A Bit of a Sobering Day

Last Wednesday, we saw on the news that 4 teens were involved in a very serious accident in which one was killed. He was 15, and his 16-year-old brother was driving. The one boy that wasn't ejected was the only one wearing a seat belt.

The next day, I found out that they are the sons of one of my co-workers.

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/video/?bcpid=1155316042&bclid=1155212903&bctid=1509297819

The video is labelled Fatal Crash in Gilbert.

Today I attended the memorial with several people from work. Very sad.

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There is another video on that page labeled Mesa Standoff. THis happened just down the street from us. It mentions Leisure World. This is a retirement community where my dad lives.

That day, they locked down the Bear's school. Somehow the kids learned that a bad guy with a gun was loose in the area. So naturally the Bear had a thrilling tale. According to him, the man with the gun shot him right in the back. He took the bullet out of his back and threw it at the bad guy. :) Later he came back to DramaMama and said he wasn't telling the truth... Oh REALLY?

Them Stuffs Wots Important

Over the past couple days, I have had the opportunity to spend some good quality time with the Bear.

Our usual pastime is a several-hour jaunt through pixel-land on the computer. The past two nights, however, the Bear and I have sought other modes of entertainment and have quite enjoyed ourselves.

We have played a game where we both have a handheld net about the size of a ping-pong paddle, and we toss a foam ball to each other, trying to catch it in the net. We are both laughing most of the time, because of the other one looking silly trying to catch the ball.

That starts out mildly enough, but after awhile the Bear gets a little wild with his throws, and the foam ball visits all sorts of nooks and crannies in our home. One time, the ball ended up in a tough spot for him to get to, but he happened upon a golf ball, and was about to hurl that at me. I stopped him before it launched.

We have also been working on his "homework" together, which consists of him learning to write numbers, letters, and his name. He is doing great, but his attention span is quite short, so sometimes homework takes awhile.

I have noticed that from this time I have spent with him these last two days, that my love for the little guy has grown tremendously. He is such a good kid, and has a great big heart. I sometimes call him over, and have to give him a big ol' daddy bear hug.

It is so easy for me to get tunnel-vision in regards to working on my business, writing, etc. and I often overlook more important things like this.

My office is next to his room, but for the last several weeks, he has been sleeping on the bed behind me, which is for his brother to use when he comes to visit. He falls asleep while I am on the computer, and I love to sit and watch him sleep. He brings a smile to my face even then. Although his personal challenges frequently become ours as well, these shining moments of happiness and love far outweigh the other stuff.

Come again?

We have all seen signs that made us do a double-take like "slow children at play." How rude! :)

I was driving past an elementary school a few days ago, and saw one that made me laugh.

It was on the big sign out front with the changeable letters. It read:

Bonfire for students
Friday 9:00 to 12:00
Bring 10