Thursday, February 15, 2018

25 Ideas on Gun Control. What are Yours?

There are a million ways we could manage the issue of gun control in America and if we did even a single thing, we might stop living in terror.  The thing is it requires personal responsibility and also a change in behavior.  Which no one wants. Specifically no one wants to give up their hobby to save the lives of our children. 

Here are 25 ideas I just a single person can formulate off the top of my head.  
  1. Dont sell semi-automatic weapons any more
  2. Only sell non lethal rounds to be used only at shooting ranges. Sort of like you cant take alcohol from a bar. Then people could still use their hobby guns, but we could be safe. 
  3. Everyone stop paying their dues to the NRA, perhaps start a new gun lobby that supports personal gun ownership and practices that deter mass shootings. 
  4. Dont vote for someone who receives funding from the NRA
  5. Require that every semi-automatic weapon purchased be placed in a database with a title much like a vehicle. This way there is evidence when someone is massing a large amount of guns or ammo, perhaps we could use these computer doo-dads to flag when someone owns a specific amount. Lets say 5. 
  6. Make it illegal to sell guns without a sellers license. Boom an industry is created with jobs, people have to take their legal guns to brokers who then have to be licensed to sell them. No one else is bothered that we get ID'd for Sudafed but I can sell my whacky neighbor a gun? 
  7. How would we get guns off the streets you ask?  Offer a tax deduction, or create a crime stoppers like program as incentive for people to turn in guns that are no longer legal.  Provide like a 6 month amnesty before they turn them in.
  8. What about the government you say? Unarmed black people are gunned down every day by the police.  Perhaps if the public is less likely to be armed the police would be amenable to also being less armed and we would all be safer. As well as the police being less scared of citizen. 
  9. Protest gun stores like anyone else protests abortion clinics.  Stand outside with photos of children who died and hand out pamphlets explaining what guns were used and what companies and discouraging membership to the NRA
  10. Put chips in all new guns
  11. Make all guns fingerprint sensitive. 
  12. Make all gun owners purchase gun insurance at the point of purchase. This insurance could be expressly used to treat people in mass shootings. 
  13. put warning labels on guns from the surgeon general.  (is this a thing?  I have never actually purchased a gun)
  14. Make it so litigious and expensive to purchase a gun its discouraged then make owning a gun illegally even more costly. You know like the war on drugs.....
  15. Call write and harass your representatives.  State, Local, and federal. Make it clear that this is what we want. 
  16. We have marched for science, women, there is, the march for life, why isnt there a march for gun laws???
  17. Usurp the message of the NRA.  This really is all or nothing.  We act mass shootings or the left will actually come for all guns.  For once make they other side play to the middle. 
  18. Universal healthcare would treat the victims of gun violence, and provide mental health treatment for those shooters who could have been helped by that access.
  19. Study the most effective gun laws around the world and around the country and replicate their commonalities. 
  20. Ingrate interpersonal relationships into the education system. 
  21. Have more ice cream socials.  I am serious build communities and relationships. 
  22. Intervene in bullying. 
  23. Look at the post Columbine move toward anti bullying there were some real consequences to the kids those policies impacted. 
  24. Pay attention to the men being radicalized right in front of you.  The MRAs the MGTOWs, Alt right, Trumpsters.  There is a commonality that much of these groups are made up of white males. 
  25. Do Something, dont just beg your representative to pass a law or literally hope and pray, do something even if its just the microscopic action. 
We have to stop being reflexive.  My kids shouldn't be learning to hide under their desks, they should be learning that they are safe and that they are going to more often than not be safe.  I know we love our guns in America.  We not including me but i get it.  But how many children should and will die because there is a past time we dont want limited. Thats not how this works. We need to do something. 

Monday, February 12, 2018

Everything Must Go; Why Socialism Wont Cure All Ills.

