Other People's Kids

Suspiciously Good Weekend

The old song says "Somethin's happenin' here; what it is ain't perfectly clear." That's how I felt all weekend long and all week so far.

I think I can speak for The Wife when I say that we were dreading this weekend. Oh, it was going to be a great weekend...but we weren't sure how "Angel" was going to handle the change in her routine. You may have noticed in previous postings that her history with us indicates this might be a bad time. NOTHING could be further from the truth.

Shortly after we got there, she became acquainted with what would be her room--and her timeout place. I didn't say she was perfect, I just implied she was really good.

The major blowup of the weekend was actually our fault. You see, when you go to the lake, you can't keep the kids out of the water. It isn't fair...that's what the water is basically for if you're a kid. And "Josie" is still a kid. So, more or less, is her friend that just turned 18 and came with us. "Angel" didn't think of swimming...until she saw "Josie" and her friend dive in. It follows that "Angel" will be going in the water or we won't be getting any peace the rest of the weekend.

Of course, she went in the water.

It turned out to be a family affair, with The Wife and myself joining in. A good time was had by all, passing "Angel" back and forth with a push. "Angel" surprised us by basically already knowing the basics of swimming. We're guessing somebody showed her a few things somewhere along the way, becasue she knew to put her hands down at her sides, put her face in the water and kick, so we just had to place ourselves a small distance from each other and push her back and forth, and she did the rest.

It was great. UNTIL...we decided we had had enough swimming and started to get out. "Angel" wasn't done yet, and of course she made sure we knew about it. All the way up on the dock, up the hill, into the cabin, into her room, and for quite some time after that.

Sheesh. She had been basically an angel until then, especially when daddy taught her a new game that involves him hiding behind a tree, and then her chasing him around the tree until he almost yarfed all over her.

"Josie" was mostly an angel, too, helping with "Angel", actually helping clean up to go home (a little...she is, after all, still "Josie"), and not complaining too much about how boring everything was. It was a good decision to bring her friend.

Who, by the way, got her first motorcycle ride this past weekend. I took her up the lake to a really pretty scenic overlook. She was a real trooper, leaning with the turns, not overbalancing, and generally acting like a seasoned pro. When we got back, her only comment was "my legs won't stop shaking." Not bad.

"Josie" was gone last night to the regular overnight with her mother (with counseling, I believe), but tonight I came home to her making supper and helping out. I asked her who she was and what had she done with my foster daughter. She said The Wife hadn't been feeling great, and so she got supper together for everyone.

Either we're making headway or being set up for a huge fall. Either way, it's a nice break, I gotta admit.

Sorry so little real good stuff after a rather long break...actually I'm not that sorry. Stuff has to be hard to live through before the telling of it gets interesting, and as I mentioned, I needed a break. I still do...an extra day off was nice, but I need at least a week after the winter of work projects I've had plus work on the house, the fostering stuff and life in general.

Final topic: tonight if there's time or tomorrow for sure, I'm going to start biking. I'm not getting any younger, and I always figured at some point in my life I'd make it a project to develop a physique I was proud of. This weekend at one point, The Wife made some sort of joking comment to "Josie's" friend to the effect of "don't mess with my husband", to which she replied something like "I don't like old guys."

Owie.

The summer I was 19, I dropped 55 pounds and looked okay, but I was sort of too skinny then, without any strength. I'm about 15 pounds lighter now than I was when I started that, and I don't want to drop more than 10 or 15 from where I am now...but I need to figure out a companion workout with the biking that will give me that Schwartzeneggar-esqe upper body.

[pause here while The Wife rolls her eyes, Mom snorts, and everyone else reading this who knows me gets up off the floor after laughing hard enough to wreck their spleens]

Anyway, if I'm gonna do it, it better be soon. I don't believe the guy in the commercial who says he's 44 and in better shape than when he was 24. One or the other, but not both buddy.

I'll keep you posted.

posted by Dan @ 7:17 PM