Monday, April 15, 2013

Death and Taxes

It was that kind of day:

1.  The funeral.  We attended the funeral of a friend - Madison was fortunately at school for this.  It was a good service, for a good person who died way too soon.  No one offered any answers or explanations, which is good because there aren't any.  Only God knows.  They played the song "With Hope" by Steven Curtis Chapman, which speaks so much more than many a spoken message.  But a few of those who spoke today captured the essence of a friend gone - in our hearts - too soon.

2.  The bombs.  Calling them animals is an insult to animals, so we'll stick with "terrorists."  Animals are obedient to God's commands, whereas it seems that many of us do not.  Today there was a coordinated effort to kill people in Boston, setting off bombs at strategic points along a marathon route. It sounds like a plan of an evil villain in a movie, doesn't it?  Yet this was reality, and a lot of people are hurting today.  Some are in eternity.

3.  The poison.  We got a call that Josh's mother was poisoned.  No details at the moment as to the specifics, and after several tense hours at the hospital, it seems as if everything will be okay.  At least one happy resolution there.

4.  The taxes.  We sent those in today after a huge adventure in town.  Lots and lots of traffic in Cumming.  The town is just not designed for cars to go through.  Specifically, making a left turn off of the Tribble Gap Road is a terrible idea.  In fact, traveling down Tribble Gap Road is a bad idea, because so many people want to make a left hand turn from it.  And, because it's a one lane road with no green arrow to give those poor left-turning souls an opportunity to actually turn, you can imagine the back-up is pretty big.  You'd think our taxes (the thing I started talking about with point four here) would help pay for a better system.  Especially as our taxes have gone up.

Madison didn't see much of any of the above today, as she was at school largely.  She had a great day, of course.  Every day is great for her - she loves kindergarten.  She's had a few injuries at school lately, today included.  Her arm got pinched on the swing last week, and today she bumped heads with another classmate.  The nurse fills out a very specific piece of paper to document as much as possible, which is great to see.

Not so great to see were the school photos.  Of course, Madison had just come back to school at the time, having been out sick for the past few days.  Her eyes were still a bit puffy, and they had her positioned oddly, in a way that she doesn't usually stand.  Additionally, she's not really smiling at all.  With the puffy eyes, it actually looks like she's about to cry!

FORTUNATELY, it wasn't the type of day where you had to begin every topic with a word or phrase that conjures up negativity!  Example:  we don't have to buy any of those photos.  Also, we already got our school pictures from the beginning of the year.  The class photos turned out great, so we're okay there.  We just don't need to spend another $50 (or more) on photos that didn't really turn out that great.  It's not Madison's fault, of course.  She was probably still a bit under the weather, and they had her positioned oddly.  It was quite an unusual photo we saw this afternoon.

One great thing we did this afternoon was return to the chiropractor.  Madison had a great time inside, as usual.  We all had our adjustments, and were pretty much on our way back home right afterwards.  Earlier in the afternoon, Mommy and Daddy had a "date," where we went to Red Lobster to eat.  Mommy wanted shrimp, and Daddy got fish and chips - so we were pretty full later on in the afternoon.  The reason for pointing this out is that we seem to always go to Cracker Barrel after the visit to the chiropractor.  They're pretty close, and therefore the idea of comfort food is pretty tempting.  But not today:  we went straight home.

It was there that Madison did a LOT of practice on her piano.  It was a big, big practice session, where Madison was doing a bit of catching up, and practicing for her upcoming recital.  She did well, for the most part.  There's one part that even Daddy was somewhat confused about, but we'll straighten that out in class tomorrow.  Daddy goes to class still, where Madison, Mommy and he learn together.

Practice was so huge that we had the reward of a ice pop.  Or a freezer pop.  Whatever you want to call 'em, they're a perfect snack!  We also played some games - but it was pretty late when we were done, by the time you add up time spent going to Cumming and time spent behind the piano.

So off to bed, where Madison was a little sensitive.  She's been on this, "I'll miss you" thing lately, where she starts crying about the idea of being away from Mommy and Daddy for a time.  Of course, this is all because she's probably pretty tired.  But the sentiment is so sweet.  We were cracking her up with the fake doctor's kit, giving her shots - and she would get us back by giving us shots as well.  Dr. Madison was a mad doctor last night, using the toy syringe to give us shots on our necks, heads, arms, legs, feet, toes, etc.  Lots of giggles, last night.  So, in a way you could call her Dr. Giggles.

But we probably won't.

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