ID, Please

In the past, I got carded for beer.   In the present, I get carded for children's Sudafed. 

I had heard that people got carded for Sudafed, but I was a little surprised, and unprepared, when I went to pick up something for KZ's cough.  After speaking with the pharmacist, he told me that Sudafed was what she needed, but that I needed an ID.  I had just come back from running, with only my business card, a credit card, and $20 in cash on me. 

"Will my business card and credit card work?"  I asked.

 "No, I need a state issued ID.  I have to scan the bar code," he said.

 "Ok, I'll be back," I said.

 I returned about thirty minutes later, presented my ID and watched while he scanned it and entered all types of information into the computer.  I wondered to myself if bars actually go through such a process to ID people before they enter. 

 Then I started thinking about the numbers.  Meth labs are the reason why Sudafed is locked up.  People would buy it by the case, use simple chemistry to break out the meth, then make a bundle selling it.  But, how many people die from meth each year? It must have been a lot for such a public outcry to force Sudafed behind a locked counter.  Then I thought how many die from car accidents, which may or may not be caused by a drunk driver?  How many die from guns?  

I decided to do a little research.  Mind you, my research consisted of Google, so is not scientific, but I had to know.

 According to what I could find on meth, the last year there were records on the subject was 1998.  The number was 500 people.  I did see a few other sources that said 1,000 people, but nothing was exact.  

 Car accidents were the first leading cause of accidental death in the country, followed by gun violence.  According to a Forbes article I read, 

 http://www.forbes.com/sites/robwaters/2012/07/24/gun-violence-the-public-health-issue-politicians-want-to-ignore/

"gun violence is a public health issue, and a big one. In the 10 years from 2000 through 2009, more than 298,000 people died from gunshots in the U.S., about 30,000 people a year. If you exclude natural causes of death and consider only deaths caused by injury, it is the second-leading cause of death over that time span; only car accidents (417,000) killed more people. (These numbers come from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)"      

 So I ask you who go to clubs, do you have to present your ID, have it scanned, and the bouncer enter information on the computer, before you are allowed in?  One would think this would make sense with an average of 30,000 people dying in car accidents a year?  And those of you who buy guns, I know at gun shows, they don't even do a back ground check.  How much information do you have to give to buy a gun?

 I truly feel something is beyond screwed up in our country when a person has to go through more to prevent her daughter from coughing, than a drunk driver has to do before getting into a car, or crazy person has to do before buying a gun.  Now, what is a mother to do?  I'm not certain, but I do want to make a change.  Not necessarily to stop Sudafed from being locked up, but to make it harder to drink and drive, or shoot and kill.  

 

 

 

A Few Funny KZ-isms

Last week, KZ and I were with one of her friends.  The girls were running down the sidewalk on Central Park South playing Red Light/Green Light.  The girls, both 4, stopped to look at a man dressed as the Statue of Liberty.  I know these guys want money, and can get kind of nasty if you don't give it to them.

"Girls, let's not talk to the Statue of Liberty," I said.
 
KZ just rolled her eyes.

"Mom that is not the Statue of Liberty.  That is a man pretending to be the Statue of Liberty," she said. 

They then continued with their game of Red Light/Green Light. 

I guess they told me.

______


It's been cold here in New York City -- Chicago cold.  The temps have been in the low teens with wind chills sub zero.  I wanted her to wear her coat, boats, hat, scarf, and mittens.  She did not. 

"KZ, please put on your mittens," I said, while negotiating with her to put then on.

"Mommy, it is not mittens, it is MIT-TINS. Make sure you say the T's and the final S,"  she said.

I just started cracking up.  Soon she is going to be correcting my pronunciation of everything.

Speech therapy is paying off.

______


Every now and then KZ still has a night time accident.  I needed to wash her sheets the other day.  While I was putting the sheets in the laundry, she asked me why.

"You wet the bed, Honey.  I need to wash the sheets."

"I didn't wet the bed," she said.

"Oh, really, then who did?"

She thought about it for a minute.

"Jake."

"Really, Jake, not Kaycee?"

Jake is our male Shih Tzu and Kaycee is our female Shih Tzu.

"Mommy, Kaycee has a bad knee.  She couldn't have climbed the ladder up to my bunk bed.  It had to be Jake,"

I loved the logic.

______

A New World Preschool

I found out today that KZ's school now has an armed guard at the entrance.  I'm not sure what I think about this.  In one sense, I have a sense of safety.  In another, I don't like having a gun in a preschool environment. 

KZ's school is located in a church, but not any old church.  All day it offers services to the community in the form of AA meetings to soup kitchens.  You name it, they do it.  They even do things that I didn't know had a name ... like over eaters anonymous for teenagers.  I'm sure there is a demographic, but I didn't realize that large of one on the Upper East Side.  From day one, I was a bit skeptical of who could walk into her school because I was skeptical of who could walk into the church. Sorry, but I am talking about a place where I leave my four-year old all day.  I can be skeptical.

