Landry gets baptized by Doc

Another more important event happened this weekend. Landry was baptized. It was a fun day because he was baptized along with his friend, Lauren Nevil, by my dad on Hanging of the Green Sunday.
The Hanging of the Green is the kick off to the Christmas season at our church, LABC. It is a long standing tradition that I was a part of as a teenager and hopefully, someday my kids will get to be a part of. Yet again, one of the cool things about growing up in a church and continuing to serve and be a part of the same church as an adult is tradition and memories. I am proud to say that my roots are deep. We have a wonderful church home and I have worked hard to serve God here even when it was hard. I know that my kids are growing to love the Lord and that they see what it takes to be part of a church family. At least right now, my perseverance is paying off.

Landry invited 75 of his friends and family to his baptism and 50 came. Some who haven't been to church before, some who were looking for a church and some who we have been praying for. We took up the first 5 pews in a section that my friends roped off for us. (Perks)

I have to say, I am proud of him. Grinning from ear to ear, PROUD.

One down, one to go.

City Champs!

Well, they did it! The second grade Cougars are city champs and lovin it. The boys played a tough game and won the game. I hate to say this but I don't remember the score. It was too exciting. Landry is the on the second row, second kid from the left. We got trophies and, more importantly, spirit sticks.

Finally, Something to Say!!

Okay, America, after many weeks of silence I finally have something to say. I have found my voice and I have lots to post about.


I must start off by formally announcing that the 2nd grade Cougars beat the pants off of the Vikings today (32-13) in their first ever playoff game. In an act of good sportsmanlike conduct I hugged the Vikings coach, who was once a friend of mine, and said, in a sincere voice, "I am so sorry we kicked your tail today." He took it very well, I think.
The Cougars will play the Bobcats in the championship game on December 6th and we are all pretty excited. I would say that the Cali friends should come in for the game, but this is expensive and they are only 7. You have many years ahead of you to come watch my son snap a ball in between his legs with his head upside down and deliver it perfectly to the QB every time. Tempting isn't it!?! If you can't make it, we'll send you the DVD!






There has been so much happening in between football games and practices. We will begin with Sophie's 5th birthday party. It was a Hello Kitty Extravaganza. She asked for a Hello Kitty party at home and she wanted our friend, Mr. Rod, (KZ Rod from KCBI) to do his puppet show for the kids. Rod makes puppets out of things like vacuum cleaner hoses, wrapping paper tubes and random stuff. The kids go crazy. They absolutely love it. She also wanted his 11 year old son, Benjerben (Benjamin), to have a sword fight with Landry. A duel, as it were, over her friend, Sara. She talked about it for months. I just kind of ignored this request, since I thought it was kind of stupid and hoped that she would forget it. But Ben, in his preciousness, showed up prepared. Instead of a sword fight, Benjerben did a magic show for the kids. It was perfect. He finished it up and Sophie came to me and said, "So, when is the sword fight?" I promptly introduced her to another helping of cake.


The party was great. All the kids had their faces painted like kitty's. They had kitty ears (compliments of my mother). They made kitty cupcakes (compliments of my mother). They ate kitty cake and kitty ice cream and opened kitty presents and then we all threw up kitties and passed out on the floor. Actually, it went very smoothly (compliments of my mother :).


So, now that Sophie is five I must tell you the excellent things she has learned in the past three weeks. I am warning you, this is not for the faint of heart or the home schooled...



1. You may not color your entire leg with an orange marker.
2. It is not okay to cut yourself some bangs.
3. It is inappropriate for a 5 year old to tell their brother, or anyone for that matter, that you are going to kick their ass.
4. Pecker means wiener and it is not a nice word especially when you are singing about peckers to the tune of deep and wide. ie. "pecker and pecker, pecker and pecker there's a mountain flowing with peckers and peckers." If there is a mountain flowing with peckers, I do not want to go there!!!
5. Nothing surprises your mother any more.


What's funny is, she is so embarrassed about all of these things. She does not want me to tell anyone anything that she says or does. I would respect this request of hers if it wasn't for the c-section scar on my stomach that gives me the right to say anything I want to anyone I want for the rest of my life. And if she keeps being so danged funny I will keep invoking that right!!!!

Missing my friend!

