A Dad, A Mom, and Three Little Heathens

At this season of cheer and giving, our collective hearts come together to find the general good in humankind. Well, that is the way that I wish it was. The more experienced I become, I begin to see the world with clearer vision. People can be really terrible to each other when it is easily within their power to be gentle and generous, considerate and compassionate. I took the opportunity to sub for one of my coworkers today. Before any of you think that this was no great sacrifice of my time, let me assure you that giving up a prep hour as a teacher, well, one would rather taint one's honour, or face the perdition of one's soul (or at the very least give up a mess of pottage). But I covered for this teacher. (He's a good guy and this post isn't about him at all, I just happened to witness the event that caused me to think these things will covering his class.) While watching this class, I found myself in a room full of freshmen. 14-15 year-olds are an interesting a

We've told them many times. 4 times exactly. My children and the Brothers for some reason like to play in the Leafy Spurge that grows in the gully behind their grandparent's house. Because the toxic weed excretes a milky and sticky fluid, they wipe the sap on their faces and arms as war paint. 12 hours later they pay the price for their wild foray into the traditional past. Hives, blisters, and red puffy marks follow the same designs as the war paint like some symmetric allergy. The first time it happened, we could not figure out what it was. Five of them, all covered in their tribal welts. On the day before Thanksgiving, We invite the neighborhood over to my in-law's house to celebrate an early feast before the next day's main event. We call it pie night. The theory is that we never have enough room to eat as much pie as we want with turkey, stuffing, potatoes, gravy, cranberries, salad, and whatever you stuff your face with on Thanksgiving, so we eat our pie on th