1) It’s the end of the Mayan calendar today, and Pieter Van Der Meer of the Netherlands will take refuge in this lifeboat, for the impending global apocalypse.
- Man From Netherlands And His Lifeboat
I wish this was a light-hearted post, but in the spirit of putting down every Friday what I’ve been reading during the week, this week it’s been either fine wine investments (part of which I get to post at some point later), or the aftermath of the Newtown shooting in the States. I cried, reading it. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one. I also found this:
2) “A few weeks ago, Michael pulled a knife and threatened to kill me and then himself after I asked him to return his overdue library books. His 7 and 9 year old siblings knew the safety plan – they ran to the car and locked the doors before I even asked them to……”
“…Still don’t know what’s wrong with him….. His IQ is off the charts…”
“… I hugged him close so he couldn’t escape from the car. ……. I’m still stronger than he is, but I won’t be for much longer….”
“I am Adam Lanza’s mother.” If you haven’t already seen this, written by the mum of a 13 year old who receives death threats from him, it’s a conversation about mental illness. It is terrifying.
3) This one’s a letter to parents of 10 and 11 year olds in a primary school in England – that over the Christmas holidays their children’s male teacher will return and carry on his duties as a woman. Like, wow. I respect the support. And the guts.
4) Here’s another gutsy one.
Russian daredevils nix the safety equipment. Boy, you better hope Mum doesn’t find out.
Ok this is going to be short because I can’t possibly put cute animals and funny Christmas ornaments and things in the same post. And Rockstar’s going to be home early because of the half-day holiday. And I have all the Christmas and birthday stuff to work on putting up.
Ps: In his speech at the Newtown high school, President Obama described how when you became a parent your heart ceases to live in you anymore. As the kids get older, you’d have to get used to the fact they’re gonna be away from you more and more. They’re gonna want to drive. Watch Batman at midnight. Go camping where there might be actual bears. Get married.
And then you’re going to have to depend on a lot of people you’d rather not, to be nice to your children because you don’t live in a bubble. And so if the warm and fuzzy from being a good person isn’t enough of a motivation, fear of “karma” might be. You want to be nice to everyone’s child because you hope just maybe they’ll be nice to yours.
But mostly you thank God for the child standing in your doorway still with his rollerblades on. (And the other one who decided gabble-fest was more fun than sleep last night, and who has now added Spoon especially at Feeding Time to where Car has a place of honor on her hate list.)
The Rockstars sharing some of Rockstar's birthday loot yesterday
Have a nice weekend! So nice to see brother and sister sharing the gifts. The photo brightened up an otherwise very serious Friday post.
Yes I cried a little and hug my baby tighter when I heard the news. So sad. Read the piece of article as well and its thought provoking.
Blessed Rockstars. See an amount of books in there too 🙂 good that he likes to read so much. Am hoping and praying that T will too like to read like his mum but they seem to be developing their own characters day by day.