My Swirling Vortex of Entropy

Fairy Tale Friday - The Tadpole

This story is actually modeled after a dream I had when my son (now 18) was a toddler.

Once Upon A Time ... in an enchanted land, there was a lovely young woman, a young mother actually, who was taking a walk along a lake shore. In her arms was her beautiful, perfect little son. Being curious, and energetic, the little boy wanted to get closer to the lake. The mother agreed to let him play in the sand on the shore, but forbade him to enter the water. This was an enchanted lake, and one never knows what to expect from an enchanted lake. All was well, the day was warm and sunny, and the gentle breeze rustled through the leaves of the trees. The waves on the lake sparkled and beckoned - “come play, come play”.
In the lake there was a school of tadpoles feeding near the shore. The little boy spotted the tadpoles and became very excited. He jumped up and down and called to his mother - “come see, come see”. As she was making her way back to him he lost his balance and fell into the water. His mother ran to him, but to no avail. He had immediately turned into a tadpole and was now swimming with all the other tadpoles. The mother called to him, and begged him to come back. At first he did swim up to her and stay close to shore. But the longer he remained a tadpole, the less he worried about leaving his mother, and the more interested he became in exploring the enchanted lake. Finally, despite his mother's coaxing and all her tears, he swam away with all the other tadpoles.

They say she is still standing there - waiting for him to come back.

I've had a hard time lately. Our son will be going to college in the fall. Preparing for this life change made me think again of this dream. I am that mother - they are swimming away guys, my kids are swimming away. I HATE IT! But I won’t leave that shoreline. What if they need me?

Oh no - even worse - what if they DON'T?!?

Fairy Tale Friday - The Plague of False Hunger

Not so long ago, in a galaxy not so far away, there was a troubling plague of false hunger. The brave princess Litlme discovered that the cause of the horrible torment was a large number of chocolate demons that had infested the galaxy during the holiday season. So ... the princess banished the chocolate demons to the freezer in the basement in order to muffle their evil voices. The chocolate demons promised bliss, and claimed to be harmless "€œjust this once"€. But the princess being even smarter than she was lovely knew that chocolate demons lie terrible, powerful lies. Thus the banishment. Princess Litlme would have thrown the chocolate demons into the trash can, but Prince Eatsallhewantsandnevergainsanounce enjoyed indulging in the chocolate demons creamy goodness. AND, they had no power over him. They never made his jeans too tight in the thighs. (Darn them) So, to the freezer they went.
NOW, the plague of false hunger was especially fierce this day. And the chocolate demons were working together to make their voices be heard, and Princess Litlme was suffering immensely. All was nearly lost when the princess (being smart - remember) had a brilliant idea. Princess Litlme went into her closet and got out the two piece swimming suit that she plans to wear on her trip to Florida in a couple weeks. (Swimming suits being truly powerful talismans.) The princess opened up the freezer and explained to the chocolate demons that she was going to Florida in a couple weeks with the prince, and that she hated to be cruel to them, but she was going to vanquish their evil lies with the truthful goodness of the swimming suit. The chocolate demons screamed, and were vanquished for the night. The baby carrots gurgled cheerfully in their cribs, the green bean soldiers let forth a mighty cry of celebration, and Prince Eatsallhewants - etc. said:

"€œWhat the heck is this swimming suit doing in the freezer?!?"

Getting my Act Together

Once upon a time there was a boy. This boy liked clean clothes. However, this boy - let’s call him Prince Spoiledrottenpants, didn’t like to put his dirty clothes into the laundry hamper. Prince Spoiledrottenpants’ mother, Queen Prefectionpersonified, was frustrated at the prospect of endlessly picking up grody, skid marked, underwear and socks that smelled like fritos simply to toil over laundering, folding, matching pairs and putting them away. Yet the prince, oblivious to his long suffering mother’s frustration failed to place his nasty, yes even RANK clothing into the proper receptacle after being worn and soiled. Queen Prefectionpersonified, went out and bought several laundry hampers - thinking that perhaps Prince Spoiledrottenpants just didn’t like to walk so far to the laundry hamper. Surely, if Queen Perfectionpersonified were to accommodate the prince he would cooperate. To no avail -


After much deliberation and careful consideration the Queen put forth a decree. “Henceforth - any articles of clothing that are not fully contained within a laundry hamper shall not be laundered - thus speaketh the Queen.”

One wishes that it could be said that the prince began placing his icky laundry into the hampers that were located strategically for his convenience. Alas, this was not the case. Indifferent to the queen’s plight, the prince continued to litter the palace with his discarded garments. And yet - true to her words - the queen did not launder any articles of clothing not fully contained within the approved receptacles. The prince appeared to be unfazed. Yet one morning, faced with the prospect of wearing smelly sweatpants and a pizza stained T shirt to school where he was sure to happen upon Lady Hottie and her many bodacious friends the prince became discontented. “Mom!” he growled “I don’t have any clean laundry! When are you going to get your act together and wash my clothes?!?”

“OFF WITH HIS HEAD!!!” screamed the voices in the queen’s head. “OFF WITH HIS HEAD!!” Yet, the royal training she had received from the wise queen mother kicked in and our gracious queen managed instead to say - “Let me show you how to use the washer

and dryer my son -

for from now on your royal duties are to include the maintenance of your own wardrobe. I abdicate any responsibility for the cleanliness of your garments.”

Thus speaketh the queen.