We just arrived home last night from a week's long vacation to Oklahoma City, where most of my husband's side of the family resides. We planned to pack up to last Friday, and leave first thing Saturday morning. Unfortunately, as I checked my phone early Friday morning for email, Facebook and news, the first item I came across was the news of the Aurora theater shooting that just happened a few hours earlier. The rest of Friday meant minimal packing was accomplished, as we were glued to the TV for news updates. So we ended up leaving several hours later than we planned to on Saturday morning, and had to spend the night in a hotel - thus arriving a day later than planned in OKC. whoops. I had intended to blog while on the road, but just didn't feel like it.... so I've had a week to let my thoughts swirl around, and many miles of drive time to think about the events of last week, and of vacations in general.
The shooting...
1. Facebook is (for the most part) a very ugly place to be after an event like a shooting takes place. It seems that some individuals think that the aftermath is the perfect time to promote their political/religious agenda. Yikes.
2. My gut reaction when I first heard the news was, "What were young children doing at a midnight premier of an adult movie??". I know that several of the parents are being victimized twice - first because their children were attacked by the gunman, and then again by the media for bad parenting decisions. I know that is not fair....But... when are we, as a society, going to address the sad fact that our children are increasingly exposed to violence at a younger and younger age, by the movies and the television that we allow them to watch? On one hand, you have the parent who is unable to delay their own gratification in seeing the movie until a more suitable time in which the children could be left with a babysitter, and on another hand you have the beleaguered parent that is just looking for an momentary escape, and is unable to afford a baby sitter - a sign of tough economic times. I don't want to point fingers...but I still can't get over the fact that young children were there in the first place - not that it would have made a difference in the shooter's goal that night, but it's one troubling aspect of this tragedy that might have been avoided.
3. For me, the most comforting thoughts about this truly awful event came from multiple blog writers who all commented on the selfless actions by many people that night to protect their loved ones from harm. The power of love is truly more powerful than the power of hate.
4. We need to gather those individuals who are on the fringe of society, those square pegs who just don't quite fit, and hold them fast and dear, and find a way to get them involved in something positive. Let these people know they matter, and get them the help that they need to solve their troubles and stay connected with society.
5. Ted Nugent is a freaking idiot. No one, in their right mind, can ever give a convincing argument that a semi-automatic weapon (AR-15) is an appropriate weapon for hunting and sport, and therefore should remain legal to possess outside of the military and law enforcement. The need to use one for hunting means only one thing: your aim sucks.
6. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, should be able to purchase that amount of weaponry and ammunition in such a short amount of time, and go unnoticed by the proper authorities. If we are going to effectively counteract any domestic or international acts of terrorism, this type of activity MUST be on the radar.
Chick-fil-A...
1. Dan Cathy is totally free to exercise his first amendment right.
2. I'll miss their chicken.
'Vacationing' in Oklahoma during the month of July...
1. It's hot. It's humid. If you want to enjoy your time outside, you can do so between the hours of midnight and 7 am.
2. Thank goodness for Braum's ice cream.
3. And ice cold sweet tea.
4. There are not nearly enough indoor, air-conditioned venues to keep young children entertained for a week. BUT, at least there were a few. (Reviews and pictures to come...)
5. Plan on two showers a day. Minimum.
Entertaining four children in the car for twelve hours...
1. Visit the library before you leave and check out a slew of new movies/videos the kids haven't seen before. Run them in constant succession, and don't slack on getting the next one queued up. If the kids get in some time to talk, that will quickly devolve into complaining.
2. Bring lots of pillows. They make great walls to block the views of any offending parties on the other side of the seat.
3. Bring extra batteries.
4. Play word/memory/counting/spelling games that don't require anything but your brain. One of the best books out there for ideas is Miles of Smiles - check it out!
6. Books on tape, podcasts, comedy routines (clean ones) and music trivia from the iPhone are good as well.
So for the majority of time spent on this road trip Jordan read his latest chapter book or played on his iPod, Rylan watched the same movie five times in a row and repeatedly asked for Mike n' Ikes, Owen played with his cars and added sound effects and Colin threw his crackers, baby carrots and empty water bottle at either me or Rylan, kicked the back of the driver's seat and slipped out of his carseat harness over and over again. Good times... Dean and I played several games out of the book, listened to "Wait, Wait' and 'Planet Money', and caught up on new indie music on 8 Track.
It was a good vacation...as long as we were indoors or in the car. All other points inbetween felt like standing in front of a blast furnace.
