Here I am, all hanging loose and shit, and I wrenched my knee!
I heard it go pop pop pop!
And that shit cannot be good.
It didn’t swell or bruise but it hurts like hell to bend. I found an ace bandage and some ice so in between hobbling 100’s of miles, I have been icing it and trying to keep it elevated.
Otherwise, we are loose in between kid wars.
Clearly, they are sick to death of each other and mediation is difficult.
I have told them we are going to play my favorite game of
duck
duck
brick
If they don’t lay off, but since I am hobbling I don’t pack the fear I once did.
I have used the opportunity with the kids to teach them how to be mindful of other people. It is SHOCKING to me how oblivious to the world and the other people in it that many, many people are. There are many things I can tolerate in my children, but that level of stupid is not one of them.
FOR INSTANCE: While changing planes in Atlanta (we did fine but that is where the wrenching occurred) there was a large, vacant looking child (looked to be about 12 – 13) blocking the boarding line. She was just standing, looking at the monitors and had about 75 people waiting behind her. I’m thinking that she is going to board or may be an unaccompanied minor, but no. Finally, she saw something else shiny and took off to find her mom, who was standing about 25 feet from there vacantly staring off.
oblivious to the world and other people in it.
I lectured to the kids all down the loading ramp how horrible it is to be that way. The world is full of people and we should all do our best to be aware of them and their needs as well as our own. (ahem, politicians.) Then, we get on the plane, which is full, arms and legs everywhere, no air, hot as hell, get in our seats and our bags put away and a woman gets in beside me and pulls out her lunch. She has brought a salad with a big blob of tuna salad on it to eat on a plane with 200 people on it and no air. What the proverbial fuck was she thinking? If you must bring food on, please bring the non smelly variety and wait until the plane is in the air with the air on.
oblivious to the world and other people in it.
At this point I was trying not to panic about my knee and I was still trying to hang loose and shit and I swear I was nauseated from her lunch. You see just how many people are oblivious to other people while traveling. They are the ones that stop in the middle of the walkway to chat or ask a question with people running to catch a plane trying to get around them. They are the adults who stand at the window of the octopus tank for 15 minutes while there are 100 people crammed behind them with kids crying to see.
See? I’m hanging loose!!
PollyAnna says
Yikes! Here’s hoping a little ice (and a room service martini?) take the sting out of that knee…
You’re looking at an octopus? Hmmm, I wonder if you’re in Seattle. (Yes, I’m blowing my cover a bit…) If you are, and you want to say hello, I work downtown walking distance from things like the aquarium and my email is on my blog. 🙂 I think you’re at the end of your vacation but wouldn’t it be funny to pass one another in the street and not even know it?!
I hope the rest of your vacation goes smoothly. And that people are a little less oblivious for the rest of it! (Good Momma that you’re on top of your kids – one day they’ll appreciate that you taught them that way…)