But after the Sandy Hook Massacre, I went from skeptical to the point of panic attacks when I dropped her off. 

I don't think that the average person going into that church will have a weapon of mass destruction.  But, if someone who wanted to do a copy cat entered the school, the students and staff wouldn't stand a chance.  Now we have a guard, checking all of our school issued IDs, with a gun at the entrance.   I pray that that he stays very bored for the next six months.  

And if not, that he is a good shot.

Happy Birthday to Me

This morning, the first thing Jeremy said to me was "Happy Birthday" and gave me a big hug and kiss.  That would have been really nice, except, today is not my birthday. 

For those of you who care, it is tomorrow, but I will celebrate until February 8 just in case anyone is confused or late. 

I love my birthday and I love to celebrate my birthday.  However, this has been a bit of a challenge my entire life.  Note, I was born in Chicago, in the dead of winter, exactly two weeks after Christmas.  My mom claims it was the coldest day of the year in Chicago.  When I looked that up via our internet gurus, it turned out that the coldest day of 1966 was January 29, with a low temperature of -19°F.  Mom wasn't that far off.  And considering she was in labor with her first child, I'm betting it felt a lot colder than it actually was that day.  She was later elated to find that she had given birth to me on Elvis's birthday.  Much later, I was more excited to realize I shared it with David Bowie and  Stephan Hawking.  

Since the weather in Chicago usually was terribly cold and snowy, I didn't have a lot of birthday parties.  Most people really didn't want to bring their kids out in the nasty weather, and mom wasn't excited about having a house full of kids in our tiny home.  As I got older, we didn't even discuss the option of a party.  I did like to do things like go out to dinner, the movies, and get a gift or two.  But I would then hear things like, 

"But we just bought you all those Christmas presents!"  or

"You celebrate your birthday like a Russian wedding.  It just goes on for days and days!"

How my mom knew the details of a Russian wedding I'll never know.  But I did know that I envied the kids with September birthdays.  They got parties and presents.  

When I was pregnant with KZ, some wise person told me, 

"It's all about you now, but once the baby is born, it is all about her.  People won't even remember your birthday."

And true to form, my first birthday after having KZ, no one remembered -- not Jeremy, not my parents, not even one email.  Jeremy and I were in New York City, looking for apartments.  We had been told days earlier that we needed to move to New York from London.  KZ was with my parents in Florida.  I got up the morning of my birthday, had breakfast with Jeremy in New York, then took a flight down to Florida.  While having dinner with my parents in a local pizza place, it came on the TV news that today would have been Elvis's 74th birthday.  My parents just stopped eating and went silent.  My dad then said, "Hey, how about we pay for the pizza today for your birthday."  

Ok, dad, how about.  

Jeremy only remembered two days later when I asked him if he had forgotten anything lately.  It took a bit of work, like telling him what the date was.  He tried to make a few lame excuses, but once he got it, he said, "Sorry, I just forgot."  

Since that birthday, he's hit the date, but just cannot seem to get my age correct.  For some reason, he keeps thinking I'm a year older than I am. 

I guess that is why I look so good for my age in his eyes. 

Knock Knock

My little New Yorker just told me her first knock knock joke. 

KZ:  "Knock Knock"

Me:  "Who's there?"

KZ:  "Harriet"

ME:  "Harriet who?"

KZ:  "Harriett it up, I got things to do!"
 

New Year, New Runners

I went for a perfect eight mile run this morning.  Ok, perfect in the sense that it is January 1.  It was cloudy, a bit chilly (in the 30's), and a bit windy, but all things considered, no ice or snow or gale force winds.  I was healthy and I was happy. 

I expected Central Park to be quieter at 9 am than it was.  I saw plenty of happy dogs chasing balls, happy tourists reading maps, and happy runners doing what they loved best.  What I was surprised to see, and shouldn't have been I guess, was the disproportionally large number of new runners.  Since I was on the outer six mile path, there weren't as many.  But when I passed the Reservoir, or the Jacqueline Onassis Reservoir to those who are not familiar with Central Park, it was so crowded, I didn't know how people were actually moving.  The Reservoir's path distance is approximately one and a half miles, offering beautiful views of the city's skyline.  It's perfect for a new runner.   I actually thought a lot of people would be sleeping off their New Year's Eve celebrations, and start their New Year's Resolutions on the weekend, or next week Monday.  But no, there they were. 

I've been running for approximately twenty eight years, consistently.  I wish all these new runners only the best and I hope to see them on the path in six months. 

I know I'll be there.