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    I'm a mom. I have three kids. I got hitched straight out of high school, and had a baby the following year. I've never claimed I was perfect.

    Here's why I'm blathering today. I just read a local news story. I felt a bit sorry at first. A 20-year-old woman is in jail because her 10-month-old child is dead, and the police suspect she did it. The baby's father, who lived in the home, indicated he believed she did it as well. No one is saying how the baby died, but that's not the point.

    For a brief moment I was feeling sorry because I went through post-partum depression. It was mild for me, but still pulled me down. I can easily imagine what a severe depression can do to a family. Unfortunately, this isn't what's got me blathering either.

    What's got my knickers in a twist is the fact that this 10-month-old child is not her youngest!! Plus, she has 2 older children. This means that shortly after the birth of the now-deceased child, she helped create another child, who had to have been recently born. This is an assumption I made because there was no mention of the deceased child being a twin, simply that the child was the "second youngest."

    Holy crap!

    After the birth of my children, I told my spouse that if he came near me before the memory of the birth faded, I'd hit him with a stick. I didn't mean it, but damn! No one can be that good, can they? Sex was the last thing on my mind, considering I had just passed a watermelon, and now it needed feeding all day and night, smelly diapers needed changing, sleep was damn near impossible, and I felt like a mushy bean bag (and probably looked about as attractive).

    I would like to think that some social service failed here, perhaps in educating the family on contraceptives, or something like that, but I'm not sure it would have helped. My sister was on a county medical card, and she got free contraceptive pills. Didn't mean she remembered to take them on time, or take them at all. And I know it takes two to tango, but what we have here is personal responsibility. Yes, two people did the tango. But a woman has to live with the results of that tango for a very long time, and therefore, in my opinion as a woman, shares slightly more of the responsibility of pregnancy.

    What else could have been done? A person's private life is just that: private. But when a woman puts herself in this situation, a 20-year-old with her 4th child, born just 10 months after her last child, perhaps society needs to get on board with helping women like her get a more complete education. Surely, a better education and an employable skill is preferrable to an uneducated baby factory?

    More Crack Here Than Dan Aykroyd!

    So I'm reading this story at my favorite strange-news website about a woman found beside a house. It was late in the evening, she had her pants down around her ankles and at first appeared to be dead. Then she got up, refusing assistance. The police took her downtown, all the while she was insisting that she lived in the house (she actually lived about a mile or so away). The woman was in her 50's.

    There wasn't much detail concerning why she was lying on the ground with her pants down, or how she got the idea that she was home. My guess is she was on drugs and maybe tried to urinate but fell over and passed out. At least that's what I'm hoping is what happened. It could be a rape, but only a doctor's exam would tell, since the woman couldn't even recall that she wasn't anywhere near home, where she'd been or what she'd been doing.

    The thing that gets me is just how very pathetic this is. I have never been inclined to take drugs, although I have been offered some. I'm no longer a drinker because of medical problems, but I recall the days when one drink too many would make me feel like I'd been hit by a truck the next day. I just can't understand why people agree to take drugs in the first place, when these days it seems everyone is aware that most are addictive and self-destructive. In the case of alcohol, I can't understand why people enjoy intoxicating themselves on a regular basis if the end result is feeling like crap for a day or two after. After the second time it happened to me, I kept myself to a two-drink maximum, because it was better to be safe than sorry.

    I don't understand addictions because I've avoided the things that cause addiction, so I can't empathize with how difficult it is to quit. Someone told me once an addiction was like breathing; it's just as difficult to "quit" breathing as it is to give up an addiction. If this is the case, why not be strong enough to turn away from the beginning? Why set yourself up for heartache and pain? Why risk having yourself found half-naked in someone's yard, with no knowledge of where you are, where you've been, and how you got there?

    I just don't understand this.

    Band Camp

    My child is attending band camp for the first time. This is rather new territory for me as a parent. For so long I've just been watching from the stands. Now I'm being encouraged to be part of a "greater event."

    I'd like to think I'm a rather nice person, and that I get along with a great number of people. I have great hope that this will be just as fun for me as it is for my flautist.

    Wish us luck.

    Joseph Subic and the Iran Hostage Crisis

    I was watching the last episode of this mini-series on cable on Tuesday. It was about the hostages taken in 1978 or 1979 by Iran.

    I was wondering about Joseph Subic. I've tried to find information about him via the 'net, but Google doesn't offer up much help. A couple of blogs spend whole servers dedicated to people dissing, dismissing, or defending him, but no one really mentions why he's a topic of discussion.

    The most compelling piece of information I could find was a quote concerning his not receiving a medal, stating the Army did not believe he behaved in a manner befitting his status as a non-commissioned officer. As a former military member myself, I can guess what that means, but i don't want guesses any more than I want disses.

    If anyone comes across this blog while researching Mr. Subic and has information that would enlighten me regarding his role during the hostage crisis, I would be grateful if you would help me out. Feel free to post your information to my blog, or send me a private email. Please note, if you do contact me via private email, please indicate if your information is privately acquired and therefore not for sharing with the public.

    Soccer and Football

    It looks like England's national football is changing direction. Beckham is out. Came as a shock to me, but that's only because I'm a casual fan, and don't follow their every waking move.

    The move to replace David Beckham is a little on the sad side. He's only 31 this year, 2 years younger than me. I lived in England during the time he came out of obscurity and his star could not have shined more brightly. Before he became Mr. Posh Spice, and all the endorsements which took his mind away (ever so slightly, but still...) from The Beautiful Game.

    During the early 90's Beckham's feet were nearly impossible to follow except in slow-motion replay. His goals were like magic to people like me who were new to the sport. While he was very aware of his talent, in those days he still had a bit of modesty, which came off as very sweet to his female fans, at least.

    I can almost credit Beckham's skill alone for increasing my appreciation of The Game. There were other reasons I began watching the sport, one being that it is nearly impossible to go anywhere in England without being caught in a discussion--I didn't want to seem like an idiot. However, watching Beckham moving across the pitch was mesmerizing, and left me with the desire to watch even more soccer, which is something nearer to a miracle since I don't watch American Football.

    Many people have stated that the recent move to replace David Beckham as team captain and relegate him to just a player, perhaps even a bench-sitter to trot out for penalty kicks, is the beginning of the end to his career as a footballer. This sentiment has saddened me. I feel as though Beckham is my link back to England, a country I came to love as my own.

    If in fact his star does fade, I hope he does so with grace and maturity, similar to that shown during the World Cup when he not only gave over captaincy mid-game to John Terry , but helped JT put on the famed arm band. A lesser man would have thrown a fit, but not my Beckham.

    My compliments to David Beckham. He'll always be #1 in my heart.