Secular Confessions

I just had to send this email to the elementary school principal:

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I'm not sure if this has been reported or not, but I wanted to let you know what happened on the school bus that travels Prospect Valley Rd. in the afternoon.

My daughter Bobbie S_____r is a senior and she stayed late and rode the elementary bus with my other daughter, Sydney S_____r, Monday afternoon. They witnessed a little girl being bullied and harassed by a number of peers on the bus. The bullying consisted of the kids taunting her and telling her to go home and kill herself. They told her to stab herself in the chest and die. One kid said, "Who would be happy if ____ killed herself tonight?" and a great number of students raised their hands.

I believe the girl's name was Rebecca, but I'm not sure. I know she's in 2nd grade. My girls picked her flowers and went to her house after they all got of the bus to visit with her and make sure she was ok. They also spoke with her mother.

To say I'm heartsick to hear this is an understatement. I don't know who all was involved...maybe you could talk to Sydney or have someone question Bobbie for more details. I don't think this kind of teasing is the sort to file under "kids will be kids" especially in light of how many young children do in fact commit suicide after being taunted in such a way.

If I can be of any further assistance, just let me know.

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It's been busy-both here and at work. I can't believe I didn't think to write this email first thing this morning because I feel so sick for that little girl. I think the kids that participated in that bullying need to be punished and I couldn't let this incident go by without bringing it to someones attention.

Second grade? Holy crap. That's just scary. Were the bullies in second grade too?

I loved the makeup. I couldn't get the eyeshadow or liner to look right so I just went with very light foundation, mascara and blush and eyebrow pencil and usually gloss in natural pink or a darker pink.

I'm glad you liked teaching.

There were always bullies, in my experience, but I cannot recall anyone telling another student to go kill themselves. I don't know how this 'fad' started, but it needs to freaking stop. And yea, she's in 2nd grade. I'm afraid of what might happen if this bullying continues.

Omg, that is beyond awful, Chrissy. I hope those kids get in to big trouble and learn to value human life more than what they do now!

That is just horrible what happened to that little girl! Poor thing!

I hope the school does something or at least speaks to all the children regarding bullying and teasing.

And Myles I agree it is great that you apologized and got everything out in the open. You are a great lady.

I hope you have fun at the party Bridgett. I always have fun at my good friend's parties, she has about 3 a year and always invites kids. I do the same when I have a party. It's great you'll have help from your brother to keep up with the kids.

Erin

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Originally Posted by missychrissy

If I have any, I'm not aware of them. I guess on a subconscious level we all do, but I know I've put up with far more from Rich than I would from anyone else in this world. Maybe that's what love is, and where the 'unconditional' part comes in? Right now we're in a good place, so I won't rant and rave about him, but I do feel lingering bitterness way down deep for some of the stuff he's pulled.

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I can say pretty much the same.

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Originally Posted by daylilies

I need to be a fangirl for a minute, you'll have to excuse me. Gawd. The picture doesn't do him justice. You just have to see him in action-he's funny, goofy, sensitive, emotional, sexy and boyish, all at once.
At his show on the cruise I cried. His show was Broadway songs (he wanted to have a Broadway career when he was a kid, but then he joined nkotb) He did a song from Carousel about a guy who found out his wife's having a baby, and he's talking about what if it's a boy, what if it's a girl, and at the end it gets very powerful, and I had never ever heard him sing like that.

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OMG, I know that song! When I was growing up my mom had a songbook with that song in it and I used to read through the songbook and that song always made me stop. I never heard anyone sing it until much later but it's really powerful. I'm glad you got to hear that side of him, and I'm glad you had such a great time on your cruise! I agree, you look amazing and the make-up really suits you.

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Originally Posted by AmeriBrit

I had an awesome afternoon at the school today; I worked with 10 and 11 year olds on 2 lessons (and learned a lot of Islam-lol). One was a religious education class and the other was what they call a "topic" lesson. This has reinforced my desire to get back in to the classroom. I've typed up a reflective journal entry about the day and have lots of reading material to study.

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Great news!

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Originally Posted by missychrissy

I just had to send this email to the elementary school principal:

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:shocker: That's absolutely horrible.

It's a beautiful song Mandy! I couldn't find any of Joe singing it on youtube yet but I found one of Frank Sinatra and Joe did basically the same style (Sinatra is his idol)

The principal wrote back and said someone did report that incident this morning and they're handling it. She appreciated how my girls reached out to her. She said, " I appreciate the thoughtfulness and consideration your daughters showed. The way your children stepped forward is greatly appreciated."

I was more concerned with the well being of that little girl, but my girls did handle it very well. I'm proud of them. They went to her before either Rich or I got home...they just knew she needed a friend.

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Originally Posted by missychrissy

The principal wrote back and said someone did report that incident this morning and they're handling it. She appreciated how my girls reached out to her. She said, " I appreciate the thoughtfulness and consideration your daughters showed. The way your children stepped forward is greatly appreciated."

I was more concerned with the well being of that little girl, but my girls did handle it very well. I'm proud of them. They went to her before either Rich or I got home...they just knew she needed a friend.

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So for everything your girls have put you through ... this is how you know you're raising them right! :wub:

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Originally Posted by Gwenn

So for everything your girls have put you through ... this is how you know you're raising them right! :wub:

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Agreed :hugs:

:wub: They are pretty great, aren't they?

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Originally Posted by Gwenn

So for everything your girls have put you through ... this is how you know you're raising them right! :wub:

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Absolutely.

Where is Molly (Abbey'sMom)? I was thinking about her last night as she has been so helpful in helping me with Savana's behaviors.

