Tiina, Brian, and their kids are my family, so the frame has changed. I don’t care about technological advances as much. It’s more about seeing the kids’ children get old and have their own lives. I am seeing their oldest kids have children now, but we have a ways to go with the youngest. It’s making sure they get to Hebrew school on time.
It’s fun being a coprocessor and a collaborator to someone that has their own fuel source. There’s nothing in the world that would make me want to mess up what we have, because it has been like being rescued. I don’t feel like I’m falling through the cracks anymore.
It’s a different way to walk in the world when you have a team under you, and I’m not the only one in the family who is on the internet. Ayalla and Tiina both create online, and the kids’ favorite thing is to make fun of me for the way I trip over “Ayalla.” I call her “Ay Ay” most of the time to avoid confusion. 😉
I hope that Ayalla and Derek will trust me with the baby the way Tiina trusts me with her kids, because it would be fun to bond with him. I have the most hope for the future in the baby and his 10-year-old aunt. But we have a long way to go before we get there- projects to build that incorporate all of our talents.
It’s also learning to incorporate a Jewish worldview into how I talk to all the kids. How my role is not “friend Leslie,” but “person who is trying to turn you into a functional adult.” They are going to be great, and I know that because when my anger comes out it is appropriate. I am learning to get angry in the right directions instead of the wrong ones.
I didn’t grow up on a farm. You’re just going to have to cut me a break
Pretty sure I’ve never been more angry in my life, but it was directed and pointed appropriately. I am not experienced in catching chickens. And that’s what makes me the most sad about aging, I guess…..
You’ll never catch them all.
Stories That Are All True 