Time to Call it Quits

Now, I think, life is getting too boring to even write about. I’m thinking it’s time to quit the blog on a daily basis. I may update it if something spectacular happens but I can’t see that our lives in America are all that interesting. Today, for example, included things like, taking the car in for repair, getting one of our vacant apartments rented (woo hoo), taking Kory to get a laser treatment on his back, cleaning house and dropping Kaleb off for a sleepover. It’s not much to work with to make an interesting read. Life is going to get so routine and FULL after Labor Day, I think now will be a good time to call it quits.

I know there are several people still reading the blog everyday, and I love that – but I also hate to be a bore. Maybe I’ll post stories I’ve written from time to time, who knows…. But all good things must come to an end. Thanks for being so supportive, faithful and interested. I promise, if I publish a book from this blog, to give everyone one of my dedicated readers an autographed first edition copy, along with a big hug and a kiss. Honestly, if I didn’t know people were reading it, I wouldn’t have kept it going the whole year. So a big heartfelt thanks from me to you.

When Kaleb was three month’s old, I started hand writing in a journal for him. I wrote down all that he had done in his first three months, and then I wrote everyday after that, all he did and said that day. I only quit doing it last year when we moved to Norway when it took so much time writing the blog, that I couldn’t keep up with the hand writing in the journal, too. I’ve filled sixteen of those books about Kaleb’s life so far, and I still have a few blank ones in inventory that are waiting for me to fill, so now is a good time to get back to that routine.

I’m going to print out all the pages I’ve written for the blog and put those in a book for Kaleb, as well. I’m not even sure he will be interested in reading all the documentation on his life, but maybe one day his kids or wife might (assuming they materialize). I wrote things down about his life for several reasons. I had a lot of questions about my childhood and my parents as I was growing up, and the only answer I ever got was, “I don’t know.” Whether that was the truth, or whether the truth was not to be repeated, I really don’t know, but I do know I hated that answer and I never want to give it to Kaleb. Because I was 41 when I gave birth to him, I was worried by the time he was old enough to ask questions, old age might have set in enough that I really wouldn’t remember the answers to things, so if all his days were written down, then he could read all about it himself. That was the main reason. But also, as I’ve come to realize, there are two sides to every story. Kaleb might remember things one way, but at least the way I saw situations will be represented by my writings in his journals. And lastly, maybe there will be forgiveness in my writing. If he sees that he wasn’t always such a peach, and he reads about the struggles I had with him, he might just be more forgiving of me as he ages, if indeed he harbors any bitterness or resentment by then. (Often I ask him if I’ve done anything that he needs to forgive me for, and he claims just as often, there is nothing, so I hope that is the case. But it doesn’t hurt to cover all bases.) So my writing is self serving, on all sides. I do love to write, and I especially love it when I know people enjoy reading what I write. But now I’m thinking there’s not that much happening that would compel anyone to want to read all about it anymore.

This weekend we have company coming; next week school starts. Kory is getting better every day and able to stand for longer periods of time. I’ve got the scheduler out and our days are filling up with commitments, appointments, schooling and normal life stuff. If I were a better writer, I might be able to make something of all that, but I’m not very creative that way. So for now, this is good-bye. I’m not sure what I will fill my late nights with, but I’m sure I’ll find something. I have closets to clean, photos to sort, e-mails to purge and prayers to pray. Thanks for being there.

(The photo today is a picture of me that a friend took for my college graduation from Pomona College in 1982. I love it more than any others I’ve taken. A woman in my Norwegian class asked me to post “old” photos of me on Facebook because she said she suspected I “used to be HOT.” That’s just how I feel about my writing now.)

Communication Problems

I had a chance to pray with one of my classmates today. Sandra is 44 and from England. Ten years ago she met a Norwegian working in England, fell in love with him, sold everything and moved here to be with him and she couldn’t be happier. She now wants to become a Norwegian citizen, but in all those ten years, never learned to speak Norwegian and she thought it was silly to try and get citizenship without knowing the language, so she’s paying to go to school to learn Norsk. Her and her husband have wanted a child for many years, but they have not been able to conceive. The Norwegian government believes she is too old now to be a mother so they won’t allow her to do any kind of artificial insemination here (it’s socialized medicine so the government picks up the tab for everything). So tomorrow Sandra is flying to Latvia for the procedure on her dime. I asked her if I could pray for her, that things would go well, and she’d get pregnant, and she said, “Of course.” So today during lunch we had a little prayer meeting and we are trusting God for the miracle of a baby for her. She’ll know in two weeks.

We woke up yesterday to the blackest skies I have ever seen. Just after I got on the bus, all the clouds broke loose and a torrential downpour ensued. All I could think about was that Kaleb only had on his rain jacket, and not his rain pants, and how wet he must be getting while riding his bike to school. Turns out he got completely drenched and he had to change into his gym clothes once he got there and wear them the entire day (his solution). So this morning, he made sure he had on all his rain gear before venturing out (see photo). He IS a quick learner (and we packed an extra set of clothes so he can leave them at school, just in case.) Aalesund is famous for “skifte vær” (shifting weather). By yesterday afternoon, I had to put on shorts and a short sleeved shirt as it was downright hot, but today it’s been solid rain. Kory’s boss stopped and bought him a complete set of Helly Hansen raingear after work yesterday, as they worked on the roof today. Poor Kory – he only wanted indoor finish carpentry work and he came home cold to the bone, dog tired, and not at all in a good mood.

Today was the day we went to the mall at Moa to sign up for a home phone and internet access! Hallelujah! It might take ten days, they said, but at least I know it’s coming. And they had a back-to-school special so they threw in a new laptop for free. Unbelievable. I’m not sure what all it can do, but we’re saving it for Kaleb’s birthday. It has a Norwegian keyboard so he’ll need it for school work as that was one thing they stressed at the parent’s meeting last night – kids need internet access – in 4th grade, no less. We left Kaleb at home and Kory and I went grocery shopping afterwards.

In grocery stores here you have to insert a ten kroner coin ($2) in the handle of the shopping cart to get it unlocked from the bin, but you get it back when you re-lock it (this keeps carts from wandering off). So we took our cart down to the underground parking garage and unloaded everything into the van. I walked up the ramp to return the cart, and just as I turned around to look for Kory, I saw the van driving away - out another exit. Kory left the garage without me! I waited awhile and when he didn’t come back I figured he was just super tired from work and forgot he was with me (it’s not beyond the realm of possibilities with him), so I walked over to his aunt’s condo (about 700 feet away) to use her phone and call him (I left my cell phone at home with Kaleb). Turns out he thought I said, “I’ll meet you upstairs,” but what I had said was, “Can you get me up there?” – where the carts were at the top of the ramp. So it was just a big comedy of errors (aka “communication problem”) but not so terribly funny when we were both so tired. It’s not like we were speaking Norwegian or anything and I just picked the wrong words like when the aunts were here on Sunday. I thought I said to them (in Norwegian) “You’re welcome to come back ANY time,” but what I said was, “You’re welcome to come back NEVER AGAIN.” I wondered what the puzzled look on their face was – but Kory quickly corrected my choice of words. Uff da.