Okay, I have been trying to post for a week now and never seem to be able to finish. My funny bone is broken and I think it will take a while to heal and even then it will never be the same. So I struggle to write this blog today. One, because it is hard to see this in print. Two, because I can't see what I am typing when my eyes won't stop leaking!!!
This past week my precious friend, Jessica Kaylor, went to be with the Lord. http://jessicakaylor.blogspot.com/ . Jessica bravely fought cancer for the past three years. She would get through one battle only to find out that she had another battle to fight. She seemed to always get back on the horse. She was a strong warrior. Doing what it took to keep on living life to the fullest. I honestly didn't think she would die so soon. I truly thought she would have many more years. I have to say that I have been blindsided and the sorrow that I feel is overwhelming. When I found out that the cancer had spread so dramatically and the cancer treatments had broken her body down so much that there was nothing else the doctors could do to prolong her life, I began praying constantly that God would heal her in a miraculous way and that if his will wasn't to heal her here on earth that he would take her quickly and not let her suffer. Even though my heart is aching over the loss of my friend who is a wife of my friend and a fabulous mother to my sweet Katy, Jadyn and Bryn. I am so thankful that he took her to be with him as gently as he could.

I remember the first day I met Jessica. She was visiting our church with her mom, Judy and her aunt, Sandy McNutt. Her daughter Katelyn was 2 1/2 or 3 at that time. Clay and I were teaching a preschool Sunday school class. We had the same group of kids since they were 6 months old. We loved them. Katy came in the class surrounded by Jess, Judy and McNutt. I think that fireworks went off when Sandy and I saw each other. She introduced me to Jess and Katelyn and told me to take care of them and love them. When Sandy tells me to love someone, I know they are worth the effort and because she had already showered so much love on me I had plenty to shower on her loved ones.

I remember thinking that Jess was so quiet and not as exuberant as her aunt Sandy but Katelyn was a whole other story. It only took about 5 minutes for me to see that I wasn't dealing with an ordinary child. She was confident and clever and so very adorable with a head full of reddish brown curls. Katy fit into our little crowd of already much loved and adored kiddos without missing a beat. She was easy to love. I know now that when someone loves your kids you love them just because they love your kids. Jess trusted me with Katelyn for two years and I am so lucky to have had that opportunity.

For the past few days I have a movie of Jessica moments playing in my head. I am amazed at how many things I remember and how many times something she said or something she did changed my life. I always loved being with her because she was so peaceful. She calmed me. I felt peaceful around her. I have tried for years to model her patient tone of voice and calm demeanor. Try as I may, it just isn't me. When I would talk to her about something that was troubling me she would listen and then very thoughtfully express her opinion. Even if it was different than mine, she never made me feel stupid or less spiritual. This is important because we Christians have a way of deciding who is spiritual and who isn't based on our own flawed judgement. I never realized until a few years ago that Christians are so hard on each other. We are so worried about the speck in someone else's eye when we have a whole log cabin blocking our view!!! Jessica never picked at my log cabin and I don't ever recall seeing a speck in her eye. She wasn't perfect, but she was extraordinary.

When she was diagnosed with cancer, I told her that I didn't know what to say or how to handle this and she said, it was alright she didn't know either and we would figure this out since she was my first "cancer friend". She said it so sing songie. We laughed even though we wanted to cry. A year or so later I told her that I had decided that she wasn't going to be my "cancer friend". She was just Jessica to me. If I wanted an update on the cancer stuff I would go to the blog, but with me she just got to be Jessica, my friend. And that she was! I prayed for her constantly and she continued to be a great friend even when she wasn't feeling well. She is one of the reasons that I do a lot of the stuff that I do right now. She encouraged me to transfer my kids to Wood. She encouraged me to be on the PTA board. She inspired me to do the Weekend Backpack program and she is the reason I will continue it for as long as there is a need. She inspired me to love some people that I had a hard time loving. She built me up and encouraged me on a regular basis. She let me be me and loved me for who I am. She was goodness and light and I miss her.

Katy girl, I know you and Chandler are reading this and I am going to tell you that you are blessed beyond measure to have your mom in your life. She isn't physically here anymore but she left obvious imprints on so many lives. I can name names if you want me to. Did you see all of the people at her memorial service. I think she would be a little embarrassed but she would have handled it with the grace that she handled everything. I am so proud of you and how you have let people love you through this. I am so proud of your dad and the grace and strength that he has allowed God to show through him. For the rest of our lives we will have fun telling Jadyn and Bryn stories about your mom. Someday, we will be able to share these stories without our funny bone aching so much. I love you guys. Thank you God for Jessica Kaylor!!!!

