Rainey Blogs on Some Days

My daughter dictated this little essay to me just before her second birthday based on her experiences being a third child. I’m almost two now, but I’ve already learned a thing or two. Like I don’t like to sleep alone. Yeah, parents nowadays try to break children but mine couldn’t break me. Started out with my own crib as most babies do, but that was really more like being in prison. Those wooden slats--of course my parents were too cheap to get me my own new crib, so I had to use my sisters' old, dangerous drop-side crib--were just like prison bars to me, keeping Mommy and Daddy beyond my reach. So as soon as I could, I showed them I could climb out. Of course, when you’re less than one year old, you’d think a parent would be there to catch you. Boy, was I ever wrong. My Mommy and Daddy were both in the room, yet I managed to do a half flip and land on the back of my head. My Daddy, who was closest, just stood there and watched. It was then that I realized my first big lesson in l...

Anton Chekhov , the great Russian playwright, said, "Any idiot can face a crisis; it is this day-to-day living that wears you out." A couple of years ago, my oldest daughter took her written driving test at the Lodi Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) after a harrowing trip from our house to get there. We left home at 7:25am. Our goal was to leave at 7:15am. It was my fault because even the slightest variation to my daily routine completely throws me off, even though we were planning to leave even later than I normally do when I go to work. We were still OK leaving a little late because we needed to meet the driving instructor at 7:45am, but the trip to Lodi from Leonia should have only taken about 20 minutes on a normal day. But when we got on Route 46 West not far from our house, we immediately ran into a complete closure near the Pathmark in Fort Lee. I managed to get to the shoulder, exit into the Pathmark parking lot and hurry through sides streets in Pal Park so we cou...