Nobody knows you when you're down and out

Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out
Jimmy Cox


It's amazing how we operate in our own little social bubbles.  Only seeing those who seem to fit into our world - everyone else in the outlying fog - not in our view.   We walk down the street and somehow don't see the panhandlers or those living on the edge - outside our edge.    We quickly forget that those individuals have stories, families and lives of their own.

I was in my own little bubble the other day taking the garbage out to the lane    I saw a man on bicycle collecting bottles from another house and called out to let him know that I'd have a few collectibles for him to pick up.    We met up in the alley a few minutes later and he began in sort through my recycling.  Then he broke the bubble ' Hey, you are the family that lived here a long time ago'.   I acknowledged that we had been living in the same house for years, fully prepared just to move back into my yard and seal up that bubble.   But I looked him in the eye and there he was our former neighbour, now no long living in the neighbourhood and more likely closer to the street level.    My kids played with his, they slept over regularly and spent hours in our yard.   It was clear that his kids weren't living with him any longer but he proudly told me of their school successes and their lives - beaming while he did.

His life has taken him on another path, one that takes him outside my bubble world.   He's obviously seen some hard times but he's still the same neighbour - a good conversationalist and a very proud father.   And, even though I had to ask him to remind me - his name is Gary and he has reminded me that my bubble world is too small and perhaps needs to break.

School's out forever

School's Out
Alice Cooper

In the next few weeks I will be graduating from high school....for the fourth time.    My last child will be leaving the high school system and moving on to the next stage.  It brings me to the end of, I hate to say it, an era.  Three kids, multiple high schools, junior high and elementary school, pre-school, tutors, school trips, plays, concerts, PAC meetings, ceremonies, school BBQ's, fees, lost library books, photos, sports days, PD days.

No more onslaught of forms and more forms in September.   No more reminders from teachers about lost or late assignments.   No more fund raising requests.  When I answer the phone at 6pm I will no longer hear "This is such and such secondary calling, please hold.  A child named....was absent from in the following blocks .....".  

While I am very much looking forward to the change, I will miss being connected to the school community, the feeling that I was still part of my childrens' lives, that I still had some control of where there were and what they were learning; some influence over their day.  I was able to speak directly with the teachers about their work.   All that is over.   They are all now in the position where the control is handed over to them.  Any information that I might feel I need or want would have to filter through them only at their permission.

Happy, sad, nostalgic, feeling triumphant.     I am so very proud of my kids.   They showed up.  They did me proud.   We made it.  We all made it despite all the shit thrown at us over the years.   Way to go kids!   Let's celebrate!  We've earned it!