Sweet & Spooky Gets me Going...

It has to be considered common knowledge that if you have named your blog "On the Fritz", chances are, there will be stages (aka many months) when the machine malfunctions so completely that there is a disruption in service. Describing it as an inability to operate isn't quite the correct metaphor. Life, motherhood, & the general basics necessitate tinkering together the requirements for daily survival. Eventually though the piece-meal quick fix solutions wear out, requiring professional service contract workers, revamping the set up, and getting things up and running again. After new implementation there is that transition-in-training period. Instruction manual available, but vague & personal interpretation & application is required and timely. Really it comes down to hours and minutes. Knowing that the condition of your day-to-day has become so precarious that in order to re-establish and stabilize you must hunker down, tighten your circle, and usually that means that even an outlet gets shelved for a time. 

I suppose it was this fall evening after making caramel apples and carving pumpkins with my boys that I considered taking the outlet off the shelf and writing again. Our system for the evening worked well. Johnathan and the boys cleaned pumpkins in the driveway while I stirred caramel on the stove (note to self, next year buy those handy caramel apple wraps). While removing the caramel from the heat, I was beckoned outside to draw an Anakin Skywalker face onto Zayne's pumpkin. I then expertly retreated back inside to dip the apples intentionally bypassing my least favorite Halloween activity (the actual carving). It also probably helped that this years pumpkin carving was NOT interrupted by Zayne disregarding our 5 warnings to "NOT touch the knives" and slicing his finger so that we had a band-aid raid proceeded by a 15 minute deliberation over an Urgent Care visit (such as Pumpkin Carving 2011). However, we did have to hover over Pender in order to allow him to hug the lit Jack-o-laterns with the burning candles inside of them while gripping a warm slice of caramel apple. I shared in his glowing smile, something about the sweet & spooky of this season still gets me going...

"Mom, you broke my plan up in pieces..."

Well this week I really did it. I ruined Zaynes life. For real this time. Not like the time I cut the PBJ sandwich in half, or the time he told me "Mom, you broke my plan up in pieces. It's a big mess, and a REAL big problem. It's really all your fault Mom." Actually this plot against him began 5 years ago, at birth.

On Fridays, I let Zayne choose the radio stations while we are driving to our "outing" destination. This past Friday as we were zoo bound, he was asking me to switch stations until he heard a "boy singer." To my relief he vetoed Bruno Mars, but stopped me at Metallica. He then asked me, "What boy is singing this?" When I responded, it was as if it was the first time he'd heard the bands name. "That's a cool name", he said contemplatively as he began murmuring the name to himself a few times. Then he enlightened me with a stern seriousness on my obvious parental error with "Mom, I wish my name could be Metallica. I didn't want it to be Zayne."

I'm sorry son, for some reason, as much as I like Metallica, I thought it prudent to avoid labeling your little rock-n-roll soul, before it even had a chance to develop, with one of the worlds most widely recognized Heavy Metal bands name. I mean that, and a myriad of other reasons I may have wanted to shield you from the possible repercussions of naming you Metallica. I hope you can forgive me. Love, Mom.