Growing through Fire

Sometimes it is nice to get out and about and do things that are peaceful. Thursday was that day. I took a leap of faith and went out for a hike with a girl I didn't know, off a couch surfing website. She was in town for a day and wanted nothing more than to get out as her hosts were a bit home-bodied. We went to the Mica mines, but ended up derailed in a wrong turn down to Rough Canyon trail. Man, it was rough! Oh my! My body hurts a LOT today, but it was so very worth the company and the opportunity. We spoke at length about her desire to travel and not finish school because she would be forced into a degree that she wasn't sure she wanted.
Wait, you have a scholarship to a private college in San Diego and your parents are taking care of the remainder of your expenses, and you would prefer to work as a housekeeper in Alaska?
Yes.
Why...?
Well, there's this guy... and it might be good... and I want to see if it could be.
Well, ok, love makes us do really stupid things. All the stupider if it's young love. We each have a path and we walk it from birth until death. Living in fear is just as much a path as living on the edge and every variation inbetween. So one might as well live it to the degree that brings them satisfaction of some kind. Satisfaction, in turn, can look like everything from gluttony to martyrdom, choose carefully.
After the hike, I worked, then went to a training for the Harvest Ministries so that I could take care of the converts at the harvest america event on saturday. That was nice, although a girl came with her fettuccini alfredo and it made me very hungry for it!
I did an estimate that was obviously far above what the potential client could afford, and then called my dad to see if he could help with the tuition for the Klemmer event. I haven't heard back from him yet, so I'll call him tomorrow.
Today was fun! well, ok that's an overstatement. I woke early to go to a potential client's house for the wraps. We chatted for 2 1/2 hours and at the very end she finally signed up as a distributor!!! I am so excited! I am only one small order away from a bonus from my dear cousin/upline. Soon i shall qualify for a promotion which will grant me more income.
I then went and did an estimate, and the woman hired me to clean for her, which is excellent. Then I went to clean another house for a current client.
After that, I picked green beans and okra in the rain with little more than a sweatshirt to shield me, while listening to a book on my ipod. It was a lovely experience! The weather was so cold that a massive bumble bee sat on a leaf as I worked around it. Several ladybugs also hid from the rain on leaves all around me, and I considered how nice it would be to join them for some rest. I heard a strange sound behind me and turned to see a family of quail running through the garden. It was a lovely sight, and they make funny noises.

Today I had a wonderful visit with my kids. There is very little season left in which to enjoy the park, so we are enjoying the park. I try very hard to get pictures of the kids every time I go, but Abi so rarely holds still that it makes it difficult to get a good photo. Regardless, I snapped several blurry photos of the kids when I had my hands free (Zoe is always holding one of them reluctantly).
I arrived at the park a few minutes early and had a nice short conversation with my sister, in which she made a very feeble attempt to veil the lack of desire to see me, even when I was going to be much closer to her in a month. I asked her to come see me in San Francisco when I go next month, and she said she couldn't because she would be in Montana visiting Race and my stepdad with her boyfriend. I'm glad she is visiting them, but it hurts to know that she hasn't made any effort to see me at all in the past 10 years unless someone else paid for it. Even when she was in Colorado, she didn't come to see me. She went to see my kids, which is nice. She then lied and said she was never here to begin with. It hurts.
Anyway, back to the kids. I watched them pull up, Dave in another car this time. It is good that this car is better than the last one, a 1980's green dented BMW with a pole holding the front drivers seat upright and more food & trash on the floor than metal in the frame. This one is a tan Buick LeSabre, about 20 yrs old, with leather interior and none of the carseats properly fastened to said leather interior. Sebastian easily moved Abi's carseat 12-18 inches away from the back because it was crowding him. I had a mild panic attack. I cannot pretend that I don't harbor ill feelings towards my family at this point, but I won't let that alter my life. Too much.
The kids were excited to see me and jumped out of the car. Sebastian shared some Harry Potter jelly beans with me and they were, indeed, gross. I believe they came out of the car's ashtray to begin with, but the flavors didn't help either. We went to the table and sat, but the kids said they weren't hungry, so we went to play.
Side-note: It is very difficult to go play at a park with your kids for a mere 90 minutes per week whilst under the scrutiny of a biased observer. Do anything that she regretted doing when her kids were little and you'll see it on your report next week. Do anything that she deems anything other than perfect-parent-performance, and it ends up in your report as a weakness to be worked on. It's annoying. It's terrible. No parent should ever experience this without cause or reason. We had an extra observer today, Dorothy Rinderle. Dorothy is CASA and has her own agenda. I've caught her in lies but it doesn't matter. She doesn't care about ethics, she cares about her agenda. She is easily swayed by charm and my brother has a lot of it.
We played on the playground for almost the whole time. It was wonderful! Abi and Zoe wanted to go up the slides, so we played leapfrog. One comes down, I lift the other out of the way onto the top of the slide so she can slide down next. We played together with Sebastian, it was all so wonderful! I love my kids :-)
Zoe thought it would be hilarious to try to run to the road. She also thought it was fun to flip herself to the ground while I was holding her hand. Big smiles! It was lovely! We climbed, played monster, played leapfrog, kissed boo-boos, hugged, and the potty adventure began. Sebastian went his way, and I went with the girls to the ladies. Zoe went first (she's nearly potty trained!) and then Abi, and sebastian waited at the door as soon as he was done.