When I was in the 7th grade my father had an emergency surgery.  He was uninsured and when he woke up from surgery with a colostomy, in immense pain, he was flailing and screaming.  As my sister turned the nurse hurried out of the room.  My sister raced out to find out what was happening.  The answer the nurse gave was, "he is uninsured, we cant give him any pain medicine".  My over all perception is I dont care about any other answer, we need to provide people healthcare.  How many people do you know that are no longer working but could be due to an untreated health condition?   

While I whole heartedly believe in universal healthcare.  I also dont believe it is the cure to all ills.  Many people think it will solve racism, or wars, make everything equal.  This is only moderately the case. So all these so called progressives on the socialism bandwagon are more than willing to air their racism out thats been hiding in the cellars under the guise of anti colonialism, or throw in nods to how it will help the white working class. The insidiousness of racism that says all people and amends itself to not them, or them, or those people, only this one type of person. Socialism is only the distribution of wealth its not the distribution of equality, or justice, its only economic. This is a nod to the Bernie bros who seem to understand this, and be ok with it.  Lets just have an economic revolution that never accounts for our history of racism and certainly doesnt attempt to correct it. 

Lets address where this assumption might come from as well the right and the wrong of it.  We cant advocate outright socialism while we also have to accept that capitalism in its current form was not designed to work for communities of color.  Nothing is simple and nothing is one policy. 

There are some things that important to keep in mind when trying to grapple with the American relationship with socialism.   A core following of the socialist movement in the U.S. were civil rights activists.  They were of the opinion that gains were made in racial equality in the Soviet Union, which is true but the fact is that the Soviet Union collapsed and actual equality was still not met. The Black Panthers, MLK Jr., Angela Davis, Malcolm X. All if not explicitly in supported of socialism, were of the belief that capitalism as a system with racism would never allow communities of color to conquer oppression.  As far as I can gather the idea is that if there was not barrier to economic stability people of color could do the rest overcome and have otherwise self sustaining communities.  

The evidence that the U.S. has weaponized capitalism against communities of color is ample. You cant really talk about the issues impacting communities of color without considering that resources are held hostage within the system.  Slavery itself is the root of American capitalism.  There is an article from Forbes below that details this.  Couple this with the prison system, the massacre of anything that provides opportunity for these communities including in-equal funding on education or the actual massacre of black Wallstreet.  There is a valid argument that capitalism will never benefit people of color in the United States in total.  We have to rebuild every system.  Which may be possible after the Trump administration because there will be nothing left by the end of all of this. 

So what about socialism?  Socialism comes with an entirely different set of issues.  The complicated history is that not only Hitler but virtually every socialist thinker of the early 20th century was a proponent of genocide.  If the rising tide lifts all ships and you only want the white ships rise you have to only have white ships.  Hitler was of the opinion that socialism and Judaism were somehow at odds. So as the acceptance of socialism rolls into the American consciousness there also is a rise in nationalism, anti-Semitism, anti feminism, xenophobia, racism.  The question is are all these things connected?  I turn to other countries, Denmark that is well known for its socialist programs and its low income inequality still has a fairly prevalent culture built on racism, the same goes for Canada.  So there goes that. 

Engles and Marx posit that these inequalities are created by the state there for socialism and eventually communism will break down the inequalities as the state ceases to exist.  This divorces the idea that systems of oppression are self fulfilling and not dependent on other systems.  Thats why racism is insidious and not easily solved by say ending slavery or the Civil Rights Act, or Affirmative Action, or the Americans with Disabilities act.  At some point we need to address the reality that the U.S. has been constructed on a foundation of white supremacy and not single policy or economic system is going to fix that. 


Stop conflating economics as the solutions to social ills.  We have reached a point in history where we need to fight for everyone or no one.  Why cant we all have healthcare? Wouldnt true freedom afford us the option between socialism and capitalism?  One person is not capable of paying for private insurance while another simply doesnt think that the state provides care that they want and both people have options that are plausible, no one goes without.  Oh wait we already had the ACA all we need now is a Medicare for all and allow the insurance companies to continue existing, in which case they will compete with free.  No one deserves to die or preventable diseases and no one deserves to be denied treatment because they cant afford it. FULL STOP. 


