Back to School 2004

Kara, my fourteen year old, had her freshman orientation last night. I considered not taking her sister, Hannah, along because when she had her freshman orientation last year she was slightly traumatized. Well, traumatized probably isn’t the right word but she was in melt down mode. Hannah has the aspergers typical issue with crowded places like school auditoriums. So I was pretty sure she wouldn’t want to join us in the auditorium for Kara’s briefing. I also figured Hannah would get excited and when she’s excited she talks… a lot…. and interrupts…. and would likely drive Kara nuts with all her intrusive information. I don’t think Hannah will mind me saying this cause she knows she does it. She has a good seance of humor and self acceptance which is a wonderful accomplishment for someone in the spectrum. It didn’t come naturally, she (more like we) worked hard on it.

She ended up coming along anyway. For one she wants to go every where I go locally so she can get driving time in. She just got her drivers permit last week. She also wanted to talk to the school office about something.

I was somewhat right about Hannah’s likely behavior but it turned out it was me she drove nuts and not her sister. But hey, what are parents for! It started with her trying to convince me that Kara didn’t need to go to the assembly part and that she didn’t really need to go to each class room and I didn’t need to meet the teachers and so on. She also wanted to negate everything the principal was saying so I had to put my foot down and let her know she had to either stop talking or leave the room. She opted for moving a few seats away and not talking. Later when I mentioned this to someone else they told me their sophomore kid did the same thing so apparently it’s an older sibling thing. We didn’t make it to all the classes but we did get to a few and I am glad we did.

I am so happy for Kara that she gets to go into high school with friends. She doesn’t seem to get how nice this is when I try to tell her but sometimes she gets stuff and just doesn’t show it so maybe she does. I also let the girls know how lucky they are to be in a high school at all. It’s something I really wanted to do in my teens but never got to. Even after my teens I had the same feelings. My parents wouldn’t let me go. My dad had a dream that he lost me due to me going to high school and he felt the dream came from God as a warning. I now understand that the dream manifested the fears that were deep in his mind. I’ve always known that my folks would never lose me, but people with deep founded fears aren’t easily convinced. I had done really well socially in seventh grade. My dad grew up in an orphanage and the examples of kids who had a lot of friends in school were the snobs. So in his mind I must have been one too and he didn’t want me going down that path. The opposite was actually true but he refused to believe that till the day he died. I understand not everyone is like me, I love to experience things. But my kids are in the public school system so they may as well find reasons to appreciate it and make the best of it.

I would like to find the magical words to get my kids to like school. It’s so much easier to learn when you enjoy what you’re doing. And the school system my kids are in is pretty good. For now they all want to be home schooled but they seem to think home school is actually no school. And I’m just not the homeschooling type parent.

Hannah didn’t make any friend her freshman year. Or so she thinks. As is often aspergers typical she did make friends with some of the school staff and teachers. From some of the things she told me it sounds like there may be kids who are up to being her friends this coming sophomore year. The problem is she doesn’t get hints, facial expressions and such very well. She’s known for having an invisible protective bubble around her as she walks the halls which make her uncomfortable to approach. Hopefully this new school year we can work on that.

The girls are hoping for a fandom club to start. The vice-principal said it would be fine. He told them they just need to find a teacher to sponsor it. This would make it easier for Hannah to make friends as well as other kids like her. I am confident something will work out. Besides the hopeful fandom club my girls are interested in a few other clubs which I am very happy about. Sometimes having fun things to do at school makes the whole experience so much better.

Now on to Levi and Kyle’s open house! It’s coming up soon.

Oh, and figuring out if I can join the PTA. I’ve never seen such an allusive PTA. I should say not seen since I’ve hardly every seen or heard much about them. I was on the PTA board when we lived in Hawaii. It was an awesome group of woman. They did a lot for the school. They also showed up at all events clearly marked and encouraged parents to join and even used incentives. They also put on events like community sales, talent shows and so on. They had a wonderful Box-Top incentive program that always did really well. Maybe the PTA will be at the boys open house and I can get involved. I like knowing what’s going on at my kids schools. Maybe if I get involved I won’t be succored in to an undercover church meeting at the community center school auditorium like I was last school year. Those tricky dogs! It really was quite cleaver. “Come to the comedy magic show, have pizza and ask Jesus into your heart!” Yep, pretty smart and tricky!

