Naked on the Stage

I'm friends with strippers. You probably didn't know that about me. I don't really want to get into specifics here, but I will tell you that I do not dance. Now that we've gotten that settled, let's move on.

The other night, I was with one of the dancing ladies, and she was talking about the pressures of life: parenting issues, financial stress, relational disappointment. As I listened to her share her story, I began to try and put myself in her 4 inch stiletto heels. Here's a mom trying to do what she can to get by, working at the only job she knows, thinking about how her choices will impact the life of the child she loves so much. Granted, we come from two very different perspectives, but aren't we all pretty much the same? Aren't those the kinds of questions that keep me awake at night? It got me thinking.

Before our daughter was born, my husband and I decided that I would work part time once the baby arrived. I've always dreamed of staying home and raising lots of kids. Fortunately, a part time position became available and I was able to cut my hours back to 2 days a week. Unfortunately I was later diagnosed with cancer and our medical bills skyrocketed. At that point we had to make another decision: increase my hours at work or go into debt. So, we prayed about it, we found a great daycare, and I began working four days a week.

I would be lying if I said that I don't think about this decision daily. Will I look back on this time and regret not being there? Could we have survived on such a small income? Would it have been better to live with some debt? In the end, we did what we believed was best for our family. But would everyone support my decision? Certainly there are people out there- friends even- who may question my decision. Shoot, some would down-right disagree with me! And there's still the possibility that I just flat-out got it wrong. What if my limited mind was unable to imagine the endless possibilities that God would have provided had I made a different choice- taken a leap of faith?

Now before everybody gets their panties in wad, let me be clear. I am not trying to compare working moms of any kind with being immoral. (That's not my theology.) And, I'm not trying to rationalize behavior. (I believe in a God of holiness.) What I am trying to consider is that most of us are attempting to live the best life we can, and along the way we must make hard choices. Sometimes we get it right, sometimes we get it wrong, and sometimes we don't know at all. But, when we know better we are called to do better. Maybe it would help if we all could remember that in some way or another, we are all naked on the stage.

Jesus Sold Separately

The night before my family celebrated Christmas, my sister and I were assisting Santa Claus and setting out some toys for the next morning. Amanda had gotten the Little People manger scene for both of our girls. As we opened the boxes and set out all the pieces I noticed that baby Jesus was missing. Shocked, I asked Amanda to look through her package. To our surprise we had only purchased half of the manger scene. Apparently, you have to buy the actual scene (i.e. stable, animals, palm trees, inn keeper, etc.) but the characters are sold separately! Can you believe it? I mean, who cares about the stable- without the baby Jesus you're pretty much stuck with a barn. Jesus, Mary, Joseph, those are the principal players. That's what we were really after...Right? Merry Christmas girls, have fun playing with the palm trees...Seriously?

I believe that this Little People stuff is dirty business. How tricky can you be? They're just preying upon sincere, albeit slightly distracted, mamas trying to get all of their Christmas shopping done. If we had actually paid attention to the set, we might have noticed the lack of key figures and believe-you-me we would have paid a pretty penny for the other half. (Still will when they get it back in stock!) The toy makers know this, so they split up the stuff you really want. That way, you pay double- they make double!

Now, the Little People drama is little business in the grand scheme of things, but I have recently encountered a scheme of a much larger magnitude. Steve and I purchased our used Passat station wagon about a year and a half ago. Since that time, we have had multiple problems with it, but I love driving it...when it works! About a week before Christmas, (and a day before we were leaving to go out of town), Steve took our car to be looked at because the check engine light came on. After running some diagnostic tests, the mechanic told us that we most likely had an oil sludge problem that was particular to our make and model of Passat wagon. The recommendation was to take the car to the Volkswagon dealership in order to be serviced.

To make a VERY LONG story short, we spent the majority of our two-week Christmas break haggling with the local Volkswagon dealership as well as VW customer service regarding work and payment. Apparently, there was a class action settlement regarding our make and model of car due to the oil sludge problem, BUT the settlement did not cover our year! According to the company, the 2005 model of the car did not exhibit the same issues as the previous years. Now, the earlier repairs on the car we have paid out of pocket without much fuss, but these recent repairs have cost us $2000 plus the $500 dollars we paid out of pocket to rent a car to get home for the holidays- Not to mention that the repairs took almost 3 weeks to complete! AND would you believe that today I took the car back in for more work! Yes, my car needs another $500 worth of work!

Now, I have tried to be polite about this whole thing (I am from Mississippi after all, and we have standards.), but enough is enough. Steve and I have both asked Volkswagon corporate to make this right. We have expressed our love for our car and our desire to remain loyal customers in the future if this problem is resolved. Unfortunately, phone call after phone call leads to more frustration and disappointment. Up until now not one employee has taken any responsibility or offered consolation. However, we did get an offer for $1000 off a new car- yeah right! I am posting this today as a warning for all the consumers out there. Be careful-Sometimes we don't get exactly what we paid for. Sometimes, Jesus is sold separately!

Resolved

It is officially 2011. Wow! Where did the time go? Now, I already know what you're thinking. I haven't updated this thing in about 2 years. I know that is a ridiculously long time, but a lot of things have happened since then. Shortly after I began blogging, I found out I was pregnant. If you've been there, then you know how quickly your life changes. Suddenly, my love of words was replaced by a love of SLEEP and a constant feeling of nausea. And my free time was taken up by everything baby.

Once pregnancy was over the real mama drama began. When my daughter was about 4 months old I found a strange lump in my neck. I'm naturally paranoid and having a new baby certainly didn't help, but when my husband noticed it, I really freaked out. To make a painfully long story short, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Two surgeries and one radioactive iodine treatment later, I am officially in remission. So, 2009 was blissfully happy and 2010 kicked me in the face. Hopefully 2011 will bring us back to balance.

Now that I've explained my absence, I hope y'all will forgive me and we can move on to the more important issues at hand. RESOLUTIONS! We all know of things in our life that we'd like to change, and January 1st gives us a good excuse to accomplish them- or at least attempt to! After thoughtful consideration, my family and I have identified specific areas to target this year.

Health: Complete P90X. I ambitiously started this torture treatment last year, but like I said baby, cancer, blah, blah, blah. Beach body take two!

Family: Read to my little girl everyday. I tried to do this when she was a baby, but its difficult to read to a crying infant when you're trying to put her to sleep. It seemed much more idyllic in my head.

Marriage: Date night returns. Like I mentioned earlier, 2010 was a round house kick to the face, and in the process romance was killed. In the words of Justin Timberlake we're bringing sexy back. (Sorry, Nana, if you're reading this!)

Faith: Memorize scripture daily. I have a active spiritual life, but discipline gave way to sleep in 2010 and I'd like to correct that this year.

Intellect: Blog. It helps out my mental functioning to form complete sentences related to adult conversation. If I don't do this, I will become lost eternally in baby land and will forever speak Sesame Street. Hopefully I will show some level of consistency this year. I'd hate to get to 2013 and realize I'd abandoned my blog- AGAIN!

Just Because: Learn Spanish.

So there's my list. Happy New Year to all! I'd love to hear about your resolutions. Share if you dare...