Sunday, July 27, 2008

Adjustments, Not By My Chiropractor

     Yes, it has been nearly a month since my last post.  We've been a little busy.  We moved.  Out of 2 houses.  With three little boys underfoot.  This was no small feat, and thank heaven for helpful friends and neighbours.  We're sort of settled in to our new place.  I'm still waking up not sure where I am after a full week of sleeping here, and going to church today was just weird.  We've been in the same ward for 7 years, one where we were one of the quiet-ish families, one where there were four nurseries and nearly no older people, one where, we decided today that the Bishop does at least twice the job of most Bishops-  into one with mostly older people, one nursery, and we were by far the noisiest family there.  I didn't trip over a single kid in the hallway between classes.  It was like the twilight zone.  
     I'm trying to be as outgoing as my kids, but it's not working.  I don't have nearly the eyelash-batting-power that Gabriel has, I can't get away with talking to people's feet like Noah, and somehow, diving under the pew to grab people's shoes in the row in front of us like Duncan did didn't seem to be appropriate for me, at least not during an actual church meeting.  You just can't make friends like kids do.  They can say and do such random things, and it works.  Noah can ask total strangers for a high five, and if people don't respond, he keeps trying new approaches until one works.  He had tried with this one guy this week when we were out, and the guy wasn't paying him any attention, so finally on his 6th or 7th attempt, he yells "Chicka chicka high five???!!" ("Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" is one of his favourite books).  That got us all laughing.  I guess it will just take more time for us grown-up types.  Am I anti-social?  Am I a snob?  Am I just weird?  I feel like I'm 6 and a 1/2 again, starting a new school, across the country from where I had been living, having left my close-knit Grade 1 friends behind.  And this time, I have no stickers to trade.