Tuesday, January 20, 2009

red, white and pink

I almost made it through the first one minute of the inauguration without crying...until Grace started asking why today was so special--and then the flood gates opened!! I'm sure nothing i said made sense to her as i rambled off some bit of history and a bit about racism (realizing, again, that she truly doesn't see race yet...i'm wondering when it'll come) and slavery (which she rightfully compared to Cinderella), but it made the moment all the more memorable for me. Now, i did not vote for Obama because he's black, neither do I believe that he won because he's black and I don't think he'll make a better president because he's black...but i do think that today is a day most of us will never forget because he is black.

. . . and because of that AWESOME benediction!!! "when brown can stick around"??? -- that was great :)
My sister was telling me about a sign, or bumper sticker that she saw that she just loved. I liked the first three lines of it, but the last line was a bit anti-climatic. Anybody have a good ending for it? it goes like this:

Rosa Parks sat so that
MLK could stand so that
Obama could run so that
________ can ______

Anybody? Anybody?

Now on to the "pink." We have had pink eye going around our house for the past 11 days. It started with me and my AWFUL sinus infection that had kept us in the house for 5 days before the outbreak. So my sinus infection led to my conjunctivitis (pink eye)
which, 2 days later led to Eliza's pink eye, which, 3 days later led to Abby's pink eye, which, 2 days later led to Grace's pink eye, which, 2 days later led back to Eliza re-getting pink eye!!! My poor baby just finished her 7-day antibiotic ointment treatment, and 2 days later got it again!!!
Just shoot me now, somebody. Cause Abby's still hasn't cleared up, Eliza's got it now--we're honestly just going to keep giving it back and forth to each other for the rest of our lives!!!!! At least Grace's went away with a very simple home remedy that my dear friend, Sarah, introduced us to (which unfortunately didn't work for her sisters). Putting in that ointment is the most dreaded thing of my day. i have to pin Abby down (kicking, screaming, spitting, biting, etc) FOUR TIMES A DAY just to get that stuff in her eyes--for SEVEN DAYS!!!! Even Eliza really mastered the dodging of the ointment!!
We haven't seen our friends, been to church, or basically left the house since we got back from Christmas break! Luckily my girls have been pretty sweet, Eliza's 2nd tooth is all the way thru (which means i'm sleeping at night again), the weather's been REALLY nice, we have a fantastic backyard, and really we're not totally going crazy yet...but it's about to happen, i can feel it. And i really don't know how to get this out of our systems!! Does anybody out there have ANY advice besides burning our house down or living in bubbles????

11 comments:

carie said...

..Equality Can Stay.

carie said...

alright, i know it was dumb and I should have thought of something less cheesy for the poem, but i am happy about yesterday too. And I too tried to explain racism to my young daughter. She just didn't understand, which is so pure. She also said when she grows up she wants to vote for Obama.

Amy Brown said...

I'm with you... my flood gates opened before everyone even finished arriving!! Ollie kept coming over, giving me hugs and saying "I'm going to give you a hug so you're happy Mommy." I tried to explain that sometimes people have happy tears...

emilyaaa said...

carie--i like "equality can stay" better than "our children can play"--which is what the bumper sticker said. I guess i feel like children have been able to play freely for decades...but maybe i'm wrong--i know i'm more naive than i'd like to think :)

Sarah said...

Mahri came home from school with all sorts of knowledge yesterday about MLK and Rosa Parks and Obama. I did have to explain that MLK did NOT specifically make Obama win the election; that someone else could have done what he did, but how wonderful it is that more people are realizing all people, regardless of color, are children of God. She got that!

Nathan said...

Pink eye is the WORST! I had no idea you guys have it. I hate pink eye. I told Alisa I'd rather have two broken legs than pink eye.

I loved yesterday. That crowd, holy cow! I only read about that prayer and I do have a tough time with how he ended it "and when white will embrace what is right." as if we haven't just proven that actually can do that. The rest was great though and the other prayer was just as good

Cassi said...

I know..what a neat day. We are here in D.C. in the thick of it. Which is cool to say, but really with freezing weather, a toddler, and a newborn I didn't leave the house. But I watched it on tv with a little more understanding of the mass of people. It really was historic.

Adrie Peterson said...

Emily,
About the pinkeye: if it's VIRAL(which I'm assuming it is since it doesn't look like you all have the gooey kind of pinkeye), then whoever has it should be o.k. after several days, as the body just needs to clear the virus on its own--which takes time. If it is the bacterial kind, which is very gooey, you'll want antibiotics to clear that up. Luke had a terrible sinus infection (viral) that spread to pinkeye. I found out it happened because he would plug his nose when he sneezed, thus the gunk would go in his tear ducts, and into his eyes. Anyway, after about 9 days, it eventually went away, and none of us got it. But, if your family gets very gooey eyes several times a day, you might just want to "bite the bullet" and go on antibiotics, as sometimes the bacteria can damage the eyes if it's the bad kind...you don't want that. Sorry this was so long. Loved your post!

Team Millward said...

I've got nothing. I'm sure Mike could come up with some smart A rhyme though! Anyway, I loved watching the inauguration as well. I think the most touching thing for me was to hear Obama's story from childhood on up. He's just proof that anyone can do it. Hell, maybe I'll run. I'm much better than Hilary, right? Good luck with the pink eye. I hope we recognize you guys next time we see you since it's been forever!!!!!!!!

Karen said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Jayme said...

While I appreciate the historic nature of what took place this past week, I have to admit that I was not among those celebrating. Obama’s views differed so radically from my own beliefs that I could not be happy about him becoming president just because of the color of his skin. That is a non-issue for me. What is an issue for me is that one of the first actions he took as president was to authorize my tax dollars to be used for abortions.

I was actually incredibly offended by the benediction. I could not believe that he prayed for the “whites” to embrace what is right. That seems to be fostering the divide instead of unifying us. I truly hope that racism will die and that everyone will be treated the same, no matter their skin color or beliefs. Unfortunately, I think we see a lot of hatred now directed at those who are religious and have conservative views. Look at the fallout from Proposition 8. Mormons have been called “un-American” solely because we expressed our views. We have been threatened, boycotted, and harassed because we had an opinion that differed from what the liberal media deemed acceptable. I continue to pray that all views will be able to be freely expressed and that people will continue to retain all of the freedoms that our founding fathers fought for.

I do actually have a lot of hope for our country and will continue to pray for our leaders, even if I don’t agree with them. After all, America is the place where we can agree to disagree and still all get along. :)