I has a lot of fun at the party. There were lots of kids. Everyone, and I mean everyone wanted to hold Sawyer. He LOVED it! He is such a social little peanut. Savana and Kai were never like that. They always would cry for me. I really loved being able to share Sawyer's beautiful personality. Baby smiles are so joyful.

Okay, here is a story for you guys. One of the girl's at the party is very hippy-earth child. She has dreadlocks down her back, always barefoot, really sweet mama. Well, we were discussing how great Sawyer's skin is and I shared what my midwives had told me about not bathing a child the first week or so outside of washing the bits and any milk in the chin folds and such because the vernix(?) keeps a protective covering on them since their skin is so sensitive and thin.
WELL, said hippy was out of the room at the time and they told me that she LICKED her baby clean the first few weeks. Yowzas. I'm all for doing things the way nature intended but I was literally :shocker:. Not much shocks me about people but that is sure one that I have not heard before! :laugh:
I texted my currently pregnant friend to give her that great advice (she knows all these women too) and we were getting a little chuckle out of it.
Oh, and speaking of my pregnant friend, do you guys remember me telling you that her dad had been in that tree cutting accident leaving him paralyzed? Well, he passed away 2 weeks ago. He was suffering pretty badly so for the best but still really hard on her and I had to miss the funeral since I was in Canada. I dated her brother for 7-8 years so her family is like a second family to me. I'm going to go see her this weekend. She is my very best friend in the world (the one I moved to Hawaii with) and it's crazy how parallel our lives have been from the births of our children to the losing our parents. I really love her.

That's so sad about your friend's father. :(

and :shock: about licking your baby. I never heard of humans doing that either!

I'm glad you and the kids had a great time at the party. :vibes:

When I owed my bank a boat-load of money, I got someone to answer the phone every time I called. Sometimes I'd call 4 times in one day because I'd think of new questions. Now that we sent them our deposit, the system automatically routes my call (it says it can associate my number with our loan number, and I am automatically prompted to enter the last 4 digits of my soc). My call gets transferred to silence, each and every time! :headbang:

So I googled for my mortgage company's phone numbers and found a web site that said, "get live person" The 2nd number I tried worked. :P Arses--once they got our money, they weren't too interested in talking to me any further!!

Sorry about your friend's father, Bridget :( LOLing over licking your baby though! Glad you had a good time at the party.

Bridget, that child is going to die of embarrassment if he/she ever finds out about the licking baths.:laugh:

Hey I just wanted to tell the ladies I have on fb, if you could please not say anything about the pic with Joe that would be great. There was some drama between me and some of the girls on the boat and I know they'd be insanely jealous if they knew I got that picture. Thanks.

:hi: Hi! I'm finally back home and exhausted! And busy busy busy because when I'm out, my work just piles up for me. I'm happy to be back in my routine though and with DH and Cosmo. I missed them like crazy. I did not miss our gopher/gophers though....and natural repelents are not working so far. :pokey:

Kate, that is a GREAT picture! :)

Chrissy that is awful about that bullying but it is great that your girls stepped in and that you made sure that someone at the school knew about it.

Ashley, glad that you figured out something with your classes to make them work as best as you could. Scheduling can be such a PITA. That is great that your parents are supportive and you can quit that job!

Oh and licking the baby clean....ummm, no thank you!

Welcome back Jennifer!! :vibes:

I think I missed it Jennifer...where did you go?
And I forgot to ask Bridget how her trip was.

OMG! I forgot to tell you guys...I forgot my passport when I went!
The girl I was flying down with was super nice, didn't let me freak out about it and luckily one of her friends was flying down that night, so DH was able to meet her back in Boston and gave her my passport. It was scary for a while though.
To DH's credit, he was ready to fly down to Florida to give it to me if he had to. I'm such a dork. DH asked me in the morning if I had my visa, but I thought he meant my debit card and I said yes.

Kate, don't feel stupid. Dbf is Canadian and he forgot to bring him resident card with him when we went and they almost didn't let him back in the usa when we were returning. Then they were going to let him in for a fine of $580. Then they gave him a one time only pass. I can tell you I was nervous as hell about traveling with the 3 kids alone. It wouldn't have been a big deal except for that we were getting into Seattle late that night and stayed in a hotel. I would have felt nervous on the streets of Seattle by myself with the three kids waiting for the shuttle to pick us up.

The trip was good. His mom has gotten so much better at letting me be me and not telling me how I should be.

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Originally Posted by daylilies

DH asked me in the morning if I had my visa, but I thought he meant my debit card and I said yes.

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bwahahahahaha!!! omg! I can sooooo see myself doing that exact same thing, so don't think I'm laughing at you. I'm glad it worked out. I would have been very anxious too in your position.

I'm glad the trip went well!
I was posting my pics on fb and I found one of Joe that looks like he's looking right at me.
http://i55.tinypic.com/hv6uc7.jpg

Oh, he is so looking at you!

As we Joe girls like to say, "THUD." That's the sound of us fainting. :P

:laugh:

Kate, that is a good pic; I can see why people would be jealous.

Bridget, I'm glad your MIL is better with you now.

We fly out in just a week's time! I've got all our passports out and we are working on a check list to make sure we remember EVERYTHING! Aiee!

Yes, don't forget your passports! LOL Have a great time!

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Originally Posted by AmeriBrit

We fly out in just a week's time! I've got all our passports out and we are working on a check list to make sure we remember EVERYTHING! Aiee!

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:hooray: How exciting! I so wish we could meet up while you're on this side of the pond. *sigh* Maybe some day.

I wish we could meet up, too, Chrissy. Maybe one day. My Rich loves NYC so maybe we could meet up there some day. :-)