Fortress Around Your Heart

A long overdue update:

Boys are loving their new schools, although Cole is a little confused as to why other kids, especially those who claim to be "friends" seem so mean to each other. I worry for him a lot. He looks older than he is and I think that can be a curse to a kid. And he's so good. Seriously, the kindest soul I've ever encountered and sometimes I get scared that he'll adapt to his environment and lose that.

Meanwhile, there's Aidin. Oh man, this kid. In some ways I don't worry about him as much. Cole possesses a certain eagerness to be liked and make everyone happy that people can take advantage of. Aidin simply does not. The only way I can think to describe his personality is that he is physically incapable of bullshit. That shy, quiet kid is still in there but he's finding his voice more and more, and that voice is honest to a fault. He isn't great at picking up on social cues, so he's often abrupt to the point of rudeness. We're working on that, but the plain fact is that he cares more about information than he does for making friends.

And then there's me. I finally got a job and celebrated like any other sophisticated woman, by eating 8 ounces of clearance Brie with Saltines. (Dear $9 "water biscuits" you are just crackers. Get over yourself.)
It sounds almost too simplistic, but I'm good. Not wildly ecstatic or horribly depressed, but existing in a comfortable state of good. I kicked and cried and thrashed around and found myself in a quiet stage of acceptance, feeling very okay with everything. I still have my moments, like when "Fortress Around Your Heart" came on the radio at a red-light last week and it was like Sting was apologizing for every hurt I'd ever incurred and I cried the whole way home (but was super low-key about it).

Whatever, I'm over it now, but it's a good song. I don't care what anyone says.