More Evidence for My Insanity Plea: Premonitions

Look, I'm not saying I'm clairvoyant or anything.

What I am saying is that sometimes I have dreams, and they come true. My grandmother was known to read tea leaves and, by all accounts, was quite accurate.

Most of the time, I don't actually remember the particulars of a "seeing" dream until I'm in the middle of the situation the dream foretold. I'll be having a conversation with someone and realize I've had the exact same conversation before - in my dream. It's a weird déjà vu-like thing that's happened to me since I was a kid, and I've learned to mostly ignore it.

Sometimes, though, I have dreams that I do remember, and they seem like things that COULD happen in the future.

Last night, I dreamed that for some reason, Mr. Wright and I were in separate cars before we went to the airport to fly out to Japan. He was one place, and I was another. We were both engaged in last-minute activities (I was dropping the toddlers off to stay with their brother, Omri, and his family; I have no idea what Mr. Wright was doing) that needed to be tended to before the flight.

We were not close to one another in distance or driving time, by the way.

Upon arriving at Omri's house, I discovered that the bags I'd packed for the girls were, in fact, in Mr. Wright's vehicle. Checking the time, I realized there was no possible way to wait for him to drive them over. I called his cell, and he said he'd drop the bags off with a relative, who would deliver the bags to Omri's house.

The next thing I remember is meeting Mr. Wright at the airport. Only then did we realize that we'd left my bags in Mr. Wright's car - where he parked it, OVER HALF AN HOUR AWAY. That meant an hour, round-trip, to retrieve my bags. Oh, and we'd miss our flight, of course.

When I woke up, I pushed the dream out of my mind. How silly! Of course, we'd be in the same car. We wouldn't get separated, so there was no danger of bags being in the wrong place... unless we actually forgot to put them in the car to begin with.

What a relief!

So... I just got a call from Mr. Wright. "Listen," he said, "I have to take the displays for the home show over to my brother, so I'll drive the SUV on Monday, and you can take the girls to Omri's in the sedan. We'll leave the SUV at my brother's house, and we can meet up..."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" I screamed, not letting him finish. "Trust me. I KNOW how that idea will turn out."

We've formulated another plan: I'll follow him to his brother's house, then we'll go to Omri's together.

Do you have any "gifts" for seeing things before they happen? Tell me all about it, so I won't feel like such a freak.



Photo credits:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44835687@N05/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lopolis/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Bad Gratitude Monday (Gratitude from the Road)

I'm on the road today, posting from the passenger seat of my very full Expedition. We're headed to Washington State University for Princess's orientation. See the pic of my full car? It's tough to think that our car will never will this full again. *sniffle*

What am I grateful for? Let's see...

1. One of Mr. Wright's assailants, Tattooed Necklace Guy, was arrested. The detective says that he's asking the prosecutor to pursue this case as a hate crime, which would make it a felony in Washington state. Hopefully, with the pressure of a felony hanging over his head, Tattooed Necklace Guy will be inspired to plea bargain his way to fingering his accomplices.

2. The adoptions for Curlytop and Snugglebug are almost done! Our attorney should be receiving the last packet of information and preparing the decree of adoption and other documents needed to secure a court date for finalization this week. We got word from the adoptive family of the girls' brother, Omri, that his adoption has finalized. Soon, all three of the kids will be "official!"

3. After two solid weeks of battling infections and general crud, I'm feeling much better and almost 100% back to my good old snarky self.

What are YOU grateful for?

Bad Gratitude Monday (on Friday)

It's taken me all week to get to my gratitude post. I suppose I've been overlooking small, daily gratitude opportunities in my manic scramble to organize the upcoming Motherhood: From Egg to Zine (and everything in between) show, but yesterday, I got my gratitude socks knocked off, and I couldn't put off the weekly gratitude any longer.

1. The officer assigned to Mr. Wright's assault left a voicemail stating, "We're ready to charge the three guys who jumped you... We've located two witnesses and have some suspect photos for you to look at."

2. The adoption support division called to say that both Curlytop and Snugglebug have been approved for adoption subsidy. That means they'll get medical coverage from the state until they graduate high school. It will cover their speech therapies, physical therapies, sensory integration therapies, occupational therapies and cognitive therapies. Treatment and monitoring of Curlytop's epilepsy will be covered. In-home nebulizers for Snugglebug's asthma and emergency room visits for steroidal treatments when she can't breathe will be covered. If the girls need counseling in the future to sort out their feelings about their birth parents, it will be covered.

I was actually so relieved after getting off the phone with the adoption support worker that I broke down and cried.

3. Finalization for the adoption of the girls' half-brother, Omri, should take place within the next week or two. The family who is adopting him had been in - as his adoptive mom calls it - "adoption hell" for the past several months, hitting paperwork snag after paperwork snag. Finally, blessedly, it appears that all of the documents are in order and the court is ready to proceed with finalization.

We are in frequent communication with Omri's adoptive family, with whom he has lived for most of his five years. Our families have both determined that building a relationship between the three children is a top priority for all of us. The children, even at this young age, know about one another, and we visit in person as often as possible.

I'm grateful, too, for Omri's adoptive mom, who is biologically the great-aunt to Omri, Curlytop and Snugglebug. She is the tribal family link to our girls' Native American heritage - a heritage we embrace, treasure, value and are dedicated to passing on to our daughters.

4. My column sparked another impassioned letter to the editor... and this time, it wasn't hate mail.

It was, instead, a totally supportive letter, affirming my point of view in my piece, Don't Lie for Me, Argentina? Cue warm fuzzies and feelings of validation.

What are YOU grateful for?