Taking the Scenic Route

I feel like I just battled a lion.  Wow, for such a little package, that girl is as tenacious as a child can be.  She did NOT want to go to sleep tonight.  Not at all.  It was one of those nights you force yourself to rise above what you want to do (close the door, lock it, and walk away) and make yourself stay calm and loving, but firm.  It sucked.  I was proud of myself (and so thankful for Zach’s calm support) when she was finally asleep and we crept out of the room, but it took everything I had to get there.

We did have a neat moment today that we wouldn’t have if we were a two car family.  I was waiting with the kids at the therapy place for Zach to return from school to pick us up, and out of the window we saw one of the most vibrant rainbows I have seen in many, many years.  A huge, full spectrum, bright rainbow, with the rainbow ending (from our perspective) at the other wing of the campus.  (we are in the outpatient wing, which is set away from the main campus area).  Everybody who walked by stopped to look, and one of the desk staff went running for the camera.  I was dissapointed I didn’t have my camera (I *almost* brought it with me today…kicking myself) because it was so perfect it looked photoshopped…like when artists paint pictures and you can’t believe it is real because it is too perfect.  Spectacular!

Another neat thing…when we came home Zane requested pizza.  Since making it was more than I could handle right now, we ordered it.  We got a really happy surprise when one of our old friends delivered it.  When we lived on campus, there was a guy we would spend hours in conversation with.  His English was so horrible at the time it would take a good 5-10 minutes to get a single thought across, and consequently, most people didn’t stop to talk to him even though he was hungry for friendship.  It is their loss though.  Over many conversations we found out that he was put in prison because he wouldn’t join Sadam’s army, was tortured horribly, escaped prison to run across the desert barefoot and without food, and barely survived to surrender to the news cameras back in the first Gulf war.  When we knew him he was studying to become a Mechanical Engineer, a degree he already had but was unable to prove because the government was not allowing any records of his to be released.  He was also studying to become a US Citizen.  He taught me how much I took for granted about being a citizen of this country.  He also had so many stories, if you took the time to listen.  One of his parents is Christian, the other Muslim…and you can just imagine how complicated that gets when you are from Iraq.  We met up with him again shortly after him finally getting his citizenship (and he was almost teary about it he was so happy) and our troops were back in Iraq.  He was finally able to contact his family, who had been told he was dead years before.  He was looking forward to visiting his family and moving back to his home.  I didn’t expect to see him again.  This time we learned that he was able to see his family and they live in a fairly peaceful area.  He finished his degree, but is in a fight with housing over a debt, so his transcripts won’t be released for a bit until it is resolved.  (sounds like the same fight I will have actually).  I think the delivery job is a second job, not his primary income.  He seemed pretty excited to see us again too.  The funny thing is that we aren’t sure of his name.  When we first met, we couldn’t understand him well enough, and now we have known him long enough, and talked so much that it is beyond embarrasing to ask, so I guess his name will always be “that neat guy from Iraq”.  lol.  (we think we know his ‘American’ name, but we aren’t 100% sure).  It was so good to see him again and catch up.  He is probably one of the more interesting people I think I have ever met.