Have stayed at my parents' in Oxford for 2 days. Steve's overgrown beard is getting on my nerves. Sorry but it looks just terrible. He's growing it and his hair for 1 year after returning from Iraq. It's driving me crazy but in April he says he's shaving it all off and giving it to the cancer wig charity.
Anyway Christmas is the whitest it's ever been. About 2 plus feet in Oxford. There's ice on top and in layers in between so you don't have to walk through it all. You just walk on top of it. It's interesting viewing everything from two feet off the ground. This much snow doesn't happen very often in one fell swoop where we live. It virtually stopped everything on the 23rd. It's more economical to just stop everything for a few days than spend the money and resources to have the necessary plows and manpower to deal with it like in other, more northern, cities, where this is sort of a standard winter zephyr. Since it doesn't happen that often, the money isn't put into it. :)
Santa made it anyway and we all received lots of gifts. I wish I could be foolish and spend all the Christmas money frivilously and all in one place, but, alas, it will go to paying bills I'm behind in...oh well maybe I'll splurge on something...or two...My birthday passed as only a mild and pleasant event. No black balloons. The people at work sang Happy Birthday and then we all played Taboo before we all went home. Taboo worked surprisingly well among people just now learning English. That was the 24th. In the late afternoon of the 24th we all opened gifts in Oxford, including the Santa gifts for the kids. Dave and Rachel and their kids were there. Fun stuff. It was fun giving and receiving gifts from lands afar. And handmade ones. I crocheted a scarf for Erin and gave Leah some manga I got in Japan. Dave gave gifts from Chile. My parents gave gifts from the Czech Republic and Poland. I now have a chilena dolla and a Czech one.
I did fear (and didn't say until Dave said Kitty already said it) that my little nephew might be mildly autistic. I hope it's something that can be grown out of...I do think it can be...I just hope they don't go into denial over the possibility. I don't think it's as severe as some cases I've seen.
I've seen lots of severe cases of other stuff affecting children lately on my assignments. One family has 5 kids crammed into a small apartment. The baby was a preemie and has MD, though he's moving fine now. Has microcephaly but he smiles and follows my movements around. I love that baby so much. He gets a night nurse every single night. Some of the other 4 kids have health problems. Heart problems and 1 has hearing aids. I don't know how much he hears. But so beautiful, all of them. I just adore them. That baby Yarley just captured me right away with that big beautiful smile. I think he can do more than people realize. With that love, those neurons will connect. Love makes neurons connect. I know it. Hugs and love really do connect pieces of the brain together in electric impulses, like the brain knows it's wanted and needed and welcomed in this world.
I'm in envy of everyone's homes. My house is small and just plain cramped. I'm tired of it. But I don't want to be strapped with a high mortgage. My brother Dan just bought a beautiful home that needs work but once he works his magic on it it will be an absolute gem. I know it. It's on 5 acres in the country. I'm jealous. Why didn't we do that when we had a chance. Well he'll be strapped to a high mortgage payment. My other brother is. He has a little McMansion in Fairfield. My sister-in-law's home is a shining example of utter devotion to home decorating in and out. In an exclusive part of their town. She makes sculptures for her garden and repaints, repapers, frames, does things herself.
My brother who just moved to the country redid my kitchen while Steve was in Iraq. And I redid Nathanael's room. Then we redid the living room. Before he had left Steve had redone the inner bathroom. Micah's room is an absolute pit. What will I do with it. And I find I just can't get along with Steve. He is inert. I can't change him and I don't try. I'm tired of it. Tired of his moods and it's been years and years in the making. I'm so tired of it.
I just now heard that my parents' next-door neighbors are divorcing. This is news that I would have expected less than my being hijacked on a 747 to Timbuctu. These people were married for about 140 years. They have 2 grown kids and grandkids. They are nerdy professors. Who'da thunk this. I mean they spent every year working in the garden. He mowing around and she pruning flowers and bushes. They were actually like two trees growing out of the same trunk. Now he has moved in with someone else, a secretary in his department, who in turn is divorcing her husband. That's weird. There were always affairs and incidents at Miami but this couple....? It's utterly out of character. OK now I'm hearing this is the same secretary that another person divorced his wife over. My brother Joe just said he's throwing his whole life away over a piece of ass. Now he just apologized for his language around Nathanael. By the way, Joe is only here for about 3 days. I was surprised he only spent half a day in airports around this snowstorm.
My gosh WHY is this couple divorcing?!!!! For the sake of her kids and grandkids she was making it amicable. He just up and left her! This nerdy math professor. It's crazy! This guy looks like Beaker from the Muppets. She is nerdy too. What?! They are so quiet and nerdy and had their routines and were growing old together. This is the weirdest and saddest thing. What was this guy thinking? The consummate monogamist. What in the world?!!!