Mayhem and Magic

A Short Fall Vacation

We went to Newport, Oregon for a long weekend.  The beach was cold but beautiful. 

The hotel had a pool!  The pool was freezing, but the boys were so enthusiatic and excited, it was impossible to avoid going swimming.

Two Good Things (Maybe Three)

The First Thing: The boys and I found a Black barber.  It turns out that I know his wife through some work stuff, but I didn't realize her husband is a barber until, well, last week.  So we made an appointment, and MAN, but do my boys look good!  (I'll show you pictures later.) 

I was kind of nervous to have an actual barber work on their hair.  But he said their hair and scalps are in great shape!  (Hooray!  And, Whew!)  He thinks the hair oil I've been using has too much perfume and unnatural stuff in it, though, (Oh...) and recommended African Pride.

(Any other product recommendations for little Black boys' hair?) 

The Second Thing: The boys and I sometimes go to an open gym playtime on Friday mornings.  Last Friday there was a Black mom there with her three year old daughter.  Our kids were totally checking each other out!  (There are generally people with lots of different skin colors there, but for some reason on that day my kids and hers were the only Black kids in the gym.  They definitely noticed.)  I wanted to introduce myself, but I was nervous about coming across as thinking, "Hey, they're Black!  I have Black kids!  Maybe we can be best buddies!"  A few minutes into playtime, Pumpkin fell and hit his head (just a little bump, but he cried).  I was supervising Sparkle on one of the "big kid" balance beams, and couldn't just leave him to rescue Pumpkin.  So she scooped him right up and carried him over to me.  We talked for a while about our kiddos, and that was about it. 

I was so grateful to her, it was a little ridiculous.  I am always awkward meeting new people. When the new person is person of color, I make it harder by worrying that I'm going to offend the person in my approach or conversation.  After the first chat with any new person, it's so much easier, isn't it?  I won't hesitiate to strike up a conversation again the next time we see them.

Anyway...

The Third Thing:  I think I'm ready to be back into blogging. 

Rest

I need a little break from blogs. 

This one in particular. 

I have an actual real life happening, and it's a pretty great life.  I'd like to just live it for a week or two, screen free. 

Well, maybe not totally screen free.  (Are you kidding?) I may comment here and there, but I'm planning to ignore this blog completely for a week or so.

I'll see you soon!

Noticing White Privilege

Yesterday our family attended a "multicultural event" (that's how it was advertised) in our city.  The boys both made darlings of themselves by dancing, clapping, and stomping wildly in front of the stage while a reggae band performed. 

(Isn't it great when you go somewhere and your kids behave, have fun, and generally make you look like a good parent?  Yeah...  I try to enjoy those moments when they happen.)

When we got our tickets at the entrace, we each got our hand stamped.  The boys admired their stamps-- a sparkly silver star shape that glittered when they turned their hands.  I had not noticed before, but when we get hands stamped for something the ink is usually red or blue. 

So, continuing to unpack the knapsack of white privilege: 

When I get a hand stamp to admit me to an event, I can expect that the ink used will be a color that actually shows up on my skin.

It's a small thing, but it was important to my boys.