Here is a Wikihow on breaking down racism. 
https://www.wikihow.com/Help-Reduce-Racism


Sources

www.dsausa.org/socialism_in_black_america_dl
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jewish-socialism-in-europe/
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/hitler-and-the-socialist-dream-1186455.html
https://www.bustle.com/p/the-women-of-democratic-socialism-prove-the-movement-isnt-just-a-bunch-of-sexist-white-guys-78554
https://www.vox.com/2016/2/4/10918710/berniebro-bernie-bro
http://sfbayview.com/2011/02/what-happened-to-black-wall-street-on-june-1-1921/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/02/socialism-young-americans-bernie-sanders
http://www.ebony.com/black-history/the-destruction-of-black-wall-street-405
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/rachel-decoste/racism-in-canada_b_6401578.html
http://www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/details/society/income-inequality.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
http://cphpost.dk/opinion/does-denmark-have-a-racism-problem.html
https://www.forbes.com/sites/hbsworkingknowledge/2017/05/03/the-clear-connection-between-slavery-and-american-capitalism/#b788f1e7bd3b
Here is a Wikihow on breaking down racism. 
https://www.wikihow.com/Help-Reduce-Racism

Monday, February 5, 2018

MGTOW. Because How Dare Women Be People

MGTOW; Men Going Their Own Way is something that recently crossed my path and on the surface it just seems a little silly.  I mean they could just be single, and accept that choice however they aren't actually happy.  They are the vegetarians that always want a steak and judge you and complain that other people eat meat.  No one actually cares that these men are dropping out of the race. Women get it, it sucks sometimes and is easier to just not do it. Honestly though they are doing us a favor.  But maybe the term sit down and shut up applies here. 

So there are men who want to not have relationships with women as a result of their bad experiences.  Fine.  They dont want kids. Fine.  They dont even like women.  Still actually fine.  The line they cross is in visceral reactions.  There is an uncomfortable emphasis on denying rape.  MGTOWs  think they might as well not have sex because it protects them from rape allegations. As opposed to you know not being rapey.  Dont touch women who dont tell you that you can touch them, dont have sex with women you haven't established consent with.  This isnt that complicated. They are literally swearing off women on the grounds that they cant not rape us. 

The next level is that they think that women only use them because they have to pay child support and alimony. In reading their threads and blog posts and looking over the website. I have to notice that there is definite lack of self reflection. Interesting since they posit that they promote male self owner ship. Which explains a lot they haven't evolved with the rest of in terms of owning people, their concessions to feminism are in their minds just flipping the script.  So they are mad at feminism for something they are doing to themselves.  They set the expectations in their own relationships and when women then dont agree or dont act according to their expectation they cant handle it. Not one of them say "I was not good to my wife"  They assert that women cheat and literally complain that women want their time.  There are women who are not great people for sure. However it takes 2 to tango. their marriage not being successful was most likely a mutual destruction, and their sexism a key catalyst.

The harsh reality of these men is that they are shirking the expectation that they be full fledged adults and have equal and fulfilling relationships with women.  There are literally other fish in the sea. There are plenty of men who will be there and have genuine relationships and dropping out makes it easier to find them.  Sadly there is a void of maturity you can see in their responses.  They want to leave women behind but they dont women to leave them.  They think that feminism is to blame for all the problems between men and women, but fault women for reliance on men while expecting it.  Truth be told these men dont really know what they stand for.

