15 minutes

Andy Warhol said every one gets them. William just did.

Always fascinated by the stories sent in by children to the church magazine, THE FRIEND, two years ago William sent in his own. We read the instructions and he wrote up his story. We addressed and mailed off his story, William full of hope that it would soon appear. I, on the other hand, read the fine print that advised that submissions, IF used, would take up to a year to appear in the magazine. Well, that year came and went and much to William's disappointment, no story, and he settled into an acceptance, there probably wouldn't be one.

Until...

This evening ,while looking through email, stumbled across one from a classmate congratulating William on being in the Friend.
He doesn't know yet. But will sit down to see it by his breakfast plate in the morning. I can't wait to see his face. Hope fulfilled and 15 minutes begun.

Change is Good

As of recent, the old adage/cliche "Change is Good" has been a recurrent theme around our home. The impending inauguration is inciting a sense of excitement and hope and a belief that our country is in for a positive change of direction.

One change will often inspire a plethora of more change. (Just ask anyone who has ever started redecorating a room in their home.)
William seems to be the target of most of the changes being inspired. However, he is the Barber most reluctant to change, so this has been an interesting process. Next year, William will (amazingly) be a 5th grader. It is a time in our school district to reevaluate the direction of his education as there are several other options available starting with 5th grade. The school in which we are most interested, is a 5-8 middle school. Middle school definitely is a change. The curriculum is more intense and there are no co-oping parents. In other words, an enormous change. After a tour of the school, William was excited for the change. . .
3 hours later, not so much. He decided it was entirely too much of a change and wanted nothing to do with it. We have since negotiated an "open mind" policy to give him time to think about it.

In line with the "open mind" policy, Bill and I asked him to consider what kind of haircut he might like. That was met with a "NO WAY. I am not getting a hair cut. I like my hair the way it is." The phrase " I like (fill in the blank) the way it is" could be the boys' motto. Life creed, if you will. We waited a day and brought it up again. This was met with a loud groan and a solid "NO WAY". We waited another day and looked at some photos for inspiration. All of which were met with . . . (well you get the point). This morning we said we were going for the haircut and asked if he had decided on a style. He said "NO!", but then asked if he could go look in his comic books for inspiration. I said: "Sure, why not". He found some. And he was in for a BIG change. The shortest William's hair has ever been is about Romney's length. When I say "ever" I mean his entire life. We headed to the salon and let the clipping begin.



And the results:




William was a bit freaked out at first, but as the hours are rolling on, he is gradually gaining confidence with his new look.


And the last change of the day? Changing the bulk of our lighting to Compact Florescent bulbs. (Pretty exciting. Aren't you glad I didn't dedicate an entire post to that riveting change?)