Tomorrow I will tell you some funny things!!!!

New Doctor

I am going to a new doctor today. I spent the better half of last night filling out his 97 new patient forms. Every question about every body part imaginable. Several insurance forms where I gave the exact same information several times. Every disclosure imaginable.

In case of emergency whom do we notify?
In case of an emergency happening to the person whom we call in case of emergency whom do we notify?
You realize there is a law that says we can only release your medical info to the people you specify...
To whom can we release your medical information?
In case of an emergency happening to the person whom we can release your medical information to, whom should we call?
In case your pinkie finger gets lodged in our equipment, whom do we call and can we release your information to this person?
Do you solemnly swear not to sue us at any time for any reason whatsoever so help you God?
If , in the event, you do choose to sue us, this is whom you should contact..........Oh, and we are not responsible for anything that goes on in this office or any other office. However, it is your responsibility to make sure that you pay on time, ask pertinent questions, deal with your own insurance and know that we are only dealing with you and your insurance as a courtesy to you. You must call our office 24 hours in advance to postpone or reschedule your appointment. If you are a new patient, you need to be here 30 minutes early to fill out our whopping load of paperwork. If you are an existing patient, you need to be here 15 minutes early just so we can make you wait in our ridiculously cold waiting room for as long as we so desire. If at any time you are not satisfied with the care you receive from this office, you have every right to find a new doctor. However, we will bill you for each and every visit and any future thoughts of trying us again. Also, we may bill your insurance for more than you actually owe because, they are insurance and they deserve it. Please sign attached form and make sure your legal guardian signs it, too. Oh, and don't forget the drop of blood.

I'm signing it, but I am adding my own disclosures. I, Tessa McCook, do solemnly swear to adhere to your rules and regulations IF you adhere to mine.....
1. The doctor will see me within 15 minutes of my scheduled time. If not, he refunds my $20 copay and a latte.
2. Nurses and staff will not ask me to stand on the damn scale every time I walk into the office. Unless, you want to do it with me. If you stand your happy ass on the scale after I do, I might feel a little better.
3. Do not assume that I am stupid or haven't done my research.
4. Do not put me on any medication that requires being checked into a mental facility without actually checking me into a mental facility. (and it needs to be a nice one)
5. If you tell me that I am about to feel a little pressure and it actually hurts, I get to kick you. So, be honest.


I"ll let you know if he signs it!

Walking the dogs and poop nonsense

Recently, Oprah had a show on civility. They discussed rude behaviours, etiquette and do's and dont's in polite society. I found this show very interesting. Especially, in the category of walking your dog and what to do with your dog's doodoo. See, I live next to a park where I frequently, though not nearly enough, walk my dogs, Audrey Hepburn and Pepper Hepburn. The Hepburn's love a good walk and they can't possibly go without some kind of elimination along the way. Our park has convenient little poop collection bags all along the pathway and although I consider this a very lovely idea, I rarely take advantage of them. I don't want to pick up dog poop. If they poo on the pavement, yes. If they poo in the grass in a spot where I don't think someone will wander into, no. It is dog poop. It is a park. There are squirrels everywhere pooping away the day. My dogs tiny little turd will decompose in a few days and it will enhance the very nature of the park. I don't want to pick it up and I don't think it is necessary.
On the other hand, let's say I had a big Lab or Rott and this dog pooed in the park (I would never own one of these large, hairy, smelly beasts) I would take along one of those big metal pooper scoopers and gladly deposit the mountainous poo in the trash can.

I am pretty sure that O and the other etiquette police feel that you should always scoop the poop no matter what. I disagree. I feel that there should be guidelines to follow about when and where you should scoop. For instance, you should never leave poo in someones well manicured lawn. That is just wrong!
DO YOU HEAR ME GUY DOWN THE STREET WITH THE LITTLE BROWN DOG?
I think if you do this you deserve to have the same poo put in a bag and lit on fire on your front porch. (If I were someone who picked up poop, I would do this!)

You should never leave poo of any size on a walking path, even if the path is not paved. It is still a path for walking and one should not have to worry about walking in your dogs poop.

You should never leave it in a play area. Have you ever had to clean dog poop off you toddler's shoe with a wipey? Not good, my friends, not good.

