Two Gregorian Month Anniversaries For Reilly This Week

Reilly came home three years and five months ago, when she just a day shy of two months old (though she was eight weeks and four days old, meaning than old enough to come home):

Happy Month Homecoming Anniversary, and Happy Month Birthday, Reilly!

PS The picture above was taken at 3:40 AM on July 13, 2017—which goes to show one how patiently Reilly waits when "Momma"'s mental-illness flareups and other matters cause her to stay up late into even a Wednesday-into-Thursday-night!

("Momma" wanted to find a newer picture of Reilly snuggling her toy "Hippo", though, since she couldn't find one last night. By the way, Reilly actually came to her home away from home—"Momma" and Reilly are still hoping to make aliyah.)

Somewhat Offbeat: When Sewing Up A Toy Made "Momma"/"Auntie Nicole" Tire Out Her Legs, Still Waiting For a Certain Someone, &c..

"Momma"/"Auntie Nicole" was not going to let Reilly and Camille get the sock inside almost-chewed-through-to-an-easily-accessible-sock "Hippo" (whom Reilly received as an anxiety abater). So, she sewed up "Hippo" in his velcro area (By the way, yes, Reilly and Camille have toys that are named and gendered.).

As she was sewing up "Hippo", her OCD/Anxiety flared up as she dreaded dropping the needle, not sewing and tying up the thread well enough, etc. (At least she figured out how to double thread, though that caused anxiety since that wasn't originally planned and the thread getting tangled up scared her. After all, e.g., not having enough thread and worrying about Reilly and Camille getting thread or the needle scared her.).

Add "Momma"/"Auntie Nicole"'s Cerebral Palsy to the mix and understand why her OCD/Anxiety flareup caused her legs to tire out, especially since the Cerebral Palsy and OCD/Anxiety flareup added to what she's endured lately. Also add Reilly's daily inappropriate barking, which caused myoclonus flareups (and by the way, the demonstration for "Auntie Michelle" regarding rolling over Reilly was an anomaly—"Momma" was surprised that even "Can I roll you over for a belly rub?" eventually elicited Reilly's cooperation.).

Of course, this all reminded "Momma" about part of why her OCD/Anxiety is flaring up—not to mention that it partly affected her to horrendously bite her lip last night and leave what she dreads may be a disfiguring scar (as if the idea of the negative of DBS that involves having some hair shaved off isn't enough of a consideration in terms of what might stigmatize "Momma". Not that she's had that the DBS Surgery, at least yet, by the way; she's just saying.). Meanwhile, "Momma" ("Auntie Nicole" to Camille) had to make sure that Reilly (and Camille) didn't get the honey and the olive oil that she applied to her lips.

So has been a part of life for "Momma"/"Auntie Nicole" of late, which hasn't exactly affected her to be a better "Momma" to Reilly or a better "aunt" to Camille.

Senators Bob Corker and Jeff Flake Said It, Too: Abuse Is Never Normal

Abuse is never normal or normalizable in even this age of *****, and Senators Bob Corker and Jeff Flake have finally stood up and called out *****:





One could even call what Senators Corker and Flake are doing their political "Me too" moments, and—by the way—don't think that there isn't sexual abuse going on at the hands of ***** and *****ites in Washington. I would not even be surprised if, for example, those like Senators Corker and Flake have faced hearing lewd comments about their marital and familial lives—after all, unfortunately, I have had lewd comments directed at me by some people whom have disagreed with me on certain issues; and I know that ***** (whom has had no compunction about targeting his own female family members) and *****ites are the kind of people whom would go as far as targeting others' female family members (e.g., wives and daughters) as a way to try to harass the others—both men and women—in question.

Everybody else, meanwhile, should also state "Me too" and stand up to ***** and other abusive people.

Abuse Is Never "Normal Stuff", Even In the ***** Era

"I'm beginning to think you...crucified your father for normal stuff!"

Without going into details about what affected that statement for whatever reason, I will say that I was appalled when someone said that to me—abuse is never "normal stuff", and all kinds of abuse are out of the norm—at least in a reasonable and decent society, abuse is (relatively, anyway) out of the norm.

No society in this world is going to be entirely reasonable and decent. After all, as Thomas Hobbes observed, life is short, nasty, and brutish; and "kings and persons of sovereign authority, because of their independency, are in continual jealousies and in the state and posture of gladiators, having their weapons pointing, and their eyes fixed on one another, that is, their forts, garrisons, and guns, upon the frontiers of their kingdoms, and continual spies upon their neighbours: which is a posture of war. "

That nonetheless does not cause any kind of abuse to be "normal stuff", regardless of whether it's the kind of abuse that I endured from my father (which at least, thank God, was never sexual abuse) or the following examples of abuses that others have endured:

1. The "casting couch"—Harvey Weinstein's and others' victims did not want (let alone ask) to be sexually harassed and abused; and they shouldn't have to choose between careers and being abused, between silence to avoid further abuse and between speaking out and enduring further abuse, or between anything else and abuse. Having to choose between anything and abuse, by the way, is being put in an abusive position.
2. The "condolence" call that Myeisha Johnson received. What ***** stated was basically, "Your husband knew why he signed up, and we can never repay him or any other American military member whom sacrifices his or her life for the United States; so I'm not even going to try to repay what I can."
3. The follow up to the "condolence" call. Especially Myeisha Johnson did not need libel and slander against her; and Representative Frederica Wilson did not need the libel and slander, either.
4. The threats of racist and sexist violence against Congresswoman Wilson—as I said, abuse is neither normal nor in the norm in a reasonable and decent society, which is not the kind of society which Congresswoman Wilson's abuser would like to bring back.

