R-E-S-P-E-C-T put a little self in the front of that for me

The boys slept on the floor of my room last night. I love that feeling that they don’t want to be a part from me and I love that feeling. Spencer was up at the crack of dawn wanting to go play wii. I had to force him go back to sleep til 8, so then at 8:01 boom he was up playing. That is the best alarm clock in the world for him. He could be dead asleep then in an instant wide awake headed to wii. Max and I got up and went to breakfast. That’s our special time. He’s really bothered by me keeping information from him. Not telling him the whole story.

I took the boys to their counseling session with county services. This is something that X set up for the kids. I figured counseling couldn’t hurt. So Im glad she did that. When I walked into the reception area…It was culture shock in a major way. Most of the people waiting were people there to get services from the county. Unemployment, food stamps, domestic violence/counseling, job training were the norms, I think. Im comfortable in most situations, but there was this one older, overweight lady telling tales of getting in barfights, and the boyfriends that did her wrong over the years. Speaking of prison time and such. Several other similar characters stood out too. The boys weren’t witness to any of this, which was good, they were already into see their counselor. Now I don't think Im a racist because these were my peers, as they were all right. I don't think Im an elitist as I can remember when I needed services from the country when I lived in Los Angeles. (There by the grace of God goes I) So how can I put this to paint a better picture? So essentially, I was in room full of white people where teeth were not much of a priority. . Im exposed to many different cultures and socio-economic statuses overseas. Most of the people I come into contact with over in the Middle East don’t have a lot in terms or resourced. I heard it said before…that if you woke up in the U.S. this morning you are already 80% richer than the rest of the world. All these people that I was surrounded with woke up in the U.S. So by default, they were better off than many pakistani’s Sri Lankans, and Indians that work along side of me . But there was a big difference between them and the people at the county. It wasn’t just the money. I think it was the self-respect. These people didn’t seem to have any self-respect and that was the sad part. While the people Im with over in Bahrain…the laborers. Have an incredible work ethic. They work 70-80 hours a week in the seering sun, in unsafe conditions, make a paltry $250 a month, send most of it to their family and they never complain. You’d think they would resent me making so much more money (by comparison) than they. But it’s the exact opposite…they treat me with such respect and even admiration. Its quite a culture contrast I experienced today. I know the U.S. is the greatest country in the world, but I saw a little bit of the underbelly today. As far as the counseling went…it was great. They called me in the latter part of it, so Max could express himself to me directly. He was just really frustrated that I wasn’t explaining my reasons or point of view in certain circumstances. He was quite emotional about it. I think we finally came up with a term he could understand and accept. “If you can’t say something good about someone…don’t say anything at all.” So I think that was ok that I told him that. Im pretty comfortable that Im doing all the right things with the kids. But still I have to be careful, X and new hubby read this blog every day (even though they said they would block it from their house) so Im sure they are searching for items which may incriminate me in their minds, so I just have to be extra cautious.

After the session, I took the boys to a place called a movie tavern. It’s a cool thing where you eat at tables, order food and watch a first run movie. We watched Ice Age and all had a great time. We came back to the house so I could be beaten by Spencer in a game of baseball on the Wii….and then we went off to play 36 holes of mini golf. Max isn’t into mini-golf, so I gave him money to the play the arcade. All in all….a pretty good day.