Have a reader?
Tell Me Thursday for:
When Kids Plan Mom’s Party
This one is surely self explanatory…
My two youngest called my mother and planned me a surprise birthday party this year. All I had to do was have the kitchen ready to be surprised. 
Anyway, how closely did you check out the cake my stepdad picked up for me? Yeah, I’m ___ years old and it’s my very first Barbie cake! Woo hoo!
Can you guess by the candles how old I am? 
Tell Me Thursday for:
Being Elegant is Hard Work
When I first posted my photo for Wordless Wednesday (oops… a little while ago) I was mostly wanting to show off the little cuties from my son’s kindergarten class dressed up for an “Elegant Tea Party”.
But then, while looking at the other photos and thinking about the entire “race debate” with Obama and Clinton in this election, one particular photo struck me:
You see, this photo of the children walking back to their classroom has several races, but there’s something even more interesting than that…
This school was once a segregated school for African Americans. It is now a Pre-K and Kindergarten with an African American principal, who by the way, is FANTASTIC.
I recently went on a field trip with the class to a ranch with exotic animals. All children were paired up with a partner to hold hands with. When I arrived, my son held one of my hands and his little partner held my other hand… not by force, but by the children’s choice.
The little boy didn’t care that my son is white. He didn’t care that I am white. My son didn’t care if his friend that held his Mommy’s hand was black. It was just really cool that Mommy came to hang out with them.
Are children color blind or are they taught racism? If it’s taught, then I’m impressed with my son’s class, their parents, teacher, principal and school. Would Dr. King be proud? I’m not an expert, but I think maybe so.
Happy birthday, Grandad.
I can’t believe you’ve been gone seven years. I miss your funny jokes, pranks and sense of humor. Your special charm never failed to bring a smile to people’s faces. The world could really use another dose of you to lighten up and get with the program.
I’m so sad that my two youngest will never know you except thru photos and that my oldest probably won’t remember enough about you. Though every grandfather is special, I know that I had the most unique and loveable grandfather a child could wish for. Boo and Uncle Keith dubbed the two youngest with their nicknames as you would have done, but I often wonder what you would have chosen for them.
Mom still struggles with you being gone, worse than others realize. She refuses to acknowledge her birthday anymore because not sharing a cake and family gathering without you every year is too painful.
I heard you and Dad talking the night you brought me home after a really low point in my life eight years ago. I’ll always remember what you said to Dad when you both thought I was sleeping. Thank you for always believing in me and supporting me. Thank you for being proud of me, no matter what I did or didn’t do.
Three days before you died, I called you from the hospital when Biscuit was born to tell you the news. You never knew it was me, as far as I know, because there were problems with the phone line and you never heard my voice. It was our last conversation and you said, “Hello, hello… hello?” and I hung up deciding I would call you when I got home from the hospital. How could I know that hello would be goodbye for us?
I took it really hard, being one of the few in the family that wasn’t able to say goodbye to you in person when you left us. Why didn’t phone work that night? Why didn’t I try to call back immediately? I wanted you, of all people, to know that Biscuit had arrived because of what you said to Dad that night. I never got to tell you. And I never had the chance to say goodbye.
Is there no goodbye for you and me? Did the phone problem happen for a reason? I’ll wonder for the rest of my life. Until I know for sure, I’ll be missing you and waiting to finish that conversation.
Love Always,
Toots
