Here I Am

I suppose the inaugural post on any blog should be an introduction, so where should I begin? I am 26 years old. I'm a mother to B, who is this incredible 5 year old (although if he knew I was writing this he would clarify that he is 5 and a half thankyouverymuch!). I'm also married to M, who I've known since I was 10. Since I'm like most moms and my kid is my world, I'll start by telling you about him.

B constantly surprises me with his heart and wit and smarts and view on the world (and a whole bunch of other things, because what mama doesn't think her kid is just the greatest and most unique?). We live in a run down fishing town in Oregon that is riddled with meth users and hippies, or at least those are the visible portions of the population. Outside of our Walmart SuperCenter on any given day stands someone who is presumably homeless with a cardboard sign (only a handful seem to be honest with their declarations of "Why lie I want a beer"). One day after shopping, we were sitting at the traffic light next to a 30-something year old guy with a sign. I turned up the radio a bit and looked the other way, not because I'm heartless but these people just make me uncomfortable-we don't struggle, but we certainly don't have anything extra to give at the end of the month either and I commonly experience a guilt surge. Anyways, B asks me what the man's sign says, so I read it for him. "It says 'Hungry. Need Work.'" B then asks me if anyone will give him a job and if we can give him money, so I launch into an explanation of how to get a job, the resources available  for homeless people, and the fact that some of these people might use any money we give them for bad things like drugs or alcohol.

At this point, I'm mentally high-fiving myself for a good talk, like most parents should do every now and then. B took a few moments to mull everything over, gave me a reply of "I wish we could help. No one should be hungry", then picked up his Nintendo DS.

Well, shoot. I just received the lesson. So after we put the groceries away at home, I got him back in the car, went back to Walmart, had him choose some non-perishables, and we dropped them off at the soup kitchen. It took a 5(and a half) year old to remind me of the little things we can do every now and then to help one another.

Until next time,
-S