Flickr Problem

So, I think I am pretty good at making sure my pictures do not show too much on the internet.  I don't post naked pictures or even scantly clad pictures.

I was looking at my flickr activity and noticed that someone commented on a picture of sweet peanut as a not yet 2 year old in her panties.  They said something about her being hot and peeing and girlfriend.  I couldn't make out what it was, but I got the general idea that the guy was a total creep.  I erased the comment and locked the picture.

Come to find out, I think he did a google search for Little Girl panties, which is how he found my picture.  I had titled it something to that affect.  I changed the security settings on my photos so they don't appear in google searches.

I guess I am lucky that he left a comment.  That picture had received a lot of hits, over 200, which I can only guess was from other google searches.  It pisses me off for a number of reasons, not the least is which that I can't post cute pictures of BabyP as we try to potty train him this weekend. 

So special note, if you use flickr, be sure to check your security settings.  I never thought that something like this would happen to me.

Racism

It is like a knife to stand in front of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.  I think about those parents and all the rage they must have felt.  Their kids were killed because they were black.  I never spoke with Peanut about why the park we were at was there or why mommy had to turn away a lot when reading the plagues.  We talked a little bit about the dogs.

It is actually even a little uncomfortable to take their picture with them.  I feel like such an interloper even being there.  There were buses of African Americans but only a hand full of white people.

But it is part of our history even if it isn't an easy history to articulate.   I think it is important for her to know why we remember people like Martin Luther King, Jr.  She knows he was killed because he wanted black people to be treated like white people, but I couldn't bear to tell her that kids her age were killed too.  She just doesn't need to know right now.

So they just played on the dogs and frolicked in the fountain.  She knows there is a right way and a wrong way to treat people, which is as good as it is going to get for now.

So Lucky.

So we are taking down 7 more trees in our yard. That will be the last of the pines on this little half acre of heaven. If something does happen to fall on our house in the next storm, it isn't because we didn't spend tons money trying to avoid having that the problem.

On Saturday I ran in the St. Judes half marathon. I have a lot of emotion tied up in that race. First I want to give big hugs to Meghan how helped me through. She drove me there and didn't mind that I had to do a little pumping before the race. She pretty much dragged me the last 3 miles or so. She didn't want to walk at all, but I did so she did. She rules. We will be doing more of these together.

I was pretty miserable. I have a pretty nasty sinus infection. Well, at least I think it is nasty. I feel a little like someone is shoving a chop stick up my nose and maybe one into my ear. I was also really really cold. When I looked at the temperature at 11 in the van, it was 41 and that was with the sun shining. I think I should have trained more, but, I also think the first race is always the hardest (and this is my first race post babies). The next one won't be so bad.

But why was the St Judes half so emotional.?The race benefits the St. Judes Research Hospital which treats children with cancer at no cost to the parents. There was a calender with sick children in our race packet. There were children along the race sidelines. The announcer's daughter was sick. There were little stories about children who had died along the sidelines on signs. One of the ladies in front of me was running in memory of someone who died in December 2008. No matter how I tried to hide my face from it, I came to the realization that this hospital is a benefit to the people who need it, sick children and their parents.

As a mom, I have the luxury of forgetting that people's children die. I have the luxury of not knowing what it is like for someone to assign statistics to my child life. It is a bit jarring to realize that this happens. It didn't bother me as much before I became a mom. I just can't imagine. I can't imagine hearing cancer from a doctor and the wondering if and when my baby was going to die. I can't imagine trying to make the siblings life normal while the sick child is attended to. It was all just a bit overwhelming to me.

And frankly, a bit hard to deal with.

We did have a nice time. The race was really well organized and the support and crowds were great. The course was interesting and varied.

I had to rush off at the end of the race because my two perfect and healthy children needed to get out of the cold. Neither one of the kids wanted to nap in the hotel, but I had the luxury of holding each of them while they fell asleep. I was tired and sick and just wanted to sleep so bad myself, but I just felt so lucky that my children were energetic and wild.

Even with a nasty sinus infection, I just feel so lucky.