When you go to the MGTOW website, the section on the history describes a phenomenon that has been there always since Jesus.  SINCE JESUS! The irony is how angry they get when a person calls it a movement.  Despite the website having posters that promote the ideas and they use the specific word phenomenon. So there is a display that the movement lacks the grasp of words, but it gets better, they compare the movement to fire, explaining that fire is always there.  So now you get to see they dont get science either.  Fire is a chemical reaction, there has to be a chemical change for fire to happen, as well as the law of conservation of energy. The energy is always stored and then is transferred and converted into being fire but that doesnt mean fire is always there. The entire metaphore to describe their MOVEMENT is wrong.

Mostly I am cool with this. these men can continue to active ignore women.  Again they aren't so good at words.  Ignoring by definition is active you cant ignore something unless you know its happening. The definition of ignore is a refusal to take notice or acknowledge. So they can run away from #metoo and the gynocentric laws that expect them not to rape women and take care of their kids. The world will be fine without them.  I know this is harsh, but really they are punishing women by not having sex with them, how self important can you be?

Saturday, January 27, 2018

Part of Parenting; Forgiving Yourself for Mistakes You Will Make

Recently I have been contemplating homeschooling my son with autism.  There are many things that would be better about my life were I to do that, and even more things would be better for him.  By the end of the summer hes stable and we have stopped being at war about everything.  He almost seems ok.  Then school starts and everything is terrible, I feel like he is devolving, reeling.  By the time he levels out there is a break and everything falls apart again.   I have even been directed by the psychologist that he sees says that the stability of being home would beefit him as long as he was having social interactions.  I am only concerned that I personally am not up to the task of spending that much time with him.

Recently I had a revelation regarding this situation.  The challenges and the over all benefit of this idea are great, and I think on a day to day basis the sense that I cant do it, or that its the best thing I have ever done will battle it out.  What follows is not an example of my best parenting, and I hope that you can handle that.  We screw up, its pretty much what being a parent is, the key is that I owned my screw up, I admitted he wasn't crazy and I still held to the expectations I had established. So heres what happened  

Its Friday afternoon and I am crying on the couch because I just totally lost control with my kid.  I sprayed with a squirt bottle. because he has been suspended from school, he has a messy room and he went to sleep instead of cleaning or doing his school work. I had just spoken to the school and confirmed he couldn't go to an event that he helped plan because he had been suspended for hitting someone. I was heartbroken for him and crying and I went into his room to tell him and he was asleep.  It was like bombs were going off in my heart.  I am arguing with the school for this kid who just wants to nap and not do any of his work.  I initially interpreted it as a personal affront.  That sense of loss and sadness just blew up.  Unfortunately the 9 year old was the recipient.

This digressed into a nasty rage filled fight. Where he asserts  I obviously dont love him and I retort that he obviously was never planning on listening to my instructions. Then I was the meanest person that ever lived, and I cant imaging following through with this online school hes waitlisted for because he wont ever do anything but sleep all day.  In the midst of that I realized I was getting caught up.  I was emotional. In that moment I looked across the room and saw his audiobook that was blaring.  I stopped. I wrote a list of exactly what he needed to do and told him that if he was half way done in an hour he could have the audiobook back. Then, I walked away, I established his want, and it was up to him to fulfill that want.

It took about 10 minutes, and he came out and got a snack, then in another 10 minutes he came out and said, "I am going to do my homework first because I want to read the book.  Then I will clean my room"  my response "are you apologizing?"  he confirmed that this was an apology and I apologized as well. We hugged and he began working through his list.  Then my friend offered to bring a video game over so I offered that and the rest of the day was pretty smooth.  I  have to recognize that I created that situation.  I am the adult, I know him and I can fairly readily predict how things might work out in a given situation.

Sooo...why am I not expecting the school to do that as well?  I mean he made it through 3 days of a substitute and then had one incident in a busy lunch room.  As a his mom I want to high 5 him and tell him he rocked those unexpected circumstances and yet I am left to also not be able to dismiss his behavior as it got him suspended.  But then when they say that he ran away from teachers 5 times this week.  To which I think still progress hes not cussing.  He has openly told teachers "F-you" and said he would cut their heads off.  He ran away 5 times as opposed to getting so frustrated with them he uses obscenities but no one notices because he ran away and thats not safe.  Anyhow I digress, thats not actually my point. Still so frustrating.  My point is that maybe I am capable of both.  I can weather the storms and help him have less of them.

