Do I look older? Grayer?

Our senior knocked about ten years off of my lifespan today. I insisted he drive to get some practice in. He's got a problem with depth perception and is doing vision therapy, but he did okay yesterday driving to Burbank..... He took a back road behind Safeways. There was a semi parked beside the curb. Surely he could see that! Surely he would pull around it. Surely?!

He skimmed along side of it and if I hadn't screamed and had him stop the car, we would have taken off our side view mirror! Good thing Kyle's arm wasn't hanging out the window - he'd be missing that limb if he had! Yet he insisted that he had seen the semi. Yeah, right. Seen it and almost drove right through it!

So, with me driving, we got to the bank okay. I'd spent all morning straightening out our papers and had to put them back in the safe deposit box. Then, on to Target....... Kyle wanted a toy. I let him and his brother look through the toy aisles while I did my shopping. I got back to them about 15-20 minutes later. Kyle still couldn't decide on a toy. I pleaded with him to find something quickly. I had low blood sugar. I ate a whole container of glucose tablets and he still couldn't make up his mind. After another five minutes, I asked brother to help Kyle out of the store.

That's when all hell broke loose. Kyle is 12. Granted, he's developmentally delayed. But, right there he had a rare meltdown. Screaming, flailing arms, hollering about the toy he was missing out on.... It rivaled ANYTHING a two-year-old could dish out! People came to see what the matter was. Brother finally manhandled him into the shopping cart so we could get out of there fast!

The check-out clerk asked if "we'd found everything alright?" "All but one of us did." She was a bit taken aback at Kyle's behavior. Everyone else was, too. Good thing I was in a fog with my low blood sugar - I just paid for the goods and left.

I ran out to the car and drove it up to the curb. Brother tossed him in the back seat - still screaming and fighting. Kyle disrobed and screamed all the way home. Forget about a seat belt, we were just glad to make it back without being pulled over by the police! Whew! (They say stress causes cancer. So, I may be back on chemo soon.)

Deserted Island for Sale??

So, I haven't seen any deserted islands for sale in the paper. I'll have to research this some more..... I'm wanting to withdraw from the circus going on at my house!

Our oldest has gone off to live on her own - okay. We'll survive somehow without her help with Youngest who adores her to pieces. He now relies on me - of course, that's what moms are for - to entertain himself, discuss the finer points of the Star Wars and Transformer web sites he checks out, to help him "get going," and to clip his finger nails..... Yes, we miss you Oldest!

The other three have been taking turns getting tickets, experiencing soap opera dramatics and getting caught lying or stealing. What's up? They're all over sixteen! Haven't we taught them ANYTHING?? I've wondered several times if we'd let them roam the streets, skip school, experience no consequences for their actions if they would be behaving any differently than they are now.

Their consequences, of course, include me. I get to come up with all kinds of "chores" for them to pay off their fines. I get to oversee those chores. Coerce them to complete them. Listen to their rantings. Aaaaagh!