My Day in Court (part 1)

The day approached slowly. This entire past weekend, in the back of my mind, I knew Monday was coming. I hadn't been in a courthouse or, for that matter, had any issues with the law for a long, long time, so as you can imagine, I had mixed emotions. There really was no way I wasn't going, but I really didn't want to. Couldn't I just mail in some money, volunteer at a local soup kitchen, heck... I'd even scrape off road-kill just to make it all go away. Sadly, those were not options for me.

I was instructed to show up at the newly built downtown courthouse by 8.15am. So I got up at 6.30am and prepared myself for the worst. I put on some nicer-than-normal clothes (it's always good to impress the judge). I thought about calling ahead and asking if the judge had a favorite cologne, but I thought that might appear to be kissing up and judges can see right through that stuff -- at least Judge Judy could.

I arrived at the courthouse at 8am just in case punctuality gave me favor to the powers that be. The security check point at the front doors was pretty much a miniature version of what you find in airports, except I didn't have to take off my shoes. All I could do while going through the metal-detecting doorway was pray they didn't find probable-cause to frisk me. I only let a select few do that and the four-foot seven-inch "Grandma" holding onto a metal-detecting wand like she wanted to beat someone with it was nowhere near the list.

Once past the security area of the lobby, I made my way to the check-in area where I was given a form to fill out and told to wait "in there." As I made my way into the waiting room, I saw several others who were just as discouraged and upset as I was to be there. So many people... how could we all be there for the same thing? Why us? Why now? Each of us were once strangers and now, for the first time ever, look each other in the eye, knowing that it was not just coincidence that brought us together. I could see it in their eyes... no matter what political, religious, ethnic, or socio-economic background, it was evident that everyone knew there were greater forces at work bringing us into this room.

It was going on 8.30am and I was starting to wonder when things were going to get started. I just wanted the day to end, to pay my dues the government, and be done with it. Finally, an official-looking gentleman approached a podium and addressed us all. He started out by explaining how great America's court system is -- how it was established at the beginnings of our American time to be objective and fair to every person of every walk of life. How interesting he would say that after my earlier surreal reflection on the group that was now staring back at him.

He closed with a few other nice words and told us we'd be watching a twenty minute video to help educate us about the American judicial system. He knew that many of us would need it since it was our first time being selected for jury duty.

... to be continued ...

A Saturday morning

I took the kids downtown again last Saturday for the Farmer's Market around the capitol square. I do enjoy taking the kids places where they can learn more about the places that are outside of our neighborhood. We did the typical walk around the square with the mass of other people who were at the market as well. I never feel more like a salmon than when I am at the Farmer's Market -- even more than when on the highway during rush hour.

After our traditional walk around the square, the kids always want to go up to the balcony of the capitol building. It is open to the public and goes completely around the capitol dome, so you can see a lot of downtown and the lakes in all directions. At the time, it was everything Allison wanted in the world just to go up to the balcony. When we got there, she took one look over the edge and wanted to leave. :( I held her the entire time and of course never went near the railing.

As it was approaching noon, we made our way back down the capitol building for some lunch. A quick stop at the drinking fountain outside the capitol building gave Isaac some time to do a little show-boating for the public.

So... with lunch in our tummies, cookies and cheese curds in hand, we headed out to one of their favorite parks where there just happened to be a carnival going on, and boy, do our kids love carnivals. They enjoyed their cookies at the park and the many things to do there without pressing too much to ride the carnival rides. After a very busy morning and afternoon, we headed home where I was hoping we'd all enjoy nice long naps, but oh no.. not our kids. Silly kids. Don't they know I'm old?

Tornadoes Near Us

The five of us are sitting in the basement while tornadoes are touching down all over the county. We're eating peanut butter and jelly and doritos. Us three adults are sitting in lawn chairs with our laptops out while the kids are running around rolling a ball. The tv is on to the local news. The weatherman is getting hoarse from talking nonstop. It's like watching a movie. We can hardly believe what's happening around us. There are 6 tornadoes that have touched down, one of which passed within a couple miles of us, and one that's headed in our general direction, but will probably pass us to the south. We're having a good old time down in the unfinished basement. I'm so glad that Shane and Sarah made it home from work ok, and we're all together. Don't worry about us. I will update later.

Severe Weather

It's been an interesting day weatherwise here in Southern Wisconsin. This morning it was sunny, hot, and extremely windy. After lunch, the kids went outside to run through the sprinkler with their friends. We went in when the skies turned dark and soon it began to rain. A HUGE bunch of thunderstorm cells went through to the north of us and spawned a bunch of tornadoes, but all we got was the rain. As I watched the weather man on tv, I counted four different tornadoes in our area. There was one near the Wisconsin Dells, which is about an hour north of us, one northwest of us, one east of us, and one southeast of us. Two of them were in our county. Apparently, there were lots of different cells that produced these rotating thunderstorms and they were scattered. But like I said, we didn't see much action here. All we got was rain. So far, anyway. More storms are forecasted for tonight and tomorrow and the next day, and the day after that, and so on. Isaac and I like tracking thunderstorms. We've been reading library books about weather and it's been really interesting!

This afternoon during the rain, the kids and I watched Monsters, Inc. Laughing with them, I realized how much I enjoy them. It was just one of those random moments in everyday life when I looked at my kids and felt so happy. Being their mommy brings me so much joy.