The "D" word

Okay, I'll try to get back to the blog yet again.

So life has hit hard lately, as you probably grasped from my Facebook, blog, and whatnot.  My marriage is joining the statistical majority by being a victim of the Big D.  Divorce.  The reasons behind it are unimportant, what's important is that my husband and I are getting along famously, my children seem to be adjusting, and life just may be getting back to normal now.

This means of course that I've joined the ranks of the working class also.  I started a new job last week, with a school district after school care program as an assistant teacher.  It's perfect for me really.  I was looking for part time days, no nights, no weekends or holidays, without much responsibility (management wise that is).  And I get summers off to boot.

Now my job is getting to it's normal hours, the kids will be back in school come Thursday, I'm close to being fully settled in my new digs, so I think I can get back to exercise, writing, and life in general.

Getting back to normal is starting edits of Never Eighteen, which I just got from my editor who I adore (and it's awesome, the edits are her handwritten notes in the margin of my original manuscript), and a cocktail party for all the women in my life.  We'll see what life throws at me after that.

Thanks for reading.  Catch you on the flip side.

Ciao,

Megan

Top Four Worst Things About Having Kids in Middle School #3 Exposure to Drugs

This isn't so much a problem with me, my kids are not using, nor do I think they ever would (yes, it's possible, but I know my kids).

BUT, I know many parents do have this problem. When my oldest daughter was in sixth grade, a fellow sixth grader was expelled for having marijuana in their locker. My daughter is constantly hearing about kids attending pot parties on Friday nights. The sad thing is, many of these kids who supply the pot, are getting it from their parents, and sharing it with your kids.

Last year, there was some kind of sting operation in which another student got expelled and seventeen others got in big trouble.

And of course, the kids doing the drugs are also the kids doing "other" things.

My children attend a good school too. It's not like they go to a school filled with trouble kids and drugs and alcohol. You're going to find these problems in EVERY school.

Hopefully, most kids know to "just say no".

Top four worst experiences in school: # 2 False Accusations and Strangulation

I think this took place in 4th grade, if I remember right. There was this weird boy, I'll go with the initials again, DD. He had a dirty mouth and was and egotistical bully. Well, one day, I'm walking down the halls at school with a friend, can't remember who now. We saw DD's leather jacket lying in the middle of the floor. Looking back, I'm sure it wasn't real leather, I'm sure it was fake leather. My friend suggested we toss the jacket in the girls bathroom. I would never have done this on my own, being a shy, timid girl who didn't like to get into trouble (stop laughing, it's true). However, the girl in my company was brazenly daring, so I went along with her. She picked up the jacket, shoved the bathroom door open, and threw it inside. Technically, I had no hand in this at all except for the fact that I happened to be there.

DD's jacket somehow ended up in one of the toilets (he apparently had many fans). Then came Toiletgate. A bunch of us were brought into the principal's office, there were about six of us. I have no idea how the others were involved outside me and the girl who threw it in the bathroom in the first place. We were asked a series of questions to determine our guilt or innocense. I must have passed, because I did not get in trouble for this, at least from the principal.

The day after, our class was in PE, and the teacher left the room for few minutes. DD starts yelling at me, saying how he knows I threw his jacket in the toilet. I told him I didn't, but that didn't satisfy. He grabbed me tightly by my hood (back then we all wore hoodies wth our last names on the back, of course, we didn't call them hoodies, we just called them sweatshirts), and shook me back and forth while screaming at me. My air flow was cut off by my sweatshirt. I couldn't breathe. Everyone just stood and watched, I'm assuming because, although he was a skinny kid, he towered about a foot above the rest of the 4th graders. Luckily, the PE teacher came back, putting an end to my premature death.

Not a good experience.

Thanks for reading.

Kisses :*

Megan

Top four worst experiences in school: # 3 MB

MB is a set of initials for the grossest, meanest, filthiest child in all of Skyline Elementary School. A freckle faced kid, with flaming red hair, this boy tortured me from kindergarten until he left the school, I think in 4th grade. And I was lucky enough to have him in my class just about every year.

He made me cry so hard in kindergarten that I passed out.

He knew things no elementary school child should know, and was determined to share his knowledge with me. (I shudder thinking back, and wonder what the hell went on in his house).

He spit on his desk and licked it up.

He invited me to a birthday party once, and I was distraught over it. I needed an excuse. Luckily, I remembered I had Bluebirds that day. I even squeezed into my too small Bluebirds dress to prove I had something else to do. Toward the end of the day, a message came over the loud speaker. "Bluebird troop (pick a number, I don't remember) has been cancelled for this afternoon."

He walked by me and said, "I guess you can come to my party now." I cried all the way home, and probably passed out because I do not recall attending his party.

A year after he left our school, he happened to be in the neighborhood playing with the neighbor boys, who were also friends with my brother. So, unfortunately, they ended up at our house in the backyard. My mom told me, "Why don't you go outside and play with them?" Yeah mom, great idea!

Although I didn't want to, I did anyway. First thing that kid says to me is, "God, you got ugly." Ran back in the house crying. Yep. I'm sure I have other fond memories of MB that I have repressed for obvious reasons.

I hated him. I'm sure he turned out to be a nice guy. On second thought, maybe not.