The Scorpion and the Frog

One day, a scorpion looked around at the mountain where he lived and decided that he wanted a change. So he set out on a journey through the forests and hills. He climbed over rocks and under vines and kept going until he reached a river.

The river was wide and swift, and the scorpion stopped to reconsider the situation. He couldn’t see any way across. So he ran upriver and then checked downriver, all the while thinking that he might have to turn back.

Suddenly, he saw a frog sitting in the rushes by the bank of the stream on the other side of the river. He decided to ask the frog for help getting across the stream.

“Hellooo Mr. Frog!” called the scorpion across the water, “Would you be so kind as to give me a ride on your back across the river?”

“Well now, Mr. Scorpion! How do I know that if I try to help you, you wont try to kill me?” asked the frog hesitantly.

“Because,” the scorpion replied, “If I try to kill you, then I would die too, for you see I cannot swim!”

Now this seemed to make sense to the frog. But he asked. “What about when I get close to the bank? You could still try to kill me and get back to the shore!”

“This is true,” agreed the scorpion, “But then I wouldn’t be able to get to the other side of the river!”

“Alright then…how do I know you wont just wait till we get to the other side and THEN kill me?” said the frog.

“Ahh…,” crooned the scorpion, “Because you see, once you’ve taken me to the other side of this river, I will be so grateful for your help, that it would hardly be fair to reward you with death, now would it?!”

So the frog agreed to take the scorpion across the river. He swam over to the bank and settled himself near the mud to pick up his passenger. The scorpion crawled onto the frog’s back, his sharp claws prickling into the frog’s soft hide, and the frog slid into the river. The muddy water swirled around them, but the frog stayed near the surface so the scorpion would not drown. He kicked strongly through the first half of the stream, his flippers paddling wildly against the current.

Halfway across the river, the frog suddenly felt a sharp sting in his back and, out of the corner of his eye, saw the scorpion remove his stinger from the frog’s back. A deadening numbness began to creep into his limbs.

“You fool!” croaked the frog, “Now we shall both die! Why on earth did you do that?”

The scorpion shrugged, and did a little jig on the drownings frog’s back.

“I could not help myself. It is my nature.”

Then they both sank into the muddy waters of the swiftly flowing river.

Love comes to those who still hope even though they’ve been disappointed, to those who still believe even though they’ve been betrayed, to those who still love even though they’ve been hurt before. ~Anonymous

I live in a part of the country where December has an average snowfall of about 70 or so inches.  And it’s cold.   It kinda needs to be to snow.

So the other day I was looking for my gloves.  Why I can never find them is beyond me.   I remembered those commercials from way back.  You know the ones?  “Get HER (always “her”) something she’ll love.  Isotoner gloves.”   Or something like that.   I think I’m showing some grownup tendencies, cuz I’d love some nice gloves!  Now I go out in the cold properly dressed, and at the same time I have to tell my teenager to put on a damn coat!  That a sweatshirt is NOT winter attire.  Man I didn’t wanna be a grownup!

That is the best description of my week.

For whatever reason I didn’t sleep much Sunday night.  Probably because Monday I was supposed to meet with my college adviser and start planning my January classes.  That and I got too hot.  I can’t sleep when I’m hot.  Mondays are also my bowling league night.  Oh yeah!  I joined a bowling league!  With my friend from AC Moore.  I share duties with another lady.  I called her and asked if she could bowl for me, but no dice.  So Monday about killed me.  I think I was in bed at 9:30!

I did have my college meeting and it went well.  I have to make a few decisions and see what direction I want my computer degree to go in.  I meet with him again on Thursday.   I don’t have any computer classes from my original Associates Degree, so I think I’m going to get a second Associates in IT and then transition right into the Bachelor’s.  I can transfer up to 40 credits, so I’ll only need about 2 semesters to get the second degree.  I’m still excited though!  I’m on my way to a new career!

So Tuesday is Scouts night.  Sam made some mention of  a camp out that was canceled or postponed, but nothing concrete.  He bowls with the team till 5, then comes home till Scouts meeting.  Mondays and Tuesdays are packed.  We also go for dinner out on Tuesdays.  I only let him have one dinner out a week or he would be begging for Mickey D’s every day!  So now I’m tired again and it’s only Tuesday.

