lawmummy

I slept eight hours last night. This is significant for a lot of reasons, notwithstanding that it probably equals my total for all of last week.

It was a bad, bad week.

I had thought that when it was all over, I would take a moment to reflect on it and would put all my thoughts down on the blog.

But I’m not sure that’s going to happen.

I am so relieved that it’s over - and I may just put it behind me and move on. We’ll see.

For now, I have a little bit of a stomach ache and some grey hairs to show for it. That’s enough.

I am finally at CHOP for Charlie’s (minor) surgery. They have assured me that I would be in and out… so I decided to forego coffee (!) in order to use one of the many computers provided for parents. I checked my blogs for comments and then headed over to tweet on twitter. I was surprised to find that CHOP has banned twitter on its computers for the damning reason: social media.

Gasp.

Cause you certainly wouldn’t want to have parents communicating with the outside world…

I don’t get it. Anyone?

You already know that I am not a fan of big banks. But my current bank (Citizens) is pretty decent as behemoths go… They took over my little neighborhood bank a few years ago and have managed to retain the small bank feel nonetheless.

So imagine my surprise when they acted like a big bank on yesterday.

I went to out to lunch on yesterday and decided to pay with my debit card. We went to a local restaurant where we go tons of times. The owner of the restaurant came out and said, “Um, Kelly, your card came back ‘Declined’.” I took the card back and gave her another card.

I knew there was plenty of money in the account so I called to verify the balance. The automated system said that my account number and PIN did not match. In full panic mode now (I have twice had accounts cleared out by thieves), I went to the office to verify the balance over the internet. There were more than sufficient funds to cover the charge.

I called the bank to find out what, if anything was going on. They couldn’t see anything wrong with the account and called the card services folks for me.

As it turns out, my information had been “compromised” - someone else had access to my card number and expiration date. They believe that a purchase had been attempted but was not successful. The card had been canceled and a new one overnighted to me.

Which is kind of nice in theory - that they were so proactive. But no notice? What if, instead of down the street, I had been out of town? That would have meant no access to my account via my debit card AND no way of picking up the new card (this has happened to me before when I was in Rome).

But that didn’t happen.

At the end of the day, no harm, no foul. But it does bother me that it happened. MasterCard needs to get on the stick about protecting its information better!

I don’t know when it happened but I have apparently developed the sense of a humor of a 12 year old boy.

This evening, I was reading Our Solar System to Charlie, a wonderful book by the folks at the Smithsonian. And I got to this part:

Uranus is a ringed planet made up mostly of gases… If Uranus were hollow, about fifty planet Earths could fit inside.

And then:

The rings are made of chunks of an unknown black material that spins around Uranus like lumps of coal on a merry-go-round.

And I laughed and laughed the whole time. I literally couldn’t read it.

Yes, I am that immature.

It has been a long, long week. I am ridiculously tired and cranky.

I’m just sayin’.

Do you have one of those “ick” things that you feel compelled to purchase time and again and wish that you didn’t each time that you do it?

That, for me, is domino magazine.

So pretty on the outside - always - and more often than not, full of crap on the inside.

I had a particularly sad conversation with a friend this morning. She has grown apart from her former best friend, as sometimes happens. But this time, it has more to do with someone else - her friend’s husband.

I feel her pain.

I do not get along with the spouse of one of my formerly closest friends. I feel that he has changed her in ways that I couldn’t have ever contemplated, and not for the better. My fun, spunky friend has become ever-clingy and dependent. She dare not venture out on her own or make decisions without first consulting with her spouse. And while I appreciate that they are now a partnership, it is as if she has completely lost her own identity. And that makes me sad.

I remember the first moment when I realized that it had happened. He asked her to move “for” him. And she did. Not because it was a new and exciting place (it isn’t), not because it was a good career move (it wasn’t), not because she wanted to - but because he wanted her to.

When she called for the first time from her new home, to tell me how lonely she was, I told her to move back. She couldn’t. She wouldn’t. She had, for better - or much worse - made her decision.

So as I listened to my friend today vent her frustrations about a relationship gone sour, I tried to be supportive and positive. But as she was speaking, I really did feel as though it might end exactly as she feared.

It is an odd concept, no? We will spend years getting to know our friends and yet, we will walk away from them in the space of a few weeks for the sake of a partner. I don’t know who is to blame in that situation - the friend, the partner or ourselves.

But it does happen. Has it happened to you?

Charlie’s appointment at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia went well. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, if you ever need an ear, nose and throat specialist, see Dr. Handler. He is wonderful.

The decision was not to take Charlie’s adenoids out now, due to his age and the fact that his symptoms are not as severe as Amy’s were (whew). At some point, the adenoids and tonsils will likely both come out - the tonsils are quite large - but as they are not affecting his day to day activities, they will stay in.

The doctor did suggest tubes. I balked. I am not a fan of the idea of tubes. But Dr. Handler talked me through in and showed me what they looked like and I finally agreed. I mostly agreed because I fear his hearing is compromised (and subsequently, his speech) as a result of the recurring infections.

The hearing tests after the appointment did not go as well… The “ear camera” didn’t bother Charlie so much. Despite the fact that he has two ear infections now, he was quite good for that part of the test. But the hearing tests in the booth? Charlie had a complete - and still as yet unexplained - meltdown inside the booth. The tests were not completed and will be rescheduled.

Surgery for the tubes is scheduled for June 4. I’ll keep you updated.

I had an odd discussion with a friend the other day. Halfway through the conversation, I realized that the *thing* we were talking about wasn’t the *thing* at all. It was something else.

You see, my friend is attractive. She has always been attractive. And, well, now she’s getting older. Not old. Just older.

I know what you’re thinking… We all get older. But I think it affects people in different ways.

And me? I was never one of the pretty girls growing up. And so getting older has affected me, sure. I have a couple of gray hairs. I need a little more moisturizer than I did before. It’s harder to keep weight off than before. But it hasn’t affected my self worth. Not in any meaningful way.

But my friend? I can tell that aging means everything to her. Suddenly, she isn’t the prettiest girl in the room anymore.

My brother is having a similar issue. He was the cute guy in school - blonde, muscled and an athlete. Women tried to pick him up all the time. And as he’s gotten older, I can tell that he’s less sure of himself.

Not me. I feel smarter as I get older. I know more. I fear less.

I never thought of not being the cute girl as a plus. But apparently it is.