jewells of Thought

Life is always a mess of decisions and actions. The question is how will you make those very decisions and actions. My parents and I get roped into various situations that were thought out with very little thought to begin with.

The actions or rather inactions of others have put us into being Grandpa, Grandma and Auntie to anyone who comes into contact with our girl Selena pretty much. I never could have imagined when we found out about this baby girl 12 years ago how much she would affect our lives in such little ways could also be enormous ones in retrospect. Because she calls us these respective names everyone who visits with her adopts these titles for us. I don’t remember calling anyone who wasn’t my aunt or uncle my aunt or uncle yet here I am with all of these little girls and at least 2 little boys, calling me their aunt.

Perhaps it’s because I know they need to eat and I fix them snacks or light dinners when needed. Or perhaps I try to spend some time with them and have needed to clean their dirty faces once, twice or even three times. during our time together. They know we have compassion for them, but up to a point. Even when that point was met last night we still survived… just barely. I do have to give a lot of kudos to my younger brother for helping me this time. Usually he leaves it to me and Mom to watch the kiddos. He stepped up for me the way I really needed help for 3 under the age of 8 and two teenage girls. Technically our niece is still a preteen, but she is already acting like a teen for certain. He also helped out in a big way having Totino’s pizza in the freezer, which was a literal Godsend to feed the kids. That was his personal collection of food for work or whenever.

The older teenager does not like photos being taken. So these cover all of us but my brother. Even Kenny got in a few of them. You can tell who the baby loves to play with. She is absolutely enamored with Selena.

Plus, my goodness the 1 year old is moving all the time and found every little cranny she could. She even found my sewing machine. Thank goodness she did not open the pins, I said a silent prayer when I noticed the pins had been moved, but not opened. I was also stunned when the older boy wanted to learn how to crochet! Then he was bummed when I said that’s not my expertise, sorry. At least those needles would have been a lot better than my cross-stitch needles in his hands, another silent prayer of thanks.

My niece called me no less than 8 times that afternoon. I had already done my medications and put them up. I ate some nachos for a snack since my parents were picking up a pizza on the way home from church. I didn’t have a car to use, mine needs to be looked at right now. She kept telling me I had the ton truck over here! It’s been a while since I have driven it and with their dogs and all and not knowing what all was in it wasn’t sure how everyone could get into it. So my brother ended up taking his car over and yet they forget Kenny. He likes to walk so not long after they all get here we saw him walking over.

The boys like to argue about everything. So I decided not to bring up marbles. It was their last big fight over here. Instead I brought out some of my personally fun sets that I thought they would have fun with. My dominoes and Lincoln Log set, even the baby had some fun with these different sets. She is teething; my OCD will also make me completely wash both sets before they go back up. I really wanted to leave them as they were so I could do it last night, but my niece began picking them up before I realized it. I will be using either some wipes or a soapy warm washrag with them before I put them back in my room. I can’t help myself; I would like to put them up clean.

One of the funny parts of the evening for me was that bag of chips. Earlier last week I saw a sign for these chips 2 for $3. So we got the Bacon and Cheddar Potato Skins and the Ranch. I thought Selena would like them she used to go crazy over them. I had already been eating on the Bacon and Cheddar ones, but wasn’t sure I wanted the Ranch ones. So when the boys came over they wanted snacks and they kept trying to raid our Pantry. the younger one found the Ranch bag. These bags were not a full regular size bag. So I let him open the bag. Both of them liked these potatoes. Somehow a fight came over this bag and I thought I was going to have to take it away… they cooled down and ended up eating the entire bag. Like I said it was not a full bag neither one ate very much Mac & Cheese or pizza so I thought it was fine. Plus it kept them both out of Dad’s peanuts. The older boy had already mentioned peanuts, but the image of all the peanuts on the table came back to mind from the last time they were over. So I thought chips were a better idea.

I would have had my Sunday Thoughts last night if 5 kids hadn’t been in the house last night. Not to mention the events of Saturday afternoon as well. It has simply prolonged them by a day or two at most. I also got another project done this weekend and I have been trying to start a fun new one. Again I would have done so last night if I could. There has also been an undercurrent of a community matter going on that ended up being a little too close for comfort this weekend. It’s a very sensitive subject and was a part of our well-being with the kids last night. Trying to articulate the fear and emotions that have gone through our family with recent events will be interesting as I try to figure out how to do so as we are still digesting the details of this horribly disturbing incident.

To think I thought I was going to have a quiet Sunday night recuperating from the day before. Even this morning I can still feel my steps from no less than 5 flights of stairs Saturday afternoon…

There is a young teenage girl in Greene County who needs a lot of prayers right now who is trying to process what just happened to her family. Yet I have had two teenage girls in Sullivan County this weekend who have been slightly affected by that girl’s horrible ending to this sad accounting of this chapter in her life.