"(I've Got a Gal In) Kalamazoo"

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Cam spent Easter weekend with his girlfriend's father (and his family - her parents are divorced) in Kalamazoo. Since we have no family connections locally, and holidays aren't really celebrated, I have always been supportive of Cam spending time with other families on holidays.

He left Thursday night.

There was a lot of planning and re-planning of this trip. Originally, Cam's girlfriend's mom (who usually drives half way there, meeting her ex and exchanging the kids) wasn't going to have enough room in her car to take Cam, so Cam was going to take METRA into the city, then Amtrak to Kalamazoo. I was concerned about him making the trip alone, primarily because I couldn't seem to get any adult to commit to picking him up/dropping him off at the train station.

I should have listened to my gut.

Thursday morning I learned that Cam's girlfriend's mom was going to drive them - meeting her ex at the half-way point and exchanging the kids. It was a relief. Cam has made this trip in the past without issue. I was relieved this trip would be the same.

Fast forward to Sunday afternoon. I get a phone call from Cam. He starts by saying, "Did Brenda (the girlfriend's mom) call you?"

I knew this wasn't going to be good.

The story was that he just learned they (Cam, his girlfriend (14), his girlfriend's sister (19) and her BF (19)) had no ride home. Brenda had a change of heart and now wasn't willing to drive half-way to pick up the kids. Cam's girlfriend's dad didn't have the money for gas to make the entire trip.

I needed to buy Cam an Amtrak ticket to get him from Kalamazoo to Chicago (Brenda would cover the cost of the tickets for the other 3 kids), then they would take METRA from Chicago to Podunk.

What??

After pulling Amtrak fare out of my ass, and demanding that someone cover the $6 METRA fare back out to Podunk (Cam had given the $50 cash I sent with him to his girlfriend's father to help out with groceries), arrangements were made for Cam to travel back with the other 3 kids ... on Monday night (Cam had school Monday) ... arriving home at 2AM Tuesday.

And not so much as a courtesy phone call from either parent (although I was able to confirm Cam's story with his girlfriend's father after I tracked him down hours later).

Really?

To say I was livid would be an understatement. I was grateful for the listening ear of a friend, and the common sense to know that calling Brenda at that moment (or any moment for that matter) was a bad idea.

Cam walked in the door at 2:25 this morning.

He will be going to school today.

He won't be going to Kalamazoo again any time soon.

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He is Risen - Rise!

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Let every man and woman count himself immortal.
Let him catch the revelation of Jesus in his resurrection.
Let him say not merely, "Christ is risen," but "I shall rise."
~Phillips Brooks

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Friday Wrap-Up

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A quick answer to Maeve's HNT Comment yesterday. She wrote:

I've never notice that birthmark(is it? I thought it was a tattoo on the first pic) before on you!

Well, it is a tattoo ... a very old tattoo (20 years old in fact) that has a great deal of sentimental value. I know I've mentioned this before, but my husband – the one who committed suicide - used to bring me "Thursday gifts." Sometimes they were little things, sometimes they were handmade things, and one time it was a trip to the tattoo parlor. The simple rose is very elementary body art by today's standards, and although the definition and color have faded, the memories haven't, and I just can't bring myself to have anything changed on it.

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Speaking of HNT, I see that some of you have been snooping around found my HNT only blog. For now, it is serving as the archive for all previous HNT's (that was a *hint* in case you need help finding it), but I may eventually post HNT's exclusively on that blog. We'll see. One of the things I've always liked about this blog is that it doesn't fit any of those neat little boxes people like to use. It isn't a mommy blog - it isn't a sex blog - it isn't a news blog - it isn't a humor blog. No ... it's kind of a momsexnewsmor blog! I'd hate to give that up!

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Cam and I will be playing with frozen meat again on Saturday. It's that time of the month when we head to the food bank distribution center, sort and re-box tons of frozen meat - literally. Our group of 30 volunteers processed 2.5 tons of frozen meat in three hours last month. I’ve also decided that I will continue volunteering on the same projects as Cam as it has become quite clear that he really does think it's kind of cool (in his "I only want people to know you’re my mom if I tell them you are" way) that I spend the time with him.

It will be Easter church service on Saturday night, then ... I don't know ... maybe White Castle for Easter dinner? With no family to celebrate the holidays with, I do my best to make the day special - and nothing says special Easter dinner quite like sliders!

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Unless you live in Tampa or Chicago, you probably aren't aware that Walgreens pulled the special-edition Chia Obama from its shelves saying, "it's not our image."

Chia Pet creator Joseph Pedott (76) told FOX news, "I'm sick about it," disputing any suggestion that Chia Obama's Chia hair was mocking the Afro hairstyle.

"Obama had an Afro - does that make him racist?" Pedott said. "So how the hell do you get racist out of it? And number one, you can give him a haircut."

OK ... so no one really thought the Chia Pet creator was going to be well-spoken, did they?

Odd coincidence, Cam and I were just in a Walgreens about a week ago and saw the Chia Obama and I thought to myself, "Someone is going to make a big stink over that." Cam wanted to buy one, but the thought of spending $19.99 on a grass growing bust of a president I didn't vote for just didn't sit well with me. Ahhh ... ssuuush! I bought him the Obama baseball cap that he wanted and I even let him wear it when he's riding in the car with me!

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