Wednesdays I try to go to the Y to workout.  I’m really trying hard to get exercise to be a habit.  It’s the only way I’m going to lose the weight and keep it off.  Sam comes to me and says he needs $30 to buy food for the Scout camp out.  Wait…what??  Why, if 12 boys are going, are we supplying half of the budget and one other boy the other half?  He has no explanation, but tells the leaders that we are broke and he can’t do it.  Thanks Sam.  Nothing like making a bad situation worse.  He also tells me he didn’t know about the camp out until this week.  I email what I think is the Eagle Scout that usually runs the meeting, but instead get the boy’s dad.  Who tells me that Sam did, indeed, know.  Since the beginning of November and the original trip had to be postponed because so many boys weren’t available Thanksgiving weekend.  THEN Sam tells me he told me that.  Which, yes, he did, but not in an “I want to go and it has been rescheduled” kind of way.  But mentions it in passing.  So now I”m emailing with leaders and being told yes, you buy the food, but you get reimbursed.  I was just about crushed with this news.  I had planned a haircut, and being out $30 on a short check week, was going to kill me. (I didn’t have enough hours in to get paid for Thanksgiving).  I email them back and tell them I’m sorry, but Sam didn’t tell me until RIGHTNAO! and I can’t do it.  He just can’t go.

So I’ve spent Wednesday night all kinds of upset at Sam, and just don’t feel like working out.  So now I’m behind and really frustrated.  Then comes Thursday.  The Scout Master calls me.  He says his son, Sam’s friend J, came home and said Sam couldn’t go.  I told him “Well yeah.”  On to the explanation and how Sam is not responsible unless it directly concerns him at that moment.  He had been included in some of the Wednesday emails, so by now he knows 1.  Sam has Aspergers, and 2.  that I’ve been added to the email list so I can be in on what is going on.  He tells me that the previously explained process of camping food is something he is changing as new Scout Master.  He realizes that most of us just can’t front money and hope that everyone pays their fair share.  So he says he’ll take Sam and J shopping, since the main point of the assignment is to learn to shop on a budget and try to get enough to feed the boys for the length of the trip.  He will pay from the Scout account and then they will let the parents know what the share is.  Great!  But now I’m concerned about gear.  Sam also wasn’t bothered to get the packing list.  Aren’t computers wonderful?  Mr S sends the list to me and magically I have enough of the items to make this camp out possible.  Now I have to get Sam’s head out of his ass late on a Thursday to have him ready to go Friday.  He decides, despite repeated requests from me, not to pack Thursday night.  I had to wake him up early on Friday so that he was ready for Friday night.

Did I mention bowling practice?  Sam has practice till 5 on Fridays.  And needs to be at the church at 5 for dropoff.  And dammit!  No boots.  My sister comes to my rescue there.  Says she has an extra pair of size 9s that Sam can use and a flashlight.  Now I just need a small thing of toothpaste, a hat cuz I know he’s gonna forget the one in his locker, and sunglasses.   I get to my sister’s and didn’t she BUY Sam new boots??  An early Christmas gift.  I love my sister!!  I managed, with the help of my sister and others, to pull together a weekend camp out on 3 days’ notice.  If Sam’s goal was to send me to the looney bin, he failed… this time.  I ran around like a madwoman on Friday.  I’m trying to pack up my truck, and checked his suitcase to make sure his book was in there.  Then realized I had to repack it, cuz it wasn’t going to close again.  Then lost my keys and unpacked and repacked once more.  This was kinda fun though, cuz my “fucking” neighbors were having a fight out in the street.  I call them the “fucking” neighbors because every other word they say is that word.  Very entertaining.

So I go to get Sam at practice, planning to go to the church from there, but he forgot a belt.  OMG kid, can we get this DONE already??  One more stop at home and then I finally get him dropped off at the church.  Just in time to meet one of my brothers-in-law at my house.  He needed some help with something, so I squeezed him in at 6 on Friday.  Holy shit!  This day is just making me insane!  I’m still planning on making my hair appointment at 7 and I did!!!

Please, dearest Goddess, don’t let me have another week like that for a while!  But I made a workout Thursday at the Y.  And came home and did a Wii workout.  In retrospect that wasn’t such a good move, but it’s done.  So here are my workouts for this past week:

Sunday:  a Wii workout

Monday: bowling?

Tuesday: none

Wednesday:  screaming, crying, gnashing of teeth

Thursday:  at the Y 12 min on the elliptical, 45 minutes on the treadmill.  at home a Wii workout.  painful on top of all the cardio, but I finished.

Friday:  hahahaha  you’re kidding right?

Saturday: (today)  as soon as I get done with this, I”m cleaning all the things to get ready for holiday decorations.  That will do since I have to move furniture.

Please excuse the rambliness of all of this.  It’s a symptom of my week.

Tags: s, sam, workouts