This ‘N’ That

I should really be sleeping right now. It’s midnight and I’m up in nine hours. I require more like twelve hours of sleep. So the math calculation for this is not looking to good. But I have all these thoughts running through my head so bad that they have canceled out the Ambien I took. The best cure for a head full of thought is writing.

First topic of the night: Racism. Or reverse racism as the case may be. We are the only white family in a predominately black/Somalian neighborhood.

The kids that play out front that are Thomas’s age or younger are nice to him. The slightly older crowd, not so much. And the older crowd can sway the younger crowd to be mean too, from time to time.

I don’t get it. He shares his scooter, his balls the couple of times I’ve allowed them out front. He is sweet to them. He doesn’t care that they are brown and he is white. He calls them his friends. Even the mean ones. He likes everybody so it’s beyond him that someone could dislike him. Especially when that dislike is based on the color of his skin.

They have been picking on him for awhile, but I think the breaking point for us was when Thomas got kicked in the stomach two days ago. It’s like, “Whoa! Where did that come from?” What could Thomas have possible done to deserve that? I know he plays a little rough but no rougher than any of the rest of them. Less rough from what I’ve seen. He’s use to rough housing with his brother so he’s learned to be gentle. These kids out there aren’t even trying to be gentle. And a full on kick to the stomach? Come on, seriously?

So now if he’s playing outside he’s in our “boring” enclosed back patio, or he’s out front with one of us watching. But that leads me to wonder, if I see these kids lay a finger on my son, what am I allowed to do? I don’t want to call the police on a ten year old, but if I speak to the parents and they can’t or won’t control him, I might have no other option. Should I file a complaint with the rental office? I can’t prove it’s racism.

Now the kids in his class at school and on his bus that make fun of him for being white. That is racism. But that’s being handled by his teacher and bus driver. They both keep a good close eye on Thomas to be sure he isn’t the target of anything huge. A few comments still get through to him, but nothing physical or over the line mean.

I pride myself on not being racist. I don’t care who you are or what you look like, I hate everyone equally. Yes, you read that right. But I gotta tell you, the Somalians in this neighborhood are working really damn hard at making me anti-Somalian. And I hate that that’s what’s happening. But It’s making me want to keep a close eye on my kid when he’s around their kids. It’s only fair since this is all based on how their kids treat my kid. Did I just refer to racism as fair? What am I becoming? I’m not ever going to go out of my way to cause trouble, but if my son takes another foot to the stomach (or chest or head) I will be speaking to parents and then police if I have to. Period.

A funny thing is, I have yet to run into any problems with the adults. Just my kid having trouble with their kids. I’m going to closely monitor their interactions before I do anything else. But seriously, do you guys think I should involve the rental agency in on this? At least get a complaint on file so that if this leads to us breaking lease we can without having to buy it out?

Dentist. Because apparently dentist drama doesn’t end. Those of you who read this regularly know that I agreed to get some dental work on my son done and then found out that small smiles has a bad habit of doing unnecessary dental work on kids for profit. So my kid’s three crowns. Yeah…

Anyway one of those crowns is loose. Maybe more, I dunno. So I called my dentist and explained the whole ordeal. They are going to go ahead and take him in as a new patient and this coming Tuesday they are going to do an exam on him. They will figure out what’s been done and how good of a job they did. They will be taking x-rays and do some basic poking around. They will fix whatever needs to be fixed and leave the rest alone.

Once Luke is 3, my dentist will be his dentist. And once Pat gets his insurance back, I’ll be getting him in there as well.

There is also the option of a law suit against small smiles. I have no idea how but the idea is mighty tempting. It could be the down payment for a starter home. I know we wouldn’t be the first to sue them and I’m sure we wouldn’t be the last. I’ll talk it over with my dentist next Tuesday and see what he thinks. And I’ll do some research into those who have sued small smiles and what happened. It would be based on unnecessary pain and suffering because a week later he’s still in pain and suffering.

Aldi. I’m going shower in the morning and then dressing to the nines to walk up to Aldi and see if they are hiring. If they are I plan to fill out the application on the spot. I’ll also have a resume with me. If they are hiring part time I’ll let them pick two days between Monday and Thursday, or even Friday, that they can have me. If they are hiring full-time I’ll drop down at my current job to like 1 day a week and Aldi can have me 5 days. I do not at this time plan to quit my present job. I just think I need to shake things up and see what’s out there. I’m not actively hunting, I just kinda have it stuck in my head that I want to work for Aldi so I’m going to see if they are hiring. If not then I’ll try one more store, a plus sized clothing store two doors down from Aldi, and if I struck out at both stores, I’m done job hunting. It’s as simple as that.

Selling Clothes. I’ve been playing with wanting to sell the clothes Luke has out grown anyway. Some of you might remember this from a few months back. Well I’m still at it. I’m sick of trying to sort all these clothes out. I’m sick of having to buy more bins. I’m sick of bins overflowing. I’m sick of trying to find room to store these bins. And then we have the new problem of needing a new tire for the car NOW. So I’m going to get Pat’s OK in the morning and them I’m going to list them on Craig’s list. I’d take them to once upon a child but you get crap for them. I think I have enough clothes ready to be sold that I could buy a new tire. Maybe even all 4 depending on how much tires cost. So the all four is a pipe dream but I know I could get one bought. This just seems like the answer to me. Oh, and I’d pull out the few outfits that I couldn’t bare to part with. There is the possibility of someday a third baby and I’d want to see these outfits on him.

Tire. It seems to be holding air sorta. We’ll have to keep filling it at the gas station and we need to get it replaced asap, but it should get us where we’re going in the meantime.

It’s now 12:54 and I’m going back to bed.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *