When the going gets tough....the tough go home

Its everywhere you look and everywhere you listen lately. Its unavoidable and for most people I know, its reality. Its the.....economy. Its life right now and to be perfectly frank (no, my name's not frank...but think of me as frank right now) it really sucks lemons.

There are people that have it worse than we do. I have friends and relatives who have been hit hard, loss of jobs, loss of savings, house values going down and a general difficulty making ends meet. Everywhere you turn, you are faced with the difficulty that is and that is to come for some time. I do truly believe that its going to get much worse before it gets better.

But the question for the day is - what can we learn from this? What can we take away from this difficult time and utilize for the future? How can we turn this into something that we can use to teach our children so that their future is bright instead of just the after-effects of what we left for them? How can we turn around our legacy to the future generations?

First off, we can learn to buy only what we can really afford. We can also place less emphasis on the material good. We can make sure that big financial companies are accountable for their actions, sure. But every time I look at my kids lately and think that this is the mess we are leaving them. Every time I'm sad because there is something that they want and that we have to pick and choose what we can get them. I think...there is something bigger that we can all learn from this. There really truly is. There must be.

Take it or leave it.....but to me...I've found that something. I know what that something is and I will work hard to teach my children this....That when the going gets tough...the tough go home. They embrace their loved-ones, their little ones, their friends and their puppies and kitties. They turn to their family for support and they turn around and lend even more support to those that need them.

It won't fix the economy, but it may just fix something much more important than that.

Family Meeting (aka you're ALL in the doghouse)!

The Family Meeting. In parent speak, we know this really means....you are all in big trouble and we will mask it as a democratic gathering of the minds but by the time we are finished with all you rotten kids...you'll be seeing things OUR WAY for a change. Or the Family Meeting can also be known as "The. Last. Straw."

Anyway, Mr. Hubband and I are blessed in the fact that together we have four handsome, nice, smart and funny children that have blended very easily into a big ole family. They all have their own tastes, their own personalities, their own likes and dislikes. But they have one thing in common....they are all GREAT KIDS. I know. It sounds too good to be true. But its not. They truly are wonderful boys.

EXCEPT. Except when the wind changes, the heavens collide, there is a full moon, their skin turns green, the bat symbol goes up in the sky and they become.... TEENAGERS. It doesn't happen all the time thank GAWD, but when it happens...oh it happens.

And this past weekend? It. Happened. Oh boy did it happen. It triple dipple dog Happened.

I can't speak for everyone. But for me I know that there are those times that we see or hear someone elses child doing something bad at some stage of development (IE. terrible twos) and we think...."If I parent right, MY child will never throw a tantrum." "If I parent well, MY teenager will never be a total self-centered snot bag." "If I am a good parent, MY grown son or daughter will call me with regularity and tell me what's going on in their life and to see how I'm doing."

All right. Pick yourself up off the floor from laughing so hard. I know that at the same time I was thinking these things - there was also the voice of reason trying to break through and speak the truth. This is not reality. But we still hope. And we pray. And we speak to the gods of that far away land of Teenager and hope that they just. don't. talk. back.

But they do. And we blame ourselves. We blame their friends. The Internet. The TV. Then we curse the gods of Teenager and wag our fists at the heavens.

Then when we are done with all the cursing and the blaming and ranting and raving, the light bulb goes on and we know what to do! We have an idea!

Behold. The birth of the Family Meeting. Or the bane of every teen's existence. We get to talk to them! And they have to listen! Oh Boy. Do they HATE That! But we just know it will work. It has to, right? Isn't it what all good parents do? (blech...kidding here folks) What we do know for sure is that the Family Meeting is parent speak for sovereign rule under the guise of democracy.

But this was different. This meeting was good.

Last night's family meeting on the state of the union of our teenagers' 'tudes, well, it was so. well received. They actually got it. Truly got it! And I mean its as if while speaking to these boys that the heaven's above their heads opened up, the sun shone through and a chorus of angels sang in harmony " We get it and we will always be sweet, nice and respectful boys to our wonderful parents".

And then that voice of reality spoke again (I'm not sure if its my mother's voice or not...but sometimes it does sound a lot like her) and she said...." For Now."

Until the next tail......