Putting out Fires

I live on the complete outskirts of a big city.  My husband and I chose this location specifically because it is just far enough away that certain people cannot just ‘drop by’ because they’re ‘in the neighborhood’.  OK, really that’s not the big reason, but it is a good one…  The real reason is that we have a gorgeous view of the mountains near our house, and there is open desert everywhere.  At least there used to be.

In the three years we’ve had our house, we’ve watched the desert within 1 mile of our house give way to:  houses, a church, a private school, a CVS (boo!), and an entire shopping complex.  Every time I drove home from work and there was another piece of beautiful desert gone, I’d cry.  (I know, my husband thinks I’m insane for this too…)

Last night, as I was driving home late from school, I came up to the brand new intersection by my house, with two lanes going each direction, and an actual stop light.  Then I saw something small running through the middle of the intersection.  It seemed to stop and look around as if it was trying to find something.  As I got closer I realized it was a beautiful coyote.  It seems the last bit of his home has disappeared.  I think it is just about the saddest thing I’ve ever seen. 

Saw this guy on the news this morning.  Tempted to get the hands-free plug-in for my dad for Christmas.  (if you’ve ever been in a car with him, you’d think this was a good idea too)

http://www.lazyhomeowner.com/

Every year at Thanksgiving my girlfriends and I exchange emails talking about what we’re thankful for.  Isn’t that a great tradition?  I don’t know how long that’s been going on, but they started mentioning it about a month ago, so I know they’re already thinking about their Thanksgiving email.

Here’s what mine looks like this year:

I’m thankful for my husband (hey, its my blog, I can gush if I want to).  He constantly amazes me with his tremendous drive to not only succeed, but to be the best.  He is also the kindest man I’ve ever met, and probably the only man alive who loves to cuddle.  (sorry babe!  But its true…)

I’m thankful for my job.  Mostly I’m thankful because it makes me REALLY appreciate my time outside of work.  But, it does afford me a free graduate education at a great school, and enough money to go out and travel.  Oh, and a free turkey dinner from the cafeteria every Christmas. 

I’m thankful for school.  It is the black hole that has consumed my life, but I know some day it’ll be worth it.  I hope.

I’m thankful for the puppies.  They smell bad and they walk on the back of my feet through the house just to get my attention, but they sure are great to come home to when I’ve had a rough day.  Dogs are the best.  Especially Karma D. Bear.  Love that pooch. 

I’m thankful for the gorgeous state that I live in.  I can be in forest, desert, sand, heat, snow, pine trees, or cactus in a matter of hours.  (Now I just wish we could figure out how to get those freaking snowbirds to not figure out how great AZ is.  Slow-moving pains in the….)

I’m thankful for my friends.  Sometimes things are rocky, but I appreciate all of them for their differences.  I’m lucky to have so many beautiful people in my life.  And I’m lucky that I have friends for any occasion:  partying, camping, shopping, partying, Rocky Point, hiking, gossiping, eating, partying, volleyball, traveling, partying…

I’m thankful for my family.  No one could ever say that my family is normal, but they are MY family, and I love them.   

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love my husband because:  He knows that getting me HBO makes me feel OK about being alone at night. 

I love my dogs.  I know there are people out there who read that (or not since I’m pretty sure my friend Kelli is the only person who reads this) and thought, “Yeah, ‘love’, but its JUST a dog”.  But see I feel DESPERATE about my dogs.

This is where I come to my theory on why I’m never having children.  I feel so responsible for my two puppies that some times it consumes me.  Did I unplug the iron?  What if the house catches on fire and they’re stuck in there?  What if I don’t get home until 4pm and they HATE me?  What if I’m not home enough?  What if Mika squeezes through that tiny crack in the fence and gets lost?  What if I should be really worried about Karma eating that tin foil the other day?

Do you see?  Do you see how if I had children I would be OBSESSED?  Do you see how I would be the mom that puts on not only the helmet, but the knee pads, the elbow pads, the wrist guards, and the full face shield when my children ride their tricycles? 

For now I’ll concentrate on loving those pups as well as I can, and I’ll consider it practice.  Maybe. 

As firefighting is quickly defining my life, this will be the first of many posts regarding the life of a firefighter’s wife.

This is what I’ve been reading about today:

http://www.theneworleanschannel.com/news/3898255/detail.html

I don’t know how anyone can not be deeply saddned by this.  I have read up on this case a bit, so I know that this poor woman and her children have recieved a relatively meger sum of money from the state and federal governments, but nowhere near what would have been available to them if the city that her husband worked for had insurance to cover this, or a widows fund, as most cities do. 

