You know you live in the S.F. Bay Area when ...

A couple things have happened recently that have been reminders that we live in a very metropolitan area and made me laugh. First, I just can't seem to stop myself from volunteering. I need to learn to sit on my hands or something. But I was at the library with Henry for their free rhyme time and they announced that they will only be doing their program every other month since they are lacking volunteers. I had talked about having the few people with babies in my ward over to my house or the church and running something similar but this just sounded a lot simpler, so I signed up to volunteer and went to the first training meeting. A mother there said she would be willing to set up a yahoo group for the library volunteers. I said I had had more success with the google group I had set up and I liked using google docs and she said yahoo had something similar. So I asked if she worked at yahoo or something and she said yes. I thought that was very funny. I told her I really didn't care which one if that was the case, but she went ahead and set up the google group.

On Sunday we were at Erik's parents' house for dinner and I was telling them that I just bothered to take a look at Lael's classroom last week and see what the genetic makeup of the class was. I told them Lael was the only white child and there was one black child and the rest were all Hispanic (which is what you'd expect in a Spanish immersion class). And Oliver said, "No, mom. There is one black girl and all the rest of the kids are white." I think it's great that my kids are so integrated that they don't even notice, much less feel intimidated. I've come a long way from Utah, where it was 98 percent white through high school for me, although I doubt it would be quite that ratio now. I guess Oliver was right that Lael is the only one in the "non-Hispanic white" category. I really don't get the point in having to check this "politically correct" box, but it has popped up on many forms lately. Anyway, I think it's great we live in this culturally diverse area and I love that my kids are learning to speak Spanish, with a great accent to boot - although Lael just walks around talking gibberish with a Spanish accent right now. But it has worked out great for us and I know it will serve them well in the future. Now if I could just find the time to learn Spanish ...

I finally lost it

It's taken a lot to get there but apparently I have finally resorted to screaming at random members of the community. This past week after Scouts I took all three kids to Trader Joe's. Shopping with all three children is something I try hard never to do. Lael's chatter alone is enough to blast all thoughts out of my brain but it becomes very difficult when adding Henry, who is currently a menace when he's set free (and I never get more than 5 minutes before I have to walk around holding him or he protests very loudly). And then there's Oliver, who exists just to torture his sister and make her scream, which I admit doesn't take much. Anyway, I survived the store and we were getting in the car. I had the last two grocery bags in my arms and was putting them in the car when an approaching woman said, "Excuse me. You know, that's really not very nice." I looked over and realized my cart had rolled up against her car. I said, "I didn't realize it rolled." And then, as I processed her words and annoying tone of voice, something snapped, and I added, "Lady, you really need to get a life." And then I yelled, "I'm doing tHe BEST I CAN!" Then I got in my car and drove off with my children, who had of course witnessed the whole thing. So in the aftermath of The Incident, I have analyzed how I got to the state where I would yell at random strangers, in an attempt to avoid ever getting there again.

I admit I released my pent-up frustration from several issues onto this woman, but I think what drove me over the edge was her annoying tone of voice and her assumption that I had noticed and didn't care about her precious car. So, really, I think she is one of those people that's a harpie and she deserved it but I still wish I hadn't lost it. There were several contributing factors. The Journey concert we went to was frustrating because it was sold out so the lawn seats were pretty tight. Citizens were righteously indignant that the people in front of them were standing so the only way they could see was to stand. I expect this kind of thing from these events. It's life. What I found really irritating, however, was that when my chair touched the blanket of the party next to me, I was told, "Someone will be sitting there." And when that person finally arrived, he smoked and he kept it low so that it blew right in my face (Note to self: when smoking in crowded, public areas, make sure to put the cigarette higher so that the smoke blows over to annoy other people instead of the person right next to you.) So apparently it was rude to encroach on someone's physical space but forcing someone to eat smoke is OK. Next issue: I have been doing too many unofficial church callings and I need to extricate myself somehow without being condemned. So on Sunday when I said to a sister, "Oh my goodness! I didn't return your phone call." and she said, "No, you didn't." in a very sour tone, I thought, well, there's going to be a lot more where that came from if I continue to do this job, so get used to it or let me out! And then there's the Boosters Club. As my friend Jennette said about her house, it's like having another child, who doesn't love you. I'm working my tail off just to make progress at a snail's pace. I'm not even remotely thinking about giving up but I definitely need to work smarter. I've been doing the work of at least 5 people. I've neglected everything and given up time with my family to get this organization up and running and I will succeed but I am going to take a break. I haven't taken the time to blog or do anything extra because I've been giving it all to the school. Anyway, that's most of how I got to yelling at random people in the parking lot. I just hope no one from the school was there. And now I'm officially taking my break!