Made it!

I called Jenn and Eric this morning and Liam was willing to be bribed to go to church with me. He fell in the parking lot on the way in, and that did not bode well for a kid that was really reluctant to go to church for whatever reason. Phew. I picked him up and carried him and we cuddled. I can't believe I carried him. He has to be 35 - 40 lbs by now. He very much enjoyed the procession into the church, and getting palm which he thought was a great imitation of a sword, and it took a lot of self control on his part not to turn into an instant pirate at any moment. It didn't help that a couple ADULTS in line in front of us were demonstrating the exact behavior that I was discouraging him from engaging in -- but he was good. We went to children's church....he won't go unless I go too. So he danced and ran around and participated as much as he could and I made sure he didn't stab any other children with his "sword." He got a couple cookies to help make church a little more attractive, and then we went into the sanctuary for communion. I was SO impressed that he remembered how to hold his hands to get the communion wafer and was willing to cross his chest with his arms to signify he wouldn't receive wine! The best part of today was that (a) I got me and the boy there, and (b) at the end of the service where the priest has a call and response from the congregation -- when the congregation said "Amen." Liam took it to be an inner call of his own to affirm the blessing and he said very loudly just before the next response, "AMEN!" The whole congregation giggled a little, and I'm sure the priest "appreciated" the extra help. He is the youngest of the kids in Children's Church so I should be thankful he is as cooperative as he is. He likes to dance to the music. :)

I already had my bumper guards on (fake boobies) and so after resting for a while after church, I did Betty's grocery shopping. By this point the list was long. I zoomed around Ingles getting everything on the list and a little more. I helped her put it all away (the first time I could do this in a long time). When I was on chemo, and could just manage to get the groceries and drop them off, she'd get very agitated with me because I didn't put the groceries away. So today, I was "good" because I stayed a while and put the groceries away, and I got her candy bars, and her trashy magazines (Enquirer, Star, etc.) . She's never been told I had surgery and with my foam boobies on, she didn't notice anything odd. I am not sure if that is a testimony to my foam boobies, or to the effect of Alzheimer's, but she didn't notice anything. Good. I'm not going there with her.

OK, with regard to the polls. I don't know if you folks get to see the results of the polls or if just I do, but it's clear that most people think it's better to be a woman (9 to 2). It makes me curious. See, I think either one is hard to be. I purposefully made it a forced choice with no middle ground though to just see if there was a preference. I'm conflicted. I'm so glad I got to have the experience of having a child and being a mother. I think being a mother is really different than being a dad. But if I had to pick, I think men have more power and authority in them and get more out of the world than women -- they sure get paid better! I don't think it's about penis envy or any kind of Electra or Oedipus complexes or any of that Freudian stuff. I also think their plumbing is WAY more convenient, and doesn't get messed up by childbirth. I'm all in favor of being continent! Of course the down side is the shorter life span of the male. I don't think there is a better choice. Each sex has a different but equally difficult road to travel in the journey called life.

What are you curious about? What should I ask my readers next?