Firefighting is not just sitting around the station playing poker with the boys.  Besides the obvious danger from fires, these men expose themselves every day to terrible diseases when helping people who desperately need medical attention.  The man who died in this case was a volunteer firefighter, and frankly I think that is even more commendable.  It is a complete shame that the people of this town have chosen to not only deny this hero’s family aid, but any future firefighters who, heaven forbid, may have the inconceivable happen.  And to be fair, I put blame on the city as well for not finding a solution to this problem which would take into consideration the financial strain it might place on its poorer citizens.

I would hope that if something horrible happened to my husband while he was desperately trying to save the life of a stranger, that the community would come together and do the right thing for his children.

I cannot tell you how much this enrages me:

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1109gaymarriage-ban09.html

Of all of the arguments against gay marriage, ‘Breakdown of the Family’ is the most ridiculous.  And that’s saying a lot as most of the arguments hit the ridiculous level.  Why don’t we concentrate on constitutional ammendments against battering wives?  Or cheating on spouses?  Now THAT is a breakdown of family.

To say that bringing into fruition the marriage between two people who love and respect each other is a ‘breakdown of the family’ makes absolutely no sense.  And PLEASE tell me why these people feel they need to make it their business what other people do.  No one is harming you, so leave them alone.  And who are you to judge what makes another person’s actions unfit or morally wrong?

And as a side note on ‘families’:  I would MUCH rather have a loving stable gay couple raising children than some of the people out there.  Its disgusting that a couple who would make wonderful, nurturing parents would be denied the opportunity to raise children, and couples with no other qualifications other than their anatomy are allowed to raise 12 neglected in an unfit environment. 

Recently someone in my life got into a little tussle with the law.  And the law won.  He says he didn’t do it (don’t they all?), but I actually believe him.  His crime-that-he-didn’t-commit was bad enough that he has been placed on probation, and has to go through a thing called TASK.  Whatever that is.  I think it’s the driving school equivalent for a felony.  Thankfully, if he completes all of that his record is left clean.

Here’s the issue:  in addition to the 700 hours of community service he has to complete, TASK requires him to attend 3 NA meetings a week, and 1 night a week of group counseling.  As he has to complete a specified number of service hours a month, he basically does community service fulltime 5 days out of the week, and attends school the other 2 days.  But because he’s handicapped, he cannot accomplish most of the few tasks he’s given to choose from, so for the past two months he’s had to file extensions and the hours are piling up.  His grades in school are suffering because he literally has no time to study.  Not to mention the fact that he has no money because he doesn’t have time for a job, and he’s spending the little money he has on urine analysis 3 times a week (2 for TASK and 1 for probation).  Did you know you had to PAY out the nose for court-ordered UA?

My point is this people:  how does the ‘justice’ system expect to make people fit members of society if they take away any ability for these people to actually make a living?  Doesn’t this kind of punishment encourage questionable behavior?  If you are working your tail off to complete the tasks that the court has commanded of you, how can you be expected to meet the normal obligations in life? 

And those are just the big things.  I’m not saying that the justice system owes anyone anything, but can you imagine all of that, and then to have to miss your birthday completely because you could only find one half hour that entire week where you might be able to see your family? 

I’m telling you, someone out there has to have a better solution to this problem.  The court should not just indiscriminately hand out punishments without seeing that they appropriately fit the crime.  When will our justice system get smart and really try to make a difference with people who need it? 

I find it interesting that living in the most progressive nation in the world, I suddenly find myself on the receiving end of persecution.  With this election so thoroughly dividing the country, I’ve found myself on the left side of the win.  It’s not a very comfortable place to be. 

Aren’t we decades past when the color of someone’s skin was cause to judge them wrongly?  How did we find this place where now we are judged by the color of our vote? 

Just yesterday I had a coworker make a crack about how I wasn’t receiving a raise this year because I had canceled out my boss’s vote.  And not 2 hours later, I am having a discussion totally unrelated to politics with someone, and that person makes a comment about how he ‘hates’ someone because of their vote for Kerry.

I work in the defense industry, so I am a rare liberal in a conservative-dominated field.  I get the same emails you do.  You know the ones, where if we elected Kerry the secret service would have to protect his 5 homes for his entire life (not true), or about how his wife supposedly gives money to terrorist organizations (also not true).  The difference is that I get them as a single recipient, not a mass mailing, and get a
LOT of them.  They are aimed directly at me because they know, just by my lack of willingness to discuss politics with them, that I am a liberal.

I voted for John Kerry.  He wasn’t the best man for the job, but he sure is better than what we have now.  You voted for George W.  I don’t understand that, but that is YOUR choice, and THAT my friend is the beauty of living in a free country.