Sunday, November 30, 2008

Thanks

Over Thanksgiving, we went on a long car ride where I found out my daughter believes the ghost of a little girl is living in our house, that my middle son knows an endless number of jokes involving butt lint, and that my oldest guy absolutely can never again eat five Fiber One bars before getting into a car on a cold day when the windows cannot be opened. Absolutely never.

The night before, we had watched the Duggar family, all seven thousand of them, going on a car trip. (They're that family somewhere in a place like Arkansas or Omaha who have seventeen kids and one on the way) The older girls took care of the younger kids. They sang songs about Jesus. No one shouted or swore or fought over not sitting in the middle or whether or not doughnuts are as toxic as Mom claims they are. I really like the Duggar family, even if they wear prairie clothes and have scary hair. They're sort of our family in the anti matter world.

There are only five of us, and five animals, and we listened to Pink Floyd in the car, then Bing Crosby Christmas carols for Emma. Bing didn't last too long with this crowd. My daughter, who is the only ten year old on the planet (and possibly on other planets) who dislikes Hannah Montana, finally decided on Evanescence.

When that ended, we argued for a few miles. Philip kept snapping pictures of us in the car (we took none at the holiday table) with his phone. Our memory stick on the camera is full, and we forgot to buy a new one. So here we are, candid and ragged.

Sixteen Year Old in Thirty Mile Electronic Trance:




Philip and Emma After Agreeing on Music:


Sneak Shot of Mom:



And an image I found on my phone today that I'll bet you Mrs. Duggar would never find on hers:



That image is from Pink Floyd, a band I listened to at least twenty years ago, and that my two boys now really like. I think it's kind of a teen's way of saying hi, or maybe something along the lines of thanks for telling me the stories behind songs like Shine On You Crazy Diamond (and not making it sound like English class, though I did sneak in a bit of symbolism once I had their attention)

I'll bet Mrs. Duggar's kids give her things like this too, only they probably use words. That's fine by me; symbols work just fine here with our little anti matter family.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Hey Anne -- I jsut finished The Shape of Water and loved it! What an amazing read! One of my top fav YA books so far.

Enjoy your blog. Did anyone tell you that you look like that actress Julianne Moore?
And r u working on a new book?

Anne Spollen said...

Thanks, Kelly. I'm glad you liked reading it.

And thanks for saying I look like an actress -- generally, I'm frazzled and unable to even find ChapStick, so I'm a pretty far cry from someone that glamourous.

And yes, I just finished a new YA book. It's coming out from Flux I think early in 2010. I'll probably talk about it here (why not since I talk about everything else here) as the release date gets closer.

Elizabeth said...

Hey nice to meet you and thanks for stopping by my place. I have a confession the Duggar family rubs me the wrong way. I must change the channel when I see them.
But Bing Cosby and Pink Floyd?
That is a car ride I can get on board with... got to go my 2 year old has found me...

Anne Spollen said...

Bing is kind of a form of torture for my bickering teens. Perry Como is reserved for when they are really aggravating.

I can't figure the Duggars out. When I watch them, sometimes I think they're medicated, other times I think maybe I should be because I CAN'T turn the channel - why don't they ever argue? Curse? Get nuts with each other? I don't want to be with that many people at a a meeting, let alone a house.

Anyway, thanks for the visit, Elizabeth.

Mary Witzl said...

Wow -- the Dugger family -- another bit of Americana I'm missing out on. Are they like the Waltons, only even better? Do their kids really behave that well? Part of me smells a rat. And part of me is just plain envious.

That shot of you the kids snuck is great. The ones my kids sneak of me are always awful: my eyes, beady-bright red, are half closed, one finger is suspiciously close to my nose, and they invariably make me resolve to go on a diet.

Anne Spollen said...

I can't get my boys to pick up their skanky towels off the floor, yet the Duggars can travel around the country seamlessly with 17 1/2 kids - she's pregnant (again) - so I have to assume she drugs them. Or beats them. Something's up with that.

Yeah, I think candid shots are better than the posed kind. They also took the one on the blog where I'm watching them out of the front window. I like it because it reminds me that they are watching me right back.