Make it uuuuh, nice memory

Remember Men in Black? Tommy Lee Jones plays the veteran and Will Smith is the rookie. TLJ is always the guy who flashes the people to erase their recent memory and tells them a (not very nice) story about what just happened to "fill in" their erased memory. Will Smith is always the guy who tells the people a little nicer memory. At one point during the movie, TLJ flashes this lady and the rest of their unit comes in to investigate and he tells them to give the people a new story for their memory. Will Smith shoots him this look and TLJ turns back to the other agent and says "Make it uuuuh, nice memory."

Well, I'm TLJ in this story and Denielle is Will Smith. So here are some things that have happened over the past several days that are feel-good stories. Just FYI, I'm not trying to make these nice stories; it just happened that they took place recently so I can share some good stuff.

So one day I'm folding laundry. The kids' laundry. I've grown a little tired of it because it's so small. It's like folding an extra large load of socks. There's just so much of it. I also realize they have a ton of clothes and they go through them so quickly, especially Lil C. But as I'm folding it, it just hits me that it's all really cute stuff. A tiny shirt. Then a little pair of shorts. Then a small skirt. I started to think about how vulnerable these kids are and how much they need us. I thought about how, if I didn't do their laundry or cook them breakfast, they'd go to school hungry and wearing dirty (and I mean dirty) clothes. Their skin would be really dry and they'd probably smell bad. Their teeth would have remnants of last night's dinner in them. Their hands would be sticky. Lil C literally would have to rely completely on his sister to take care of him. Miss S would be struggling just to keep their mouths full and keep her brother out of harm's way.

But that's exactly what they're used to. Well, probably not exactly but not too far off. If they've lived that way for the past several years (her at least), then it makes sense that she's having a hard time trusting us. Many people have said this to us but it's really sinking in. How could she be expected to trust that everything's going to be OK and taken care of when it never has been? Most of the time, I get irritated when she's doing something that can be directly or indirectly traced back to those survival behaviors. Always asking questions, challenging D or me, arguing about what we should do, complaining when we tell her to wear clothes she doesn't want to wear. All of that is stuff she's never been able to let go of or never had to talk to someone about.

OK, back to the cute, fun stuff. Denielle and I were in our room taking a very-necessary 10 minutes of "talk time". Denielle had just gotten home from work via the gym and so she had her mp3 player on her. When she came into our room, Miss S asked if she could listen to it. Denielle showed her how and let her listen. A couple minutes into our talk, we started hearing Miss S singing to the songs. You know how, when you have headphones on, you can't hear what's going on around you or maybe can't even hear your own voice? But when you're singing, you'd swear you're right on key eventhough you couldn't be farther from it? Yeah, that's what she sounded like. D and I couldn't even finish our conversation because we were laughing so hard. It was really cute.

I'm sorry I don't have more to share about Lil C. He just kind of does his thing and enjoys playing with Samson. He's getting really good at giving him commands though. I wish I could record him and put it on here. It's really cute to watch and listen to. The funniest thing is that Samson can tell what Lil C is saying. Sit, down, and stay. Then "Good Boy!" Then "All Done!"

I'll try to post some more pictures of our adventures. Hopefully you've enjoyed a little glimpse into their lives.