Archive for February, 2010
Helping Others
For those who don’t know Ben does a form of martial arts called Aikido and at the moment he is very busy training twice a day as the Aikido club he belongs to has visitors from Japan over teaching them lots of new cool ways to kill someone with their pinky finger (at least that is my understanding of it).
Needless to say Ben has been quite exhausted and sore the past few days. This morning Ben toddled off to training at 5am. When I woke at 7am I found a ripped open packet of pain killers on the counter amongst a whole pile of dirty dishes from the past few days. I took the hint that he was sore and tired again so grabbed the dishes and put them in the dishwasher, picked his dirty clothes up off the floor and put them in the dirty clothes basket and fed the cats so he wouldn’t have to worry when he got home.
It was very quick and easy for me to do these things but it helped me to turn what was starting to look like a bad day into a good day. I feel good when I can help out others especially when it is someone who will appreciate it, like Ben. I think also I secretly want to be a housewife cause this sort of stuff always cheers me up, silly but true.
Just a funny story.
I teach a year eleven English class of low ability students, mostly boys. Not only low ability but low motivation too. I had given the boys a worksheet to complete for an assessment something which they furiously worked on and were somewhat proud of. I was surprised that they were actually interested in this so when a student asked for me to read his work and check if it was okay I was happy to oblige.
It was good and I told him exactly that “It’s good.” to which he replied “Good? Just good or is it sex on a page good?” without missing a beat one of the boys at the back of the room piped up with “Well really it depends who you are having sex with. I mean if it’s with your mum then that is one shit piece of work you are handing up.”
So there I was with two boys who have just said two very funny things and I’m not supposed to laugh at either of them. I tried so hard to tell them off for inappropriate language but my face gave it away. It was funny. It was incredibly witty too for boys like this.
So now I am proposing a new method of grading writing. What level would you give this?
For the record the boys work was “Sex on a page with his hot sister level.” Looks good until you go into the details then it gets sketchy.
Just goes to show that even in the most unlikely of places, you can have a laugh and be surprised.
Image by this is your brain on lithium (flickr)
This morning was so very, very funny. Possibly not at the time, but afterwards…(cue wobbly transition to The Past).
Emma has made arrangements to catch public transport to work. This is great! A 45 minute air-conditioned pre-work siesta with a book. Sounds delicious, no? So off she trots, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (v. nice tail, actually) and I return to my breakfast delights.
Five minutes later the front door reefs open and bangs close. My little grey fox is mumble grumbling something and I get the idea that something has gone wrong. The bus is right there! The bus stop is right out the front of our house, so I am a little surprised that she missed it (or was in the process of missing it).
The stupid bus broke down!
The stupid bus broke down and look where it broke down! Right outside the house, so I can’t even drive to work.
I offer to let her take my car to work (it’s parked out back) and that kind of works, but it’s not until she comes upstairs that I can see her face.
How can I compete when the world is throwing things like THAT at me? I mean, how do you even arrange for the a bus to break down in your driveway for exactly enough time for you to walk back up the drive, turn around to point out the broken bus AS.. IT… DRIVES AWAY!!
The bus had recovered and was pulling away as she was saying this to me. The look of total disbelief on her face was priceless.
I’m sorry, baby, I just had to share this one. You did a great job of recovering and getting to work, but it was SO funny at the time. Okay, It was funny to me.
Image by JonasPhoto (Flickr).
Ben and I had a conversation on the weekend about when we are going to try again to have a baby. What conclusion did we come to? That there is no right time for us.
One suggestion was that we wait a year. This would give us a chance to save some money, organise our houses a little better for having a baby, go on holiday and do the travelling we want to do before we start having babies (not that we are going to suddenly stop holidaying but it is a little difficult 
to do things like skiing with a belly the size of a pig). Waiting will also afford us, and especially me, the time to come to terms with the loss of the last baby and take some time to emotionally heal. I am still hitting those puddles of goo, not as often as before but they are still there.
Another suggestion was to start trying again after the wedding. A compromise of sorts between trying again immediately and waiting a year. One of the reasons we are getting married is because we wanted to raise children together and create a family. It means a lot more to me to be married before we start having babies. It also means I won’t have to worry about not fitting in the wedding dress, not being able to drink at the wedding or what I can and can’t eat. I will be able to relax and enjoy the day.
The last suggestion was to try again straight away. I guess I am only in favour of this option because it would help to ease my mind. I feel at times that I have failed. that losing the baby is somehow a reflection of my ability as a parent. By becoming pregnant again, as silly as this sounds, would make me feel like I am able to be a mother. I am impatient and this option means I don’t have to wait.
There is no right time to start trying again. We’ll figure it out soon enough and be ready to celebrate being pregnant all over again.
Image by whatmegsaid (flickr)
