Hiatt - Party of 4

I didn't write this, but I wish I had, every single word describes my feelings.....................



Why Does It Sting?
By Tammy Zhe, November 20, 2000

Why does it sting so much? Bring tears to my eyes? Make my blood run cold? Why? Why is it when I see the word retarded used as a slur, does my heart tighten and I find it hard to breathe? Why? Because every time it is used incorrectly, it is one step back for MY child. For my sweet little three year old boy who has yet to experience the insensitivites of the general public. Some day he will become aware of others prejudices. Until that day becomes reality, I will fight tooth and nail to give him the equal chances and opportunities that every other child is freely given.

Even when the word is used as a term to describe yourself, in first person terms, it is wrong. Why? Because you are using it as a put down. Have you ever heard someone call themselves retarded as a positive term? Nope, didn't think so. I know that there are some out there whining about how politically correct the world has become.....let me ask you this... What if it was YOUR child? All I want is what is best for my child, and if that includes expecting appropriate language from others, then so be it. Is it THAT hard? To quote a good friend "Sure there are ways that that word could be used and not meant badly but we have sooo many other choices of words, it isn't needed."

For me, the inappropriate use of the word retard (in any of it's forms) is the same as using the slur nigger, spic, gook, etc. It is WRONG and derogatory. If you cannot be more creative and use an appropriate word, then perhaps you should keep your mouth shut. It is astounding to me the lengths some will go to in order to explain away what they have said, no matter how unintending they may have been.

Simply having someone in your family, a brother, sister, uncle, aunt, cousin, niece, nephew, etc DOES NOT give you latitude to abuse it inappropriately. And until it is *YOUR* child, your pure flesh and blood, someone that you gave birth too, you will never quite understand the implications or your words and how they can hurt others.

And before you step up to the plate and decide that I am overreacting, think about it some more. What if it was your child that became disabled and retarded in some way? A birthing accident? A car accident that takes away most of your mental capabilities? Or any other of the unending list of things that can hurt us? What if it were YOUR child???

Yes, words hurt. They sting hard and they sting sharply. There is an old adage "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me." Unfortunately it is wrong. This DOES hurt me. It hurts my son. It hurts the way that he will be seen in society. It hurts his chances of being fully accepted as a person, as a human being, and until you can see how and why your words carry so much weight, the words that you take so lightly, you will continue to hurt others. And as long as that group of "others" includes my son, I WILL fight for him, I WILL take offensive to your hurtful words, I WILL be angry at your use of them.

There is nothing like making your baby laugh so hard that you can just about see his tonsils

It is good to be home and out of suitcases, but what a great week we had!!

This photo is the view of Morro Rock at sunset. Taken from across the street from my mom's house, on Thanksgiving night.

Their owners!

Why do they feel the need to bring their dogs everywhere?? In the store. The mall. Everywhere! It really grosses me out. I don't want to be standing in line somewhere and look over and see an overgrown shivering rat! What if me/my child/other patrons are allergic? Did you ever think of that? I know that if I'd have tried to take my 65 lb. dog into a store, people would freak out! I am all for taking your animal with you, but if you can't leave them in the car, they need to stay home.

I am sorry if you are one of these people and I have upset you, but please think twice before you take them into public places. Just because you think they are cute, portable dress up toys, doesn't mean that everyone wants to share that with you.

I hope the next time one of these "dog" owners takes them in the store, that your precious dog pees on you.

So I am in a hotel room in Medford. The day has come to hand Remi over to his new owner. My mom met us up here and she is going to take Remi to San Jose.

He will now be living with my older brother Brian, so at least I will see him and be able to know how he is doing. It's still hard thou.

It's been a memorable 5 years with him. I will miss him so much.

So, I think that I have racked up lots of Karma points.

How else can you explain the person in front of me in the Starbucks Drive Thru buying my coffee today. And this is the second time this has happened.

Thank you lady in the Silver Honda!

So yesterday Remi snapped at Zach twice, so I have decided Remi has to go away. I am not doing good today

Remi loves the sun, so this is where we found him one day. Living in a townhouse, we have limited windows, so he takes the sun wherever he can get it.

I love that darn dog, he makes me smile just thinking about him and all the memories I have with him. I have had him for over 5 years. I had him before I had a baby or a husband. It was just me and him living in downtown San Jose, and he didn't let anyone mess with me!!

With all the changes that have taken place over the years, he has been such a trooper.

It makes it so much easier to hand them a check that almost equals my rent when I get wonderful things like this home. I just love it!! This is so getting framed!!

