Looking for a Unicorn????

  I always liked Unicorns, Pegasuses, Fairies and Mermaids.  It is the magical dreamy side of my personality.  They just seem all pink and purple, light blue and rainbowy.  Oh ya, I like rainbows too.

Unicorns used to just be that....A UNICORN.  You know the rare horse with the horn and fluffy tail that would graze in a perfect field on a perfect planet by just being the perfect Unicorn with no purpose but being a Unicorn.  ZIPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP  fast forward to now! Our Unicorn has become a commercialized icon no longer a rarity.  That poor thing is known for pooping rainbows and crying rainbow tears.  Just this week, a Nationally know coffee shop capitalized on the tears by making a drink called Unicorn Tears.  No one liked it, everyone bought it and that coffee company laughed all the way to the bank.

I heard someone say, " I'm looking for a Unicorn."  My answer was, " Good luck with that!"  Come to find out, saying  ' I'm looking for a Unicorn' actually means, 'I'm looking for something rare.'  Who would of thought.  There is a clothing company that is using that saying for finding a particular print of fabric for their fashion leggings.  Sometimes, the print of the fabric is actually a unicorn print.  Please, please, give our Unicorn a day off!

Pegasuses are horses with wings.  Sometimes the artists rendition puts a horn on it.  That is so confusing, but then again poodles are mated with Cocker Spaniels to become Cockapoos so why not Unipegacorns.

I always thought it would be fun to fly on a Pegasus.  I would love to soar through the night sky passing up flying carpets with my hair blowing and flowing in the wind.  I would wave to people at the top of the Empire State Building and blow kisses to the faces on Mt Rushmore! The dissent would be gentle.We would land in the perfect field, on the perfect planet, next to the rare Unicorn who would be pooping rainbows!

Fairies are just miniature people who happen to have wings.  They are way too small to ride on a Pegasus like me, but I am sure that they could snuggle into the mane and save their Itty Bitty wings the trouble of flying a great distance.  I always thought that fairies were cute until the modern Peter Pan Movies changed them into slightly creepy creatures with glowing eyes and sharp teeth! When did Cute become over rated?

Mermaids are my absolute favorite. A Mermaid is half human and half fish.  The female mermaids are the most beautiful women in the universe with long flowing hair and fish fins.  Can you imagine if the top half was a fish head and the bottom half human legs?  That would be one ugly Mermaid!! I wanted to be a Mermaid when I was 5.  My family took a vacation to California and I knew that it was my chance to have my dream come true.  I threw pennies in every wishing well from Sioux City, Iowa to San Francisco, California wishing to become a Mermaid once I set foot in the ocean. It was cold and rainy the day we visited the ocean.  We didn't get out of the car.  There went my dream.  It was a good thing that I didn't become a Mermaid.  I didn't know how to swim.  Years later, Tom and I took a trip to San Francisco.  I wonder how long a wish lasts?  I didn't take my chances and kept my feet dry!  Wouldn't that be something if I DID turn into a mermaid 50 years later!!!

Rainbows are every color on this earth.  We often times refer to something gawdy as, " it was the color of the Rainbow."  When we got married, in the last century, I chose the color of the rainbow for our wedding colors.  Now when I think about it, I was the  Rainbow Color Bridezilla.  I had to have every color of napkin.  I had to have every color of flowers.  I had to have every color of frosting on the cake.  It drove the cake decorator nuts.  My bridesmaids had to have tie dye fabric dresses.  I had to have HAD TO HAVE!!!! And then, I had to have butterflies!

I  love rainbows!  In 2001, I pulled into the daycare parking lot next to Rachel's mom's van.  I told Rachel's mom that I loved her Rainbow bumper sticker and would like to know where she purchased it.  I was educated that day.  I still would like that bumper sticker. I love rainbows that much!

Ride a Pegasus, turn into a Mermaid, find your Unicorn and Sprinkle some Pixie dust on your loved ones.  Being dreamy and magical is never out of fashion!

The Easter Bunny

2007

I love the Easter Season.  I love Spring.  I love spring flowers. And I love the Easter Bunny.  As creepy as he is depicted in the the shopping malls where he doesn't say a word to the kids, I still love him or her.

When I was young, there were no Easter Bunnies in suits to scare the dickens out of kids.  The Easter Bunny was imaginary, but somehow he left kids baskets on Easter morning!  We didn't have Easter egg hunts either.  Was I deprived?  NO....There wasn't pinterest, internet, fake news or massive advertising about what to put in a basket.  It just happened!  Our parents figured it out on their own.  And they did a great job.

Hope met the Easter Bunny one spring in a NC mall.  Melida lived in Chapel Hill and we took a jet plane to see her.  Melida is a planner, so meeting the Easter Bunny was on the list.  This Bunny danced around it's own gazebo in the middle of the mall.  There were no children around, like you see when you visit Santa. The mall was dead and  Hope had Bunny's full attention.  This bunny did not talk.  I figured that was a good thing.  What are you suppose to do with the Mall Easter Bunny, tell it what you want in your basket?  That just doesn't seem right!

Hope started out timid and then she warmed up to the bunny.  She was 3 at the time, walking, running and hitting was part of her skill set.  She never needed sugar to get her to the escalated excitement level, she could get there with whirling, twirling and squealing! When she was at the height of twirling and dancing on the gazebo with the bunny, some other children approached out of nowhere. They were there to see the bunny.    At this point, Hope owned the Bunny.  No one else was going to have access to the bunny.  This short and skinny child had the strength of Goliath, she was shoving kids off the gazebo and I was trying to be the mother who was in control. This was not my first episode with my non-sugar crazed child nor would it be the last.