In conclusion, then, only abusive societies have ever treated, ever treat, and will ever treat abuse as normal and normalizable. 

More On Wanting To Explain Things To Reilly—Whom, By the Way, Would Be A Ravens Fan For Halloween, But...

That might be too scary until the Ravens shape up, and Reilly and Camille live in a house where any Halloween costumes are either of the following:

1. Cute and/or celebratory—e.g., such as dressing up as a fan of a football team, like one relative of Reilly's and Camille's happens to be doing this year (though of course his or her human family will dress him or her up, and "Momma"/"Auntie Nicole" won't say what team to protect everybody's privacy).
2. Not over-the-line or too-scary-of-which-to-make-light-of-even-on-Halloween scary. "Momma" even thought about dressing up Reilly as a ghost until the idea that Reilly would have to be dressed up in white got in the way (and "Momma" will not use certain colors, even for cards with Reilly in them, in this era if she doesn't have to do so, especially she does not want things taken out of context. Besides, another color would be confusing—unless Camille would be Ms. Pacman [and there's a morbid one—i.e., with a puppy dressed as a character that would eat the character as which the other puppy is dressed]).

By the way, that's part of what "Momma" wishes that she could explain to Reilly in terms beyond terms that one would use when he or she would talk to puppies, whom are intellectually equivalent to human toddlers. In other words, "Momma" wishes that she could go beyond using terms such as "very mean" and "not nice" when she refers to racists and other bigots when she's talking to Reilly, and she wishes that she Reilly could understand terms such as "racist" without her having to elaborate in puppy terms on what "racist" means—i.e., without having to say something like, "'Racist' means somebody who hates somebody else because of his or her skin color or ethnicity [and then having to elaborate in puppy terms on what 'ethnicity' means, since puppies don't have memories like humans do and won't remember what 'ethnicity' means unless they are told about it repeatedly overtime]."

Why The Eagles May Be The New Football Team For Whom I Root

1. Embarrassing the U.S. internationally (i.e., in the United Kingdom) was wrong (and that goes for the Jaguars, too). 
2. I have paternal roots in Pennsylvania (and regardless of whom likes it or hates it, Jewish roots where my ancestors felt safer as Anusim in the U.S. than as Anusim or open Jews in Europe. As a Jew, then, I have to ask fellow Jews and others to remember that we'd all have to kneel if every persecuted group had to kneel—even WASPs aren't exactly as White as they'd like to think. Besides, one of the great Phillies players was Jewish—his father and one of my great-great-grandmothers were maternal siblings through Anna Haszlinsky Uszinskyova nee Jasova.). 
3. On the note in Point Two: if any group should be kneeling, Jews should be. However, regardless of our various beliefs—as a Jew is a Jew regardless of whether he or she is religiously traditionally Jewish, Buddhist, or something else—many (if not most) of us have been able to recognize that the "Judeo-Christian" country that the U.S. is often actually not has been—at least up to this point—one of the Diaspora safehavens for Jews and allies of Jews compared to multiple countries throughout history.
4. This is (as I recall) another loss in a row for the Ravens since the Ravens-Jaguars game (Divine Justice against the Ravens for being ingrates?).
5. I might root again for the Ravens when I see the Ravens players kneeling for the Baltimore Police and not Freddie Gray or other criminals, such as the toadie of a certain late priest—since they're kneeling for one criminal, they're kneeling for other criminals.

Somewhat Offbeat: When "Momma" Wishes That She Could Explain Things To Reilly Like She Can To Some Humans

As "Momma" has written, she has told and explained things to Reilly in ways that one can tell and explain things to puppies. She (as she recalls that she has) also written that she sometimes wishes that she could tell and explain things to Reilly and she can tell and explain things to humans.

Without going into details, "Momma" will say that today is definitely one of those days (especially as she and Reilly get another Gregorian month older). Of course, the only drawback would be that Reilly might be able to tell "Mom-Mom", "Auntie Michelle", Camille, and everyone else what "Momma" said, since Reilly's reasoning like a human could be in tandem with her communicating like one—after all (at least as "Momma" believes), an equine compatriot of Reilly was given enough knowledge and communication skills to tell Ba'alam something that he needed to know, wasn't she?

PS For some reason, Reilly ended up liking to relax like this when "Momma" (surprisingly, and surprisingly with her cooperation) was able to roll her over for a belly rub. "Momma" could not get her to not lay on her ear!