HOW RUDE!

Today I took my two little boys to Home Depot to waste some time while our car was being serviced. After shopping we were standing outside getting lemonade and a bagel. My youngest (16 months) was in his stroller and my oldest (almost 4 yrs) was sitting on top. Two men walked out of the store and were passing by to get in line and as they passed they started talking to my children, as some people do ('hi', 'how are you', 'what's your name' etc.). But then one of the men said something that I couldn't believe. He says to my kids 'Are you gonna be little gangsters when you grow up? I bet you are, you two are going to be troublemakers'. I was absolutely flabbergasted. How dare some random stranger suggest my children are bad and going to be in gangs! It's not like my children were dressed in gang colors or some designer clothing that is associated with gangs. They were dressed in a Polo shirt, a Harry Potter shirt, and jeans. I wanted so much to scream at this man, tell him how completely out of place and rude his comments were. But I was just too stunned. The worst thing is, this man may have had no idea what he was saying. He was a white, middle-aged man getting stuff to do a construction job. But then again that's rather judgemental of me -he may have known very well exactly what he was saying, but I'd like to think he didn't. I wanted to ask this man why he would suppose my children would be troublemakers? For at the time they were being extremely well behaved. I wanted to inform this person that his comments were not only rude, but hurtful and that a lot of people's children do grow up and join gangs despite all the encouragement and good intentions of the parents. That this is hurtful because I have a family member who did grow up to participate in gang activity, despite the love and encouragement of his family. That it is hurtful because I know children in my son's preschool class who do wear gang colors and flash gang signs in class pictures. That it is hurtful because I worry every day about what will become of my children. if I am raising them right? if they will be well-adjusted, loving people who contribute to society? Who the hell is this man to judge my children? What would he think if I judged his?

My Dad's Canadian!

I was on the computer reading the news last week and came across this headline stating 'you may be Canadian and not know it'. I thought that sounded intriguing so I clicked on the article. Turns out that with all the new immigration and passport laws between the US and Canada they want to make things easier on people (well it's good one government in the world does). As I understand it from reading the article and watching the commercial Waking Up Canadian if you are a first generation born in America and one or more of your parents was born in Canada you are now considered a Canadian and may apply for proof of Canadian citizenship.
My Grandpa Hawkin immigrated with his sister to Washington state from Quebec. On my dad's birth certificate under father's place of birth it states 'Canada'. My father was then born many years later in the US. I called up my father the other day and informed him that he is Canadian. He replied, 'yeah, I'm French-Canadian' and I explained the new law to him. 'Wow' came the voice on the other end of the phone, 'don't they have good health coverage? I'll have to look into that'.

You can watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDeDQpIQFD0

sick, sick, sick

I hate being sick. First one person in the house gets it, then we all get it. the runny nose, the endless tissues, the pounding head, the shivers, the hot flashes. When will it come to an end? What's even worse -i was supposed to go out of town this weekend to see my cousin's concert. i'm putting off telling her i can't go because there's still that little ray of hope that i'll miraculously get better in the next two days. nothing good about being sick, can't even put off all the chores because my family needs laundry and they're all sick too. this sucks!