There were a number of things I forgot as a parent.  I forgot to center myself before I went to speak with him in the first place, I forgot to go into that room with a plan, and I forgot to let go.  I was never going to get him to clean his room or do his school work by the force of my will, but rather the force of his own will and his own wants. All of this is forgivable, its essentially the crux of parenting, always being on a tight rope over a really excited crowd.  I could have easily just been mad that he wasn't listening and spent my whole day fighting with him and never made any progress, I was willing to shift gears.

A major take away form this is that where the school gives up or exacerbates his fragile emotional stability,  I am able to help him recover namely by acknowledging my own failings..  My child is left to feel unheard and rejected in school, and while they insist its just school policy none of the other students seem to be disciplined. I never hear about other students being suspended, and I feel like I can do better than them.  This may be my own personal act of hubris, but I am diving in. I am going to write a curriculum (which I am capable of doing) and I am going to homeschool my kid while we wait for him to get into online school.

Sidenote.  Please comment and email if you have any suggestions on home schooling I am totally open.

kimmymidnight@gmail.com

Sunday, January 21, 2018

Can we Not "Miggery Sow" Taxes. Please





In the children's book The Tale of Despereux by Kate DiCamillo there is a character named Miggery Sow.  Miggery Sow is a young servant who kidnaps the princess for a rat, and believes she is going to become a princess herself the plan was admittedly bad.  This is how DiCamillo describes the efficacy of the plan.

No one would ever, not for one blind minute, mistake Mig for the princess or the princess for Mig. But Miggery Sow, as I pointed out to you before, was not the sharpest knife in the drawer. And, reader, too, she wanted so desperately to become a princess. She wanted, oh, how she wanted. And it was because of this terrible wanting that she was able to believe in Roscuro's plan with every ounce of her heart. (36.24)



Mig really tried to go through with  this plan, she really wanted to believe and the Roscuro the rat was also very committed to her going through with it. Remember how Republicans passed a sweeping tax reform a few weeks ago?  Remember that? I have a vague recollection that there was this tax thing I think they were happy about. So if you recall that I don't need to go over all details.  I cant say what the outcome will be but I can say that the GOP cant really talk about anything other then how good this thing no one wanted is.  Paul Ryan continues to tweet how happy we should all be about this. Why is he doing this?  Possibly because he cannot let us for a second forget the feeling of being Mig.  He hopes that he can talk about taxes until he wins reelection.

As soon as the bill was passed, companies started giving out bonuses and the GOP slurped up that propaganda opportunity.  Crediting the passage of the tax bill as the cause of those bonuses and what's good bill it is.  You know how a Dr. gives a baby something to suck on while they get a shot as a distraction. Yeah that's what just happened.  Most of those companies gave bonuses and then laid people off the next day.  Also the bill passed and they gave out bonuses when they wont see the impacts until 2018 tax season.  Again, remember Miggery Sow?  How times do they have to tell us this is what we want before we believe it?


Multiple people have posited to me that we are seeing the success of the bill. "We have a great new tax plan with lots of cuts" they say as an argument to not complaining so much about POTUS. Um, come again?  So anyone who is a working adult understands that what the bill going to in effect on Jan, 1, 2018 means is this when we go to file taxes in 2019, it will be  for the 2018 tax year. So the tax bill is working like snake oil.  I need it to stop this is so painful to watch people argue this, and I know Paul Ryan is like a dog with a bone so he can get reelected before people realize what hes done, but stop drinking the snake oil.  If snake oil is not a relevant reference for you how about stop drinking the Koolaid.  I forgive you if you drank their poison, but the time has come to stop its starting to look desperate.


The reason that they companies were able to give those is....wait for it....they already had the money for bonuses and they were too greedy to pay it to the employees.  The bill could not do anything for them before Jan 1 and they gave out the bonuses in December.  Followed by lay offs.  Once again, everyone got a bonus and they totally shall we say "Miggery Sowed" the whole thing.  Just as they did voting for Trump. "We got bonuses, because of tax cuts, this must be good, this must mean the capitalistic exploitation of our labor has ended"  News flash we have already done this, and it ends in wages not rising, the cost of living increasing and the rich getting richer.  Trickle down economics assumes that the successful people at the top are altruistic, which simply isn't the case.

It would be one thing if there were really no impacts but the truth is where we see the impact is in smaller checks.  since the first of the year what would have been a $1000 check is now $900 for families who have no savings, and are living paycheck to paycheck.   Which makes us even more so Miggery Sow and the first person who pays attention to us seems like they are full of good ideas, when really they are ruining our lives.  They whisper "you want health care? I can refill your pockets" So people jumped on board, but we are experiencing unrest, and if you feel unrestful its not because the GOP is doing such a good job but rather because we are not seeing improvement.

Can we please stop?  It wont hurt to disagree with the GOP.  They got countless letters begging them to not pass the bill, it rewards exporting jobs, and Donald Trump loves it because he will get more money out of it.  The middle ground is disagreeing about the overall terribleness of Trump and current GOP and being able to be real about their success.  Stop touting the success of the tax bill as a means of not admitting we have a problem. Because by-Houston we do have one.

Friday, January 12, 2018

What the Cuck?? (please dont report me)

WARNING!!!  THIS POST WILL TRIGGER CONSERVATIVES!!!  For the liberals reading this, I apologize in advance for using the word "cuck."

"You know what really grinds my gears?" 
When I get called a cuck on Twitter.  I am so confused at the use of the word especially since I am a woman.  I mean it brings me to a full stop.  Why the hell am I being called this?  I usually ask if they know what it means and then get no response. Then I learned a little more about the complexities of the word and my god, its sad and disgusting that people are calling each other that! The use of the word brazenly makes it clear what type of person you are engaged with and also makes it easy to disengage.

 The term literally means a man that was cheated on by a woman.  A cuckold, meaning he was unable to control his woman and she was unfaithful.  Had he been stronger or more virulent she wouldn't have cheated. But beyond, it's that he takes care of the children these encounters produce. So why the revival of this gross word and why am I supposed to be insulted or belittled that some guy on Twitter thinks I am a cuck for saying things he doesn't like?  These guys think that being factually wrong is equivalent to infidelity.  They are so feeble that they need to make other people feel small and feeble, over the Internet.  OVER THE INTERNET!  As though they never had to employ any critical thinking. It assumes first that I care. Hint: I don't. It assumes that my self worth is going to be permeated from some guy on the Internet. Also, I really don't care. I mean you might feel like you owned me by calling me a cuck, but mostly you proved that you are not able to explain with facts why you disagree.  Really, your emotional hijacking turns you into nothing more than a misogynist.

Beyond the actual meaning of the word, there is a whole gross, gross, gross, thing known as cuckold porn. Which, depending on the source, is either porn of men watching their wives or female partner with someone else, or some disgusting racist thing where white men fetishize and shame their partner for having sex with a black man.  So now when I am called a cuck, I have to add "probably racist" to the list of terrible things the person I'm talking to evidently believes in.  Maybe I am looking at this the wrong way, but it seems like there's a secret implication when using this word.  Which is that the person saying it automatically assumes I'm as racist and sexist as they are.  Unless, as I often suspect, they don't actually understand the word. Someone used it and then they were like, "that was the best sounding insult!  I think I will fling that word around indiscriminately!  I'm rational!"

