TheBanyanTree: Bling, Bling

[Margaret R. Kramer]

My younger grandson was born on a snowy day seven years ago.  We took care
of his older, naughty brother (age 1.5 years at the time) for a couple of
days.  Ashlin’s older brother was most precocious baby I’ve ever been
around, while Ashlin was the total opposite; peaceful and serene.

And he’s come out of his older brother’s shadow, too.  His lips are
constantly moving.  He laughs and tells jokes.  He’s loyal to a fault and
will take on anyone who attacks his family.  He’s like me, his anger appears
out of nowhere and then dissipates quickly into nothingness.

He loves sports, although he doesn’t have the athletic grace of his brother.
Ashlin loves pro wrestling, music, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  He’s
finding his way on the computer.

And it turns out he’s a little math whiz and has been tested as gifted and
talented.  Now he’s “smart” just like his brother.

He wants a gold chain for his birthday.  “Bling, bling,” he said.

If I didn’t have grandsons, I wouldn’t know about Pros vs. Joes, Drake and
Josh, Zack and Cody and the Suite Life, pro wrestlers, Hannah Montana, and
all the other stuff that fascinates kids.  My world is pretty narrow, so my
grandsons keep my horizons expanding, and I don’t shut down like an old
hermit.

Well, it’s not snowy today.  In fact, it’s finally warming up.  We’re in the
bowels of January and even though I like winter, I’m getting tired of it.  A
lot of that frustration has to do with money.  Our heating costs are
soaring.  I notice food is much more expensive than it was a few months ago.
It seems like no matter how much I try to economize, something happens to
suck the money out of our bank account.

For example, a couple of days ago, Ray was innocently waiting at a stoplight
when a car ran through the red light, bounced off one car, then another car
bounced off another car, and so on.  Finally a car bounced off of Ray while
he was still innocently waiting for the light to turn green and smushed his
driver’s side rear door, shattered the window, and the car wouldn’t start.
Ray was OK.  It was a gentle game of bumper cars, thank goodness.

It was only two blocks from our home, so a police officer gave Ray a ride.
The tow cost $107 to tow the darn car two blocks!  A coworker told me that a
car shuts the electricity off to the fuel system when there’s an impact.
There’s a reset button in the trunk and that will get the car going again.

Ray tried it and the car started.  The bent body drags a bit on the wheel,
but Ray will pull it out later this weekend.  It’s a beater car and since we
don’t have collision coverage anymore, our insurance won’t cover any damage,
but the red light runner’s insurance will pick up our costs.  Eventually.

Can you hear that sucking sound?  That’s our hard earned dollars coming out
of the bank.

Susan and I won’t be running in the Frozen 5K for the St. Paul Winter
Carnival this morning like we usually do.  It would cost us $20 each.  Isn’t
that sad?  It’s sad that spending $20 is such a big deal now.  But we are
going to run – we’re going to run for free later this morning.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net
margaret.kramer at polarispublications.com

I think in terms of the day's resolutions, not the year's.
~Henry Moore
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.11/1244 - Release Date: 01/25/2008
7:44 PM