Teletubbies, Marijuana, A Day in the Life...

Eva loves watching Teletubbies. I don't think watching TV is great for developing children at any age, but I have to confess I let her watch it from time to time. Even I am transfixed by the show. The opening song, in particular, makes me happy to be alive and I want to reach through the TV screen and hug the creepy, yet cuddly, strange alien things named Dipsy, LaLaa, Tinky Winky (according to Jerry Falwell, this is the "gay" one because he is purple and has a triangle on his head--since when did gay people steal the market on colors, shapes and rainbows? They are still available to others, in my opinion).

Dan called from the border this morning. Two kids on their mission trip smuggled marijuana over the border and then back again. They even had the foresight to stash some in a bush near a hotel in New Mexico on the way down, knowing they would revisit that same bush on the way back. I am just thankful that I am not trying to find a Mexican attorney for my husband right now and having to think about how I will support my family by blogging and watching Teletubbies. Dan said all the kids were really upset and were crying, praying, hugging, and talking about the whole thing. I am hoping it will be a vehicle in the kids' lives to somehow facilitate a deeper dialogue about the issues they face.

It made me think about how as adults we are trained for things to be "no big deal" and besides a death, if I reacted like that, I would be perceived as overreacting, something I am accused of often. I wish I would feel more open about weeping loudly, laughing so hard I peed my pants (I do pee when I do jumping jacks sometimes), or just expressing myself in a way that doesn't think about whether I will be perceived as looney. I grew up in a home where extreme emotion of any kind was definitely not okay, and it is strange that I am such an expressive person in spite of that, but I shame myself for it, and today, my goal is to start embracing my emotions rather than cower because of them.