Kids-n-Keys #61

Kids-n-Keys #61
by Sandi Layne

Birthday

Today is Cyclone’s birthday. He’s ten years old. It’s not hard at all to remember exactly where I was, ten years ago. In a hospital room in California. Puffy from being overhydrated during labor, and with a fever of 106 due to the sheer physical stress I’d been under for more than two days.

People say that you don’t remember the pain of labor, in the joy of having given birth. It’s a lie. I remember everything. It was worth it, of course. Worth every excruciating moment.

Movie

Speaking of excruciating moments… “Have you seen it?” was the catch phrase at church last Sunday. It says something for Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion of the Christ, that no one had to ask what “it” meant. Everyone knew.

I was, and am, in a minority among my church friends. I haven’t gone to see the movie. This is not due to any deep need to protest a film (as it was with Titanic) or due to an objection to the subject matter or presentation of Christ’s sacrifice for me.

It’s just because I don’t have a babysitter.

Birthday Movie

Not having a babysitter kept our family from seeing the Oscar® Sweeping Movie, Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King. However, this week the Spousal Unit and I are playing Tag Team Parenting in celebrating Cyclone’s birthday. One of us is taking him out for dinner at, drumroll please?, In-n-Out Burgers. Now, this is a wonderful “burger joint” and their fries are incredible. Cyclone loves this place and has requested a trip here for his birthday dinner.

Then, it’ll be Tag!, and the other parent will take Cyclone to see RotK.

Kids

See, there has to be a parent at home to be with Scooter. Who, for your information, is rapidly working himself up a new nickname: Escape Artist.

This kid is scary. He unlocks doors. So I think we’ll be investing in upper latches for all the exterior doors, just to keep him inside. However, I have to applaud his ingenuity. Even if he is making me nuts and keeping from writing.

Keys

Yes, I haven’t forgotten that this is my primary, non-family occupation. But I haven’t been able to do much, lately. My brain has been jumbled.

You see, the Spousal Unit is being transferred. We’re going to be moving from the Dry Heat of the Aridzona Desert to the not-so-dry, not-so-hot Gulf Coast of Florida. Add the concerns of moving a family of four to the joys of the Escape Artist and the trials and tribulations of The Irish Novel… Well, something has had to give.

And family comes first.

Yet, the keyboard calls to me. I’m learning how to write a new way for a new job I’ve stumbled into. Actually, I can’t really say “stumbled.” I believe that the Lord set this one up, and it promises to be interesting.

No, it’s not journalism. Neither is it short fiction or tech writing. This is for a comic book, believe it or not. The creator/artist is a Christian himself, with a wife and four kids and he and I see eye to eye on many things, but we come at the business of writing from totally opposite directions. Which is a great thing for a partnership.

Kids and Keys

The life of the working writer can be completely chaotic when children enter the scene. But I believe in Proverbs 27:17 (thanks, Hotspur!)

“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens the wit of another.”

I truly believe that children can sharpen the wit of the writer, if only they allow themselves to be open to the divine hand in their life.

One Plus One Plus One Plus One

My children sharpen my wit. So does my spouse. I hope and pray that I can sharpen the wit of others, via one medium or another. Between birthdays, movies, moving, and tapping away at my keyboard, I try to serve and share.

And that is why we’re here, right? To serve our God and to share his love.

So, let’s sharpen one another, one person at a time.

Sandi Layne's new book, Garrison's Girl, is now in print. Sandi's homepage is:
www.sandilayne.com, and you can email Sandi at: sandilayne@sandilayne.com