I feel these are some pretty good guidelines to start with.

After saying all of this about dogs I do feel it is my duty to confront the cat people. For some reason you guys think it is perfectly fine to allow your precious cats to roam about the neighborhood pooping in our flower beds, peeing on our front porches and napping on our patio furniture. This is NOT okay. It is nasty.
We have a grey cat that thinks my flower beds are toilets. I am going to start using Landry's air soft guns to shoot it with little bee bees when I see it. Maybe that will get my point across. OH, maybe I could use it on the man with the little brown dog. Beware!!!!

Language Arts & Farts

This evening Landry was reading to me. He has been working on emphasizing the bold and uppercase words. Tonight he decided to sing them. After one such performance, he held this funny pose and said, "I'm Oprah." He meant opera. Completely funny!

Sophie was walking around singing this evening as well. Her song went something like this, "old acquaintance be forgot, I got a grand old car.."

Starbuck's Shock

I don't know how to begin.
I am in shock.
Seriously, total and complete shock.
I am aware that our economy is in dire straits. I am aware that gas cost as much as a labotomy and exploritory surgery. I know that I, personally, have stopped any random and frivolous spending, but I never expected this. And, since I do not watch the news or read the papers (as my dad says) I have been blindsided by some distressing news. So, just in case you are anything like me and would rather watch Entertainment Tonight than World News, BRACE YOURSELF.

Starbucks is closing 600 stores! 600! Stores!

4 of which are very, conveniently located close to me. Cooper and Arbrook, Cooper and Bardin, Cooper and Green Oaks and Collins St. The only reason I am aware of this mad fact on this most beautiful, however depressing, day is because I happened upon one of the closed stores.

Cooper and Arbrook.

Sophie and I were buying some new white Keds at Just Kids Shoes (an excellent kid shoe store). We generally make our shoe purchase, peruse Kid to Kid's bow selection and make our way over to Starbucks for a Venti Iced Green Tea with two Splenda's for me and a kids apple juice for Soph. When I saw the brown paper covering all of the windows I assumed that they were remodeling. Bummer for my tea craving, cool for my sense of style. When I asked the JKS owner what was going on he very casually said, "They closed it down."
I felt a little faint. I had to sit down so as not to disturb the perfect placement of all the shoes lining the walls. Once I caught my breath, I said, "Crazy say what?" (real fast and with a hick accent like Miley Cyrus, go back and say it again) He said, "Yeah, 4 days ago. They just came in and closed it down. They announced in July that they were closing over 400 stores." The room started spinning, my heart stopped and I blacked out. Somehow, I walked out of there with a new pair of shoes and two bundles of socks. It's all a blur. For shizzle, we are in trouble people!!!

When a powerhouse like Starbucks closes 600 (is this a magic number?) stores in less than a year, we have a problem. I know very few people who do not frequent Starbucks. I am there much more often than I should be. However, even I have, for the last several months, started making my own IGT2S at home and only buying one when I am out and completely Jonesing. So I say to you, America, (say this like Bernie Mac RIP) we are in trouble. Who would have thought in a million years that Starbucks would be in this situation. These is crazy days, people!

Language Arts

On the way home from school, Landry asked me if I knew what an addiction was. I slowly and curiously answered, "yeeesss". He then asked me if I knew how to make an addition out of a book. I said, "I can see how that could happen." "Well," he said, " I have to make a book report everyday but before I do it, I have to make an addiction out of it." When we got home I looked at his folder and understood that he meant "prediction". He has to make a prediction about the book based on the cover. Funny funny!

Yesterday, we stopped at old faithful (Starbucks) to get the always craved for Venti Iced green tea with two Splendas. Landry had an apple cider. After a minute he said, "You know this isn't real apple cider." "It isn't?" I asked. "No, real apple cider has mashed up pieces of apple and is kind of like ice cream. We read about it in a book what was real. It had a table of consonants in it. So, that means it's real."

Landry Asks Jesus Into His Heart

This summer Landry made an exciting decision. He asked Jesus into his heart. He has talked to us about it for a year or two and we have always encouraged him to let us know when he is ready to make that decision. This year my mom took Landry and Sophie to the last couple of days of Children's Camp. On Thursday, he called me to ask if it was okay if he went down and talked to Mr. Don, our children's pastor, and let him know that he has asked Jesus into his heart and he wants to be baptized. Clay and I hightailed it up to Glen Rose (we were in San Antonio) to be there when he walked up the aisle. He was so sure and excited. It was really cool to be there and witness him making such an important choice on his own. We were blessed to have our very own Shea Jenkins counsel with Landry after he made is decision. When they came back to the gym, Shea said that he told Landry that it was cool to watch him do this because his parents and grandparents are part of why he is a Christian. I told him, likewise. His mom and dad played an integral role in my own Christianity. It is so fulfilling to be a part of a church for so long. To have roots so deep that I have no doubt why I am who I am. I am thankful to God that he has allowed me the opportunity to give this to my kids as well.

Soon, Landry will be baptized and we are having a big party afterwards to celebrate!

Normal State of Living

I think I am finally getting back to normal. I no longer feel bad. I feel pretty well except for a little cough that I am sure is a virus of some sort. Because we all know it is not enough to detox! Seriously, I don't feel the really bad side effects any longer. The only thing I am contending with now is brain fog. I forget everything. I can have a list of all I need to do and forget the list or bring the list and still forget to do everything on the list. I do things like put refrigerated items in the pantry or spray deoderant on my hair instead of hairspray. I know that some of this is normal, but doing these kinds of things several times a day isn't normal and extremely frustrating. The muscles in my body ache and I am having a hard time sleeping and then waking up in the morning because I finally get into a deep sleep sometime around 5 or 6 am. Things are looking up, though and I have not gone back into a depression, which I was afraid of.

I tell you these things only to be open about it so that if anyone else is going through this they might read this and realize that these are actual symptoms of drug detox and not just craziness that they alone are feeling. I thought I was just acting crazy and then started reading info on the internet and realized that I was feeling typical withdrawl symptoms. It made me realize that I can battle this and not give up and get back on a drug that I didn't need. So, if this helps, then fabulous!!

Detox, First Day of School and Other Items of Interest

Faithful few...thank you for sticking with me and thank you for all of your heartfelt requests for a new post from me. As some of you know I have been detoxing. For REAL! 14 months ago, I went through an inexplicable depression I couldn't get myself out of. I prayed fervently and God told me to go see my doctor who prescribed Effexor.

Now, before you go and judge me for being a drug hound you should know a few things. First, yes, I am all for drugs. Mood altering, snot removing, pain deterring, natural, chemical, natural chemical...whatever works I believe in drugs. I also believe that God put people on this planet with medical knowledge to help us get rid of disease, sickness, chemical imbalances, mental issues, erectile dysfunction and various other problems. God made it very clear to me that I was to follow the advice of my physician because he has endowed her with knowledge and skills to help me. Just like he endowed me with the ability to create, decorate and beautificate.

So, I leaned not unto my own understanding and followed His lead. Now, I am coming off of the Effexor and trying to have a go at life without this enhancer and it is not pretty! Honestly, someone should have let me go to rehab. Preferably, the one in Utah that LiLo went to. I have been a miserable turd for about three weeks but mainly the last 6 days. This is when I stopped the taper down and went cold turkey. I have been shaky, dizzy, sleepy, not sleepy, hot, cold, shivering, sweating, starving, nauseous, weak, mean, weepy and irritable and my head hurts!!!!. It is rotten. I have improved in the last two days, but it is still a far cry from "normal". Whatever that is!?!

I have been fortunate to have some awesome friends who have supported me and have been praying for me. My wonderful husband helps me pick up the pieces and only makes fun of me every now and then and my kids, well, there will be counseling set up for them in the future.

All this to say, this is why I haven't posted in a while. So, now that you have been updated on me you should know that Landry's first week of second grade has gone so very well! He has a lovely teacher, Mrs. Ann Jebsen. Those who have had her in the past sing her praises to us. So far he has been very happy and such a sweet kid. He sets his alarm each morning and is up and at em right away. When he started Kindergarten we had a picture chart of things he did before he watched cartoons on school mornings. He would take each picture down as he completed the task. This was fun and helped get my kids mindset to a routine each morning. Three years later it is like clockwork.

Sophie starts preschool at Holy Cross Lutheran Preschool next Tuesday and she gets to go to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History's school. How fun!! I am a little envious.

What you are wearing is hurting my face!

We recently had a wonderful photographer come over to our house and take a gazillion pictures of our family. For some reason, every time we asked Landry to smile he gave us this one eyed pirate face. Actually, it looks like he just bit into a lemon. He couldn't help it. He just kept giving us this grin. So, it is now entered into the McCook book of Chronicles.

Anyway, I thought this was a nice segue to my newest blog objective, which is to help people help themselves by listening to my uncensored advice about fashion choices. This is sort of a "What Not to Wear" by me. If you have noticed there are several of these shows on TV. There is the aforementioned show, Carson Kresley's "How to Look Good Naked", "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" and many others. However, some people are still not getting it and I feel this is the perfect forum to "hep somboddy". Halleluer!

First topic of conversation...White Pants

White pants are excellent. White pants worn right are excellent! This means you must follow these rules.

1. White pants may not be tight pants. If you take your pants off and have an indention from the seam still on your skin, they are too tight! If they are smooth across the backside and you could possibly show a movie on your derriere, they are too tight! Get a bigger size! There is no shame in your size number. There is shame in tight pants!

2. You must wear nude colored panties with white pants. You can not wear a white thong. WE CAN SEE IT! It is all we are looking at. No one is saying, "Look at that cute girl in her white pants." Nope, they are singing the "Thong Song" to themselves and thinking you obviously don't own a mirror. (Obviously, if you are a mocha colored friend you need to wear mocha colored panties. This is your nude.)

3. Straighten out your pockets. This is a pet peave. It just looks better. Nuf said.

If anyone has anything to add, please do. Also, if you are my friend, please know that I am not writing about white pants because of any of you. It's because I am noticing a frightening trend amongst the common folk. We gotta help the masses conform to our good fashion sense. After all, it's only right.

Mimi's First Visit to Texas

This is our precious Miana Leta Marie Sturm. Isn't she a doll baby! On her first visit to Texas she was snuggled and cuddled and completely admired by all, especially Sophie. Sophie couldn't get enough of her. She told me over and over again how she wished she could have a baby sister. Sorry sister, you are all the baby sister I can handle!

Forgiveness is Golden

I don't know if you have noticed, but my little Landry is not the skinny bean pole that I was at his age. No one tries to see if they can pick him up because he is so tiny. No one asks if he has a tapeworm. No one calls him toothpick. He has a perfectly rounded little brown belly and I, personally, think it is adorable. His skinny friends, however, are not always so kind and he has had his feelings hurt more than once in the last year.

This summer at Camp Thurman, Landry came home and told me that two of his friends, let's call them Jeff and Tom, called him fat. I said, "Landry, the next time Jeff calls you fat you tell him "I'm not fat. I am muscly and the next time you call me fat I'll use these muscles to kick your scrawny tail!" He loved it. I also made a mental note to talk to Jeff and Tom's parents and let them know that their kids weren't playing nice.

Later that week, I had a conversation with Tom's aunt.
Who had a conversation with Tom's mom.
Who had a conversation with Tom which went something like this...
"Tom, did you call Landry fat?"
"No."
"Tom, they have video cameras at Camp Thurman and if I have to I will go there and watch them. Now, tell me the truth. Did you call Landry fat?"
"No, mommy, I promise. I didn't call him anything."
"Did you stand next to someone when they called him fat?"
"No, mommy, I promise."
"We don't ever call anyone fat, do you understand? It hurts feelings. It isn't nice. We do not call people fat."
"I promise I won't, please don't hit me with that hanger. Please don't beat the tar out of me. Please, please, please..."

Well, the last part is exaggerated, but I thought the dialogue was getting boring. :)

A week later, Landry and I are having the "fat conversation" again and I told him that I spoke with Tom's aunt. He gave me a puzzling look and said, "Tom never called me fat."
"You told me he did. You said Jeff and Tom. You told me he did."
"I think I made a mistake because Tom never called me fat. Can you apologize to his mom for me?"

OH NOOOOOOO! (that is sort of what I said)

Later that night, I saw Tom's mom who told me about the conversation she had with Tom and I, in turn, told her about the conversation I had with Landry. Then I found poor Tom and told him how wrong I was and how sorry I was and would he forget the whole thing if I gave him $5. This precious boy, graciously forgave me. He just said, 'That's okay." and went on about his business.

Lesson learned, check and recheck the story. Also, there is a time when you should let your kid fight his own battles. Arm him with loving kindness, diversionary tactics and a possible snide remark and send him out to fight for himself. This may save you some face!