I mentioned my oldest getting her drivers permit earlier. I’m quite proud of her. I was actually more comfortable with the idea of Hannah learning and becoming a driver then her sister but now it seems the fear factor part of my brain has taken over and I’ve turned into my dad. The way I see it one parent is a bag of nerves and radiating tension when it comes to their kids driving and the other parent is calm, cool and collective making them the better parent to dive with. While Hannah was just driving up and down out trailer home park street I was mostly the later. But it turns out that now that she’s driving on regular roads I’m actually the evil bundle of nerves parent. I’ve admitted to her that I believe her dad must be the calm, cool and collective one and I’m sorry she is stuck with driving with me. Thankfully she is a fast learner when it comes to things she wants to learn so her driving is getting smoother quite quickly which means I can chill out and stop trying to control imaginary pedals on the passenger side of the car. The bad part is I have a habit of trying to see into the future. Well, sometimes it’s a good thing but sometimes it’s not all that good. I just can’t help but thinking about how Kara is gonna be driving soon as well. And then there’s Levi and then Kyle and what about my hair! Thank the hair gods there’s such thing as hair dye. I’m just not into gray!

 

 

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The Angel Revels Foundation

Our cat apparently has been having seizures. She is about four years old. She needs to be checked by a veterinarian. We just don’t have the money. The kids and I have free health insurance so when we’re sick or have an emergency we just go in and are treated. Even when I didn’t have health insurance I could walk into an emergency room and be seen then billed later. I’ve done it and I’m still paying those bills. I did qualify for financial aid but even with the amount taken off the bills were still very high. Still, I was seen and taken care of. But from what I understand I can’t just walk in with a sick cat and have the feline taken care of with out money up front or a special card that allows me to make payments.

 

I guess in reality families like mine shouldn’t own pets since we can’t afford to take care of them medically. But then there’s all the wonderful benefits both health and mental that are good reasons for even low income families to have a pet. People often talk about and write articles about special needs kids and how good having a pet is for them. What ever is really the right thing to do it’s too late for us. We already own a cat and we are all in love with her. She’s a family member.

 

So I decided to start a fundraiser for her. I had heard of a web site called GoFundMe so I figured “why not try!”  Then I had the brilliant idea that it could be for others too. I know we are not the only people frustrated by this and desperately wanting to help our pet before it’s too late.  So I decided to do the fundraiser and help our Angel (our cat) and then keep the fundraiser going so we could use the money to help others in our position.

 

It’s been about two days so far and we have a grand total of zero dollars collected. I should be patient but last night it really got to me. You see, our hamster died the other day. He looked fine and we had no idea he was just gonna go to sleep and never wake up. So now I have that image in my head and I try not to think about walking in the door and finding Angel like that. It makes me very sad. So last night I guess I was getting emotional and worried and discouraged. I have a lot of FaceBook friends that post all kinds of pictures and articles about helping abused animals. I just thought people like them would understand. If we abused Angel people would want to turn us in and take her and help her medically and find her a good home but since we don’t abuse our cat it seems they don’t care that she needs medical help. It seemed very hypocritical to me. Still does really.

I am going to apply for the CareCredit card. It’s the one that will allow you to make payments for your pets medical care and for dental things as well. Normally I don’t bother applying for credit because my ex did a deed and lieu on his house that we both used to own. Though it’s his in the divorce papers the bank saw it as both of ours so it affected my credit. In other words my credit score is ridiculously low and I’ve been told it could take about seven years for it to be repaired. I will be surprised if they accept me but I will try anyway. Still, it’s not going to make visiting the veterinarian free. I will still have to make what ever payment they might approve if approved. And again, I am aware I am not the only person with these issues. It would be so nice to help others as well.

 

You can find our fundraiser for Angel at The Angel Revels Foundation.

It would be awesome of you to donate and to also pass the info on to others. We would really appreciate it.

 

Or sweet heart Angel being adorable.

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