And so begin the Teenage years!

We have a teenager under our roof as of this past Monday.  Things will never be the same.  Connor turned 13, and he is quick to remind us that he is now a teenager.  Puberty, however, began to creep in over the summer, so we were more or less prepared, I guess.

The now healing black eye on the new teenager is the result of he and his brother (who has a knot on his forehead) jumping on a neighborhood kid's trampoline with more than one kid on at a time.  Sam's foot smashed into Connor's head and Connor's whatever caught Sam in the forehead.  Both boys had been prohibited from jumping on said trampoline due to an earlier incident that resulted in injury.  Must have slipped their memories,.....

Our new teenager has been awfully grumpy as of late.  I'm not sure if this is due to the new state of being or just the usual ups and downs of kid who is often unstable.  Probably both.  Oh joy.

I have a feeling that this kid is going to be a bit harder to contain in the little bubble he's lived in all of his life due to being bipolar and Autistic.  He's never had much interest in venturing out into the world of peers or even, very often, the neighborhood.  Times they are a changing....

This year he joined his first after-school club and went to his first party since kindergarten.  These were milestones that we were thrilled about.  However, this is a child who we can't lose sight of in Wal-mart since he wanders off to follow whatever catches his attention at the moment.  The coming years will be fraught with new and, for his mom and me, uneasy concerns. 

But, for now, we are getting used to the newly evolved teen who is grumpy and sleeps most of the weekend.  In so many ways he's just a typical newly- minted teen.  Come to think of it, the teenage years are an emotional roller coaster ride that Connor is already familiar with.  He's been riding an emotional roller coaster most of his life.  This might just be old hat to him.

Yep, the birthday boy is growing up.  His voice is deeper and he's taller than his grandma.  It seems like only yesterday he was a little fella flying around the house in his Spider-Man costume.

It was a dark and spooky night...

We do Halloween as we do  most holidays around here.  We go all out with decorations to set the mood, to get into the spirit of the occasion.  It's been a haunted house for weeks with spooky decor.  The furkids are not fond of many of the sights and sounds of the season of the witch.  Mac has never liked hanging objects, things that sway and dangle.  Witch cackles and talking spiders that creep across the floor do not set well with any of the 3 furkids.  They were not happy pooches last night.  The only night they hate more is 4th of July.

The goblins that reside here were decked out for the candy crusade.  Connor became a Greek Warrior for the night while Sam started out as Harry Potter, changed his mind, and with Harry's magic, morphed into a business dude, complete with facial hair.  Trish escorted the candy crusaders.

I, as tradition dictates, kept the home pot brewing and handed out sweet treats to the procession of small vampires, fairies, superheros, witches, creatures and the assorted princesses, bees and lady bugs.  I did this while watching a disappointing 4th game of the World Series.  My Rangers got tricked, I'm afraid.

As I type, the vestiges of Halloween have disappeared into the attic or garage and the turkeys have been trotted out (thankful, as every year, that they are not live and endangered).  They will preen until thanks have been given and the flood of snowmen, angels and ornaments send them off to join the ghosts and Easter bunnies.  I have to admit that the season of snowmen, angels and Christmas trees are my favorite time of the year.  Listening to a stuffed turkey gobbling on the coffee table makes me smile knowing that magical season is just around the corner!

                                                     Hope you had a spooktacular night!

9/11/10

Today is a special day.  No, I'm not talking about the horrible disaster that befell our country 9 years ago on this date.  Today is my favorite and only sister's birthday!!!  It was her special day before the horror of that nightmare we now remember on this day.

I remember how excited I was when she was born.  I was 14, in Jr. high school on that day.  I threw my books in the air with excitement on the news that I had a baby sister (already had 2 little brothers).  I went to find my brother in study hall and totally embarrassed him with the news.  In those days and on into high school, said brother preferred not to associate with me.  When I drove him to school he always walked ahead of me so as not to be 'with' me.  Sister "Cootie factor", I assume! 

We lost our father when Kelly was 11, our mother when she was only 17.  We've always been extra close and I can't imagine my life without her- my sister, my friend.

So, Happy Birthday, dear sister!!  Today we celebrate your birthday!!!!!!

Mirror Mirror and BFF

It's a slow day.  We finally got a brief shower and that was a welcome relief.  I managed to capture some fun photos worthy of the "awwwwwwwwwwwwww" factor. 


Spanky ADORES Mac!  Chews on him and is in his face constantly!  However, from day one, Mac has been the member of the pack that has Spanky simply can't stay away from.  Mac lets him know when enough is enough.

Mr. Curious discovered himself in the mirror while I was in here on the computer.  It was too cute!

Hope the photos brightened your day!!

He Tells Me About the Tar Monster

Another new poem.  We shake our head at the tales that our Connor spins here and at school.  They are a combination of reality, Connor's reality, fantasy and facts he's read or heard. 



He tells me
about the
Tar Monster
who eats kids
whole.
One
was seventeen.
It ate an entire village.
I question
and he tells me he
Googled it
but it’s no longer there.
It scared people
so they took it away.


Columbus
and Presidents
people
his family
tree
so a teacher
informs us.
There are details
only he knows.
Nessie is real;
it’s a fact.
I learned of a bird
at our feeder
that is not found
in Texas. It’s
an Oklahoma bird
that must be lost.


He says
he sees
people we
can’t see,
and we
nod
knowing
this is not
part of his disorder.
When a therapist
questions
the details
spin
then melt
back
into the nebulous
web of his psyche.

This child
of my heart
spins
his reality
like cotton candy
on a warm day,
sticky details that
melt
with the telling,
yet,
he keeps spinning,
adamant
in the tale,
his mind
a web of
whirling fancy.
I can see him
building
thread
upon
thread
and I am mystified.


~~~~8/16/10

A Chance Encounter

And yet another new poem sparked by and old, new friend and the upcoming school year.

A chance encounter
stumbled upon among half-
forgotten names in a virtual
yearbook sent me spiraling
back into musty halls clogged
with the muffled echoes of teenage angst.

Snapshots appear then
disappear into a dormant scrapbook
where images blur and bleed into each other,
the Kaleidoscope collage from a long barren field.

Memories are like sandcastles
on shifting sand--
tiny grains of truth and half-
truths watered down with the waves
of eroded emotions.


Swells of first love
and small triumphs crash
against pangs of rejection
amid tugs of uncertainty. It’s
a roller coaster of
insecurity cloaked in brash spirit--
a wobbly ride over untested landscape.


I fumble my way
among the fossils,
like a blind woman
picking the bones of a distant land,
detached, yet not…
immune to lingering echoes.




~~~8/12/10

New Poems

The unbearable heat lately has forced me inside, for the most part.  That being said, the heat has been good for my creative juices.  I've written a few new poems that I thought I'd post.


"August"


This heat
assaults me
like the uninvited
embrace
of a stranger,
his stale breath
pressed
against my cheeks
as I blink back
the assault of an angry sun.

August
straddles
my limbs
and stifles
my soul.
Languid thoughts
drowse
on cushions
Of distant snow angels.

~~~~8/11/10


"Intrusion"


Small
shards
of
discontent
prick
my illusion
of
contentment
and
I
turn away
from
the
sting.

~~8/11/10


 
What if




we could go back
and rewrite
a story
or even a paragraph in time?


What if
we could insert
a word or
conversation
Into a completed chapter?


The days are blank pages
as we journey through them,
one word, sentence,
one scene at a time….

no editing allowed once the ink has dried.


~~~8/10/10

Back in time.....9th or 10th grade.