The only people that would be insulted by being called a cuck would have to be insecure, racist men, who feel their value lies in their control over women.  Why would women be insulted by this?  Honestly, how would anyone be insulted by this?  It's like watching a man walk around in an, "I'm with stupid," shirt on, except instead of pointing to someone else, it's pointing at his own brain.  How did this become political?

The thing is, I'd be okay with the insult if people would actually use it correctly.  For the most part, though, it seems to be an ego-saving retort designed to shut down conversation, rather than admit the horrible truth of one being fact-checked.  Per my experience, the exchange usually goes as such:

"You know that's not true"
and the response is "cuck"

Every time someone uses that word I feel this gross shiver in my belly and then bafflement. I find the whole thing irrational.  Can white men misappropriate a word that is traditionally used by white men?  If they can then they did.  They made cuck synonymous with dumbass.

I'll admit it: I have an ego.  My ego likes to be right, so the insult is certainly not my go to response to someone challenging my opinion, pretty much ever.  I prefer being right.  I get nothing out of making other people feel small; I like to feel accurate.  However, I am also willing to ask questions. This is also attributable to my ego, because I prefer being accurate over making another person feel shitty. In fact, I pretty much prefer anything over making another person feel shitty.

So I say bring it on. Call me a cuck. It means a great deal more about you than it does me.  After you do that you can proceed to fail to provide factual, relevant, information, then finally recede into your  shroud of insecurity and desperation.  All these guys need is to feel like they have displayed some version of dominance over people with minimal effort.  This is yet another aspect in which we have squeezed out all meaning.  Using a word that doesn't mean what they think it means.  I could sincerely go on about this forever.  I simply can't accept that this is the best these people can do.  

















https://www.publicmedievalist.com/cuck/
https://www.gq.com/story/why-angry-white-men-love-calling-people-cucks

Monday, January 8, 2018

Pants Are Overrated!

I am so psyched for school to start again !! School breaks always start off as a much needed reprieve from waking up in the morning and diving right into battle, they quickly devolve  from there. Tomorrow my kids go back to school and there is a combination of dread over the early morning grind and excitement thinking of the quiet house I will have for writing, cleaning and things staying clean, not wearing pants... yes that is a perk to the kids not being home. 
So what will my day look like?

First off in the morning we will start off in a flurry of conflict.  
"Get dressed", "take your lunch", "again, you need to wear pants", "turn off the TV, you're still not wearing pants."  You get the point, my morning is going to be unpleasant and without food, or coffee.  I am going to glide through the driver drop off and hand them their coats and their back packs as the teacher leads them away from my car.  There is a moment of zen here, where I feel like I can take a deep breath and anticipate the upcoming day.

I will smoothly and quietly drive home, listening to a podcast that is not child appropriate, as opposed to the audiobook for Harry Potter. When I arrive home I will certainly abandon my pants because I can do that.  Then I will make eggs with spinach and sundried tomatoes and do some writing while I drink coffee.  This is going to be beautiful.  Then I am going to binge watch something on Netflix, while I fold laundry.  That, wait for it...will get all the way folded without a child to rolling on it.  Just writing that paragraph made feel so much excitement.  

Not only is this going to be a quiet productive day.  When I show up to get my kids I will be happy to see them.  I will be eager to hear what they did and what they have been thinking about.  My 6 year old gives the best and most genuine hugs and my 9 year old usually starts off with ridiculous stories. Oddly I am finding the more distance I get from my kids the closer we get.  I was reading a study that says we actually spend more time with our children than any other time in history.  Personally this makes sense when I think of the experiences I had being raised by a single mother who worked full time, overtime, and sometimes a second job. I missed out on those relationships, I want to be around my kids, BUT, forgive me for saying this....kids are not all that likeable for prolonged periods of time.

I will miss their chatter at some points during the day. However I will miss them and realize that I am drinking coffee, and not wearing pants.  My house will stay clean for a whole day!  I AM SOOO EXCITED!!!! I hope everyone finds a way to get a day like this on occasion.