Perspective and Sleep

By the time we arrived at my parents yesterday afternoon, I was shot. We visited, had some supper and then Rand toured the campus (we are hoping he can come down here to work when he gradutes). By 7 p.m. I was wondering if I could stay awake long enough to go to bed. My parents were tired as well and so my mom headed to bed and the boys and grandpa watched a little TV. I started to read a novel I had brought with me, but by 7:30 I was ASLEEP. I slept twelve hours and it felt great.

I woke up ready to conquer the day. Showered, had some yogurt, and then finished up my parent's taxes. I drove into town to use their computers, but the library didn't open until 10 and I was there at 9. I opted, instead, to use the comptuer in the mail room at Sun Valley Indian School where my parentes work.

Realized that I am VERY spoiled. My super fast G-5 and my cable wireless internet are things that I take for granted. I am now sitting in front of an old Optiquest Q51 using Windows and Internet Explorer and a VERY slow internet connection. It literally takes a minute between clicks or more for a page to load.

So, I'm feeling much better than I have for a while. I am well rested, I am grateful for the little things in life, and I received a call this morning from Bart that court went fine. It had been scheduled for yesterday, but cancelled because of snow. At any rate, they are calling Mike "abandoned", but the language they use doesn't bother us any more. This time through we are not having to have an attorney and are representing ourselves. They aren't pointing fingers -- Mike's history over the last 2 years shows that it isn't our fault as he has already proven that he can't hold it together regardless of where he is.

So, even though we have an open CHIPS case, we are much more relaxed since the last time we went through this. Our contact with Mike will be limited by us, since we don't want it to affect the rest of the children. We know we are doing the right thing, and it is sad and very hard, but we are at least not feeling that there are those blaming us.

I think I've found a better online connection for the next time I'm online. One of the younger guys on staff has wireless installed in the dorm where he is a dorm parent and offered to let me go over there.

But first, back to my parent's house to get the vegging boy/men who are watching TV and showering... and we'll have lunch with my mom. Then it's time to finish our taxes.

The pace of life is certainly slower than I'm used to -- about as slow as the internet.