Send in the Clowns

Let me start with an introduction of sorts: First of all, Stealers Wheel sang a song in 1972 entitled "Stuck in the Middle With You". The catchy hook states, "Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right--here I