I wish I could have been there to see them putting his hands and feet in paint, but that is ok, I didn't have to clean it up. :)

(oh, and apparently he really likes to eat the paint)

Yesterday was the first anniversary of my dad's death. So, I find myself thinking about him even more than normal.

Dad, I hope wherever you are is a better place than you left. I think about you everyday.

Today I had another wonderful experience with the nice people here in Oregon, that I have to blog about it.

This morning we were at Starbucks Drive Thru. Patiently waiting our turn. $4.10 in hand for my Triple Venti Toffee Nut Latte. We get to the window and the Barista informs us that the woman in the car in front of us paid for it. Chris and I just looked at each other in disbelief! These things just don't happen to us! Thank you nice lady in the Black Acura!!!

So we started thinking about some of the other nice people we have come into contact with........

Now, every time we go to the grocery store, the pleasant people in the produce department and meat departments always offer us so much help and ask if we'd like any suggestions or help. One day, we were in Safeway, after we picked and weighed the perfect cauliflower for dinner, the wonderful lady that was stocking fruit offered to save us some money and she cut the bottom part of the cauliflower off (you know the bottom and outside part you throw out) and wrapped it back up and said "there you go, that should save you almost a pound" .... again, we were in awe. That never would have happened back home!

Sunday we were driving around and I notice a call I'd just missed on my cell phone. It was a 503# so I called it back. It was the Target pharmacy calling to see how the prescription they filled for Zach was treating him and how he was feeling. And if there was anything else they could do for us at this time. WOW! again... we were in disbelief.

Thanks to all the nice Oregonians that are really making us love living here!!!!!

As we are getting settled in here, I have noticed a few things about some people in Oregon. If I offend anyone, I apologize, these are just my observations.

Every other Honda on the road is supped up in some way. Loud exhaust, stupid looking paint jobs, or spoilers that are bigger than the car. Why is this? Do people think that doing this is going to up the value of the car? Or make them look cool? It really doesn't! It is incredibly annoying. Especially since the newspaper delivery guy in our neighborhood owns one of these horribly sounding vehicles. And at 5 am when he goes up and down our street, he doesn't just drive by and toss his papers. No! He drives down, then goes in reverse back up the street. Really annoying.

My other observation is that probably 60% of the people here have something pierced in/on their face. I thought this trend slowed down several years ago. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against originality and all, shoot, I had my piercings back in the day. But it is just everywhere. To the point that people don't seem original. I feel like we don't blend in because we don't have metal sticking out of our face somewhere.

Well, we finally made it. We are official Oregonian's.

Chris got here June 30 and camped out in the empty house for 10 days. I got here on July 10 after a 3 day drive (with kids and a big dog) and a hectic week dealing with movers, and sick child, and an ER visit the day before we left. At least I never really had the time to get sad over my house being sold (I had lived there since birth).

I start work back at Yahoo! on August 8. So, this week Zach started school at the YMCA Child Care center on the way to the office. It is the first time he has been away from me and it is really weird. But he is loving it. Today at school they are supposed to be doing fingerpainting and water play outside. I am a little sad I couldn't stay and watch, but I am finally getting so much done at home! I am finally starting to unpack the neverending piles of boxes around the house that Zach was not letting me get to before. It is finally starting to feel like home!

We found a pediatrician that we just love and got all that set up and transfered over. We have met some cool people with the NWDSA and went to a function a couple weeks ago in Portland. I am really looking forward to the Buddy Walk in Portland on October 1.

So far, I am enjoying Oregon a lot more than I thought I would. Everything seems to be falling it to place with such ease, which I am not used to.

Back to unpacking for me... I will be posting pictures very soon!!

So, I decided to start up this blogging thing, so I thought I would write about our experience today.
Since Chris is off today preparing to make the drive to Oregon, we are tying up all loose ends.
We decided to finally take back our video camera because it has been acting up since we got it, 11 months ago.
So, after dreading it all morning, we finally get everything together and head to Fry's (which we usually have terrible experiences with, but that is where we bought it). So, we walk in, expecting to be told "sorry, we can't help you, shoulda bought the warranty like we told you to". Anyhow, the associate at the front that was tagging it as a return just happened to drop the box, causing everything inside to fall out. So, that just helped our argument. When they started telling us there wasn't much we could do, we came back with "well, your associate dropped it and we shouldn't be responsible for any damage that may have caused" and BAM, Store Credit! That just made our day since I wasn't happy with the fact that our JVC camera broke after a month, and when I called JVC they didn't want to help me. So, we walked out of there smiling with a new Sony video camera (and a warranty this time). Needless to say, we are very stoked and having fun with our new camera!