The Wringer

The paper is done. Printed, stapled... I don't feel like sitting through a lecture tonight. I wish I could just hand it in and walk out.

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Things have gone okay lately. Took the kids to see their grandparents in Corsicana Sunday.

I take great pleasure in the new things THEGIRL says from time to time. At the dinner table she burst out with a very clear, "I like chicken!" much to everyone's amusement.

And she can say "Pocahontas" with startling clarity.

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I introduced THEBOY to drugs the other night.

Wow that sounds bad.

No, he's got all these old comics in his room, and we usually read one at bedtime. He happened to pick a Teen Titans which was really a thinly-veiled PSA. And one of the characters, a kid, DIED!

I hesitated briefly when I realized what was going on. Shoot, he's not yet six. But I couldn't come up with a compelling reason to avoid the topic either. I might have bailed out if I'd known someone would DIE.

And he cried at the end... he wanted to know if drugs are real, and if real bad guys sell them.

Aaaaaah shoot.

I won't go all "after schoo special" on you, but I explained to him that I know more about drugs than anyone he's ever likely to meet, and that one of my jobs as his parent will be to make sure he doesn't have to worry about drugs. It was the safest truthful answer I could come up with on the spot.

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Current music: "Here Comes a Regular" by the Replacements.

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My birthday is this month. I'll bet anyone who thinks they know when it is won't be right.

(It's a trick question)

***

And I glance over at the paper and the cover page is printed in Courier, whereas the rest of the paper is in Times New Roman. Ah crap.

***

KM went well today, more or less. Man, he put us through the wringer! Lots of one-minute drills. Over and over we did drills where we just pummeled the bag with punches, kicks or combos for a minute. Try it. I held up okay.

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Snack time. Be good.