Music To My Ears

This has been a strange summer for me because my kids are getting older and I’ve come to the conclusion that they would probably rather be with their friends than with me. I’ve managed to sneak in one family zoo day, but it seems every other day has been tied up with either work or one of them has plans with somebody.

Saturday morning I declared “Family Trip to the Lake County Fair Day”. I’m not sure why I insisted on going because my husband had to work, Daughter #1 had a babysitting job, it was 100 degrees and the other three kids really didn’t want to go. Needless to say, by the time we got there I was already cranky. We walked in and the first attraction we saw was called the Sideshow Museum. The sign outside boasted a two-headed turtle. We paid the $1 per person entry fee and walked in. I don’t know what I was expecting but it certainly wasn’t live animals. There were several live animals there with rather severe deformities, which was sad enough but they didn’t look well cared for at all. The rest of the exhibit was animals with various birth defects that were in jars preserved in formaldehyde. One of the last exhibits was positively sickening…human conjoined twins. The sign said they were born in 1950 and died shortly after birth. I can’t even understand how someone would let their children be stuck in a jar like that and put on display in some $1 freak show. We were mortified. So much for fine family entertainment.

I tried to shake the image by visiting some other attractions but my son was upset by the calf-roping at the rodeo and my daughters were scared of the camel rides and the goats at the petting zoo. Perhaps we just aren’t “County Fair People”. We had a better time singing along with the radio in the car on the way home.

We got home and Daughter #3 gets a phone call inviting her to go to the very same Fair that she didn’t like. She wants to go back so she can be with her friends. Go figure.

Daughter #2 and I were left alone for the rest of the day so we decided to do a little rock-chicking at a Bottoms Up show. Daughter #2 and I share a love of music. She is quite a talented musician, plays four instruments and is a member of five different bands in school. If you live in the Chicago area, get out and check out Bottoms Up. They play all your favorite party rock hits from four decades and it’s always a good time. Check them out and see their schedule at: www.thebottomsupband.com. Daughter #2 got to go up on stage and sing and play the tambourine during the big finale and is still on Cloud 9.


Yesterday afternoon I spent some time visiting family in visiting from Atlanta and thankfully, yesterday evening I patched things up with my friend and our daughters, too. I was hoping that if the girls just spent a little time together, things would be back to normal and I was right. The girls went to a movie and when I dropped them off, I wasn’t sure how it was going to go because they did look a little uncomfortable. When I picked them up two hours later, they were laughing hysterically and I can’t tell you how relieved I was to hear “Miss Jessica, can I sleep over?” Like music to my ears.