Hindsight - "life isn't fair"

The other day after a particularly frustrating argument with my teenage son, I asked my mother where I went wrong. How had I raised such ungrateful and spoiled children? Don’t get me wrong; for the most part my kids are kind, loving and generous to a fault (except of course towards each other). But there are times when I wonder where the entitlement came from. Where did they get the idea that life was supposed to be fair? I’m certain I never said anything resembling those words, given that my upbringing was filled with the “life isn’t fair” speech that I’m sure has been handed down through the generations since caveman times. You know, the same one from “Father knows best”.

So my mother, in that smug way that only mothers can pull off, looks at me and says “remember all those things you didn’t have growing up? You gave them to your kids”. I know smug right? But she was right, of course when is she not? The thing is, I did want to give my kids what I didn’t have, but not all of it was material. Of course I did give them more material things, but I like to think that I also gave them more of me. How can that be bad? But that too could be part of the problem. By giving them more of me, I didn’t give them as much of an opportunity to be independent. So are we doomed to either repeat our parent’s mistakes or swing so widely that we make the 180 degree mistake instead? I think it’s interesting that as my actual vision gets worse with age, my hindsight is improving exponentially.

The Heat!

These dog days of summer are more aptly named the St Bernards of the sauna season. Whenever I exit an air-conditioned building, I feel like I've stepped out of a refrigerator and climbed into an oven. Just the other day, as I dragged myself out of the frigid (but oh so comfortable) Giant and was smacked in the face with a wall of baking air, I suddenly heard a voice in my head scream, "The heat! My God, the heat!" I almost started laughing in the parking lot as I recognized this plaintive cry; in the Seinfeld episode called "The Burning," Elaine yells to boyfriend Puddy, "I'm going to h-ll! The worst place in the world. With devils and those caves and the ragged clothing. And the heat! My God, the heat!"

Now of course Olney is nowhere near the worse place on earth! The "devils" are harmless but mischievous little tykes, the local "caves" (Crystal Grottoes Caverns in Boonsboro, MD and Lurray Caverns in Virginia) offer oases for cooling off, and "ragged clothing" in the form of t-shirts, tank tops, shorts, and bathing suits rule! However, I can't escape the St Bernards of summer any more than I can stop hearing Elaine's voice -- "The heat! My God, the heat!"

Has technology created a parenting tool?

It’s a funny thing, how new technology has changed the world, sometimes for good and sometimes not so much. Much has been written lamenting the invention of the blackberry; our children are jealous of the attention we pay to email instead of their soccer games. The internet has proven to be a highly powerful research tool.

I never, however, expected it to be a parenting tool. But here it is the end of the school year 2010 and my daughter’s facebook status says “I got sent to the principal’s office on the last day of school”. Now, you have to understand that my daughter knows that in order to stay on facebook she has to be “friends” with me and that I can read anything she writes. She is also “friends” with both of my parents, several of my friends and a few aunts & uncles. So how dumb do you have to be to put this on your status? I mean, really? It’s like taking out a full page ad in the Washington Post! At least that’s what I would have had to do when I was twelve to get that much attention paid to anything. But, forget the fact that I didn’t have access to facebook when I was a kid, I’m pretty sure I was not only smart enough not to advertise my misadventures, I worked really hard at keeping them to myself. Seriously, even my diary was kept locked in a secret location. My brother and I had a pact about these kinds of secrets. So what does it say about me that my daughter feels free to post this on her facebook status? I’m not sure – that may require some additional examination. Stay tuned…

What it's like to work at home

I used to be a commuter. Facing that Norbeck Road traffic every week, Monday-Friday. Working a flex schedule helped some but not all. I often sat in a long line of bumper to bumper cars thinking, "What can possibly be taking so long?" and "What is wrong with that light at Bauer drive??" Now I "work" from home. No commuting. There are lots of good aspects to this but some surprising fall out. First, is it okay to begin working while you're still in your pajamas? Are you required to shower before you begin work? Other fall outs include: staying away from the kitchen and the TV and/or remembering to get up out of my chair. There's also the loneliness factor. There are no co-workers to talk to. I've started conversing with our newly adopted dog. Even though she can't talk back, I think she understands me because she cocks her head in response.
I know some at home workers have come together at virtual water coolers. This includes weekly walking groups or lunch dates. Not sure if they're still operating.
It would be fun to hear how other at home workers make the most of their virtual office in Olney.
Yours truly,
Estelle Yetti

Blog Post #2

Tonight, the ever clever team of blog experts met to plan our awesome, funny, captivating, awe-inspiring blog about what it's like to live in the Greater Olney community. So stay tuned for our upcoming posts by a variety of bloggers. Woo-hoo