Kaili is 14 today

So it's kind of hitting me like a ton of bricks.  My "baby" is 14.  And 6'2".  And 230 pounds.  What the hell??

It's been a road with him.  He's had his ups and downs, and things are largely headed up now.  He loves basketball, and when his head is in the game he's really good at it.  He's got a nice group of friends who I like and have met.  He is a really good kid - generally nice, doesn't want to hurt other people or their feelings, and truly is the best big brother ever.  His grades and his chores aside, he's growing into a really nice young man.  And he'll go to high school in the fall! 

It's hard to stop thinking of Kaili as "my little boy."  He's not my little kid.  And that whole letting go and releasing him to grow on his own is harder than I had anticipating.

It's kind of kicking my ass - but it's my growth opportunity for this year I guess.  Hau'oli la hanau e Kaili. 

File under "WTF"

I love listening to NPR - you guys know this.  But the other day I heard a story that truly made me say "WTF" and talk to the radio.  In the car. By myself.  The Alau Family insanity persists.  That aside, here's the deal:

Apparently, the Slovakians decided they were going to test their explosive detection systems by placing small amounts of C4 in the bags of passengers without the passenger's knowledge.  The theory here was the bomb sniffing dogs would FIND the C4, the explosive would be removed, and no one would be the wiser. Ahhhhh - the best laid plans of Slovakian mice and men.

2 packets of C4 were placed in the bag of a passenger, again, without his knowledge, and the dogs started doing their job.  The dog found one of the packets, but not the second.  Before the human associated with the dog could remove the second package of C4 from the bag, he and his dog were called of to something else, and the C4 was left in this poor schmoe's bag!! 


Sometime later, the security guard does a forehead slap, and calls the pilot of the plane associated with this bag, letting him know that there is C4 on his plane.  The pilot says "well, it's not hooked up to anything that will make it explode and is therefore harmless, so we'll just go ahead to our destination."  Where was that destination, you might ask?  IRELAND!  GREAT frickin place to bring C4 to.


Okay, plane takes of, and Slovakian security sends a TELEX to the Dublin airport's baggage division.  Insert double take and "WTF" here.  A telex?  Really???  And somehow, the Telex wasn't received in Ireland.  So like 3 days later, when Slovakia informs Ireland what happened, the Irish, who never over react, find the poor schmoe with the C4, surround his apartment with the police and SWAT team, ARREST HIM, and then detain him for several hours until the Slovakian government straightens the whole convoluted mess out.


DAMN.


I am actually out of "WTF"s in my vocabulary for this situation.

Safety first?

Scrapbook for Gram - we printed this and sent it to her for Christmas

Happy New Year

Good morning. I caught the tail end of a piece on Morning Edition on my drive in today, and it inspired me to write a brief blog. It was a commentary on the ending of 2009 by an author named Ben Mattlin. He has a pretty intense story, which can be found along with the commentary here http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122066678 but suffice to say the one thing that stood out for me was his last few lines at the end of it.

"2009 wasn't anything special. The usual assortment of good and bad. But it was blessedly drama-free. And that was enough to make it a good year.

Sure, I hope for better in the new year.

But even if I don't get that, I'll still say I'm lucky. Because sometimes, just normal is good enough."

Normal. A normal year. What would a normal 2010 look like for me? Husband being home is not, sadly, normal. Challenges with the kids is normal. Craziness with work is normal. Family gatherings and general mayhem is normal. Struggles with money is normal. Change, change, change.... normal, normal, normal.

So perhaps I would wish for a relatively drama-free 2010. Fewer trips to the emergency room. Fewer "oh crap why did I say that" moments. More quiet time.

Drama free. What a concept. I like it.