I don't like the idea of being in control when havoc breaks out, especially when it involve Hope.  I just want to hide sometimes.  But this time, I stepped up, grabbed the 25lb wiggle worm from behind and pulled her off the bunny's leg with her kicking and screaming, " My Bunny!"  And at the same time apologized to kids, parents, grandparents, police officers and the poor Bunny.  By the time we got to the car, I don't know who was crying more.  If it would have been 2017, the whole ordeal would have gone viral thanks to cell phones.

Bissy was young and horrified.  Melida just laughed because she thinks everything is funny. I just sat there thinking, " Do I go back in and pay for damages?"  We left,never to return!

This incident didn't stop us from getting in contact with another Easter Bunny.  No siree, we put ourselves through the horror again and again.  Year after Year.  She still owns the BUNNY!  Now, she will shop at Dollar Tree for plastic eggs and hide them in the yard, for herself!  Then she finds them. 

She loves the Easter Bunny, the eggs, the baskets and the chocolate.  She loves them 24/7 365.  She loves them as much as she loves Christmas, Valentines and Birthdays. 

Hope Goes To Court!!!

Yeah! I am now going to hang with my MOM and DAD forever!!!

Our grand dog wanted to come home with me.  Poor Ruby wanted to be with Papa!  I explained to the dog, within the earshot of Harper Rose, " You can't stay the night because Papa and I are going to court tomorrow.  We are filing for Guardianship of Hope.  And in the afternoon, Hope has a doctor appointment and a blood test!" Ruby, the smart miniature poodle, understood and retreated to the house.  Harper, on the other hand, listened intently and filed it in her inquisitive brain. And probably dreamt about it!

Harper's teacher was concerned about Hope's health. Harper told her teacher that she was worried about Hope.  She told her, " Mumma and Papa had to go to court because there is something wrong with Hope's head and they need to get a guardian!"

Harper knows that Hope has Down syndrome and knows that she needs us to take care of her.  Bless Harper's heart in putting this all together!  Bissy straightened it all out at preschool.

Guardianship is a real thing.  We feel it is an important step in keeping Hope safe for the rest of her life.  I have an author friend that wrote about her daughter who has Autism.  There were some very scary things that happened and my friend could do nothing about it because she did not have guardianship at the time.  The book is called Not Different Enough by Gloria Doty. She has other great books too.
Check out my friends website.

What is Legal Guardianship?  Well, Hope turned 18, became an adult and had the right to do ANYTHING without our permission, knowledge, blessing, or control.  Pretty scary for a kid who once drove a car in the forest! With Tom and I as her legal guardian, we now are able to speak to the doctors about her ailments, control how she spends her money and demand to know where she is after 5pm every evening!  Without legal guardianship,we are shit out of luck and she could be in a shit load of trouble. Can you imagine the financial fiasco of letting her shop at Dollar Tree and Goodwill alone!  Can you imagine the amount a crap that would enter her apartment that she could legally rent if she had money!

How do you obtain Legal Guardianship?  Get a lawyer and let him do it!  It took exactly 3 months.
It involves medical documentation that Hope, in deed, needed legal guardians.  This cost $15 and took 1 and 1/2 months for the doctor to request records from their legal department and then back to the doctor to sign, then back to the lawyer and then back to us! ONE AND A HALF MONTHS!!!! Excuse me, look at her...she has Down syndrome!!!!!!The doctors office is 3/4 miles from my home!  I could have ridden a bike and delivered everything in a week. But, I was not in charge!!!! The medical records were impressive.  It said, Hope's diagnosis is Down syndrome with borderline intellectual function, maladaptive behavior and gastroesophageal reflux disease. And it said that she belonged either with her family or a group home with close supervision.  BINGO...that was the golden ticket for Legal Guardianship.

Since she was already 18, the process also required Hope to receive a certified letter stating that we are seeking guardianship and in this letter the court date was set as April 6, 2017.  The date was set but we had one more hurdle to jump.  She had a state appointed guardian that had to visit our home and write a report. This was called Guardian Ad Litem Report-Adult. That was the last part of the three month wait. 

You can imagine how I felt about someone coming to my home to deem us worthy of being her guardian, after we had already raised her for 18 years.  It wasn't stressful. It wasn't invasive.  It was just a plain weird feeling.  It was like, ok, we did this for 18 years what if we don't pass the test.  It wasn't a test, thank goodness!  It was a 45 minute visit and she wrote a glowing report that cost $225.

What is like going to court for Legal Guardianship? We aren't real court savvy.  I reported to jury duty once and figured that all court rooms were located in the same area.  NOT!  We were waiting in the wrong building with some pretty scary folks.  According to the creepy man yelling at the lady next to him, she was staring at people and she better stop.  Add your own profanity.   I finally asked a passing attorney where the Guardianship courts were, and we got the hell out of Dodge!

So there you have it.  We don't have the final bill, but I believe the entire process is $1000 and some change.  It is the price that you pay for peace of mind when it comes to our loved ones with special needs.  Please encourage anyone who has a child turning into adult real soon to seek the help of an attorney in filing for legal guardianship.  I will sleep better tonight knowing that Hope won't be at the Dollar Tree spending all her money, driving her souped up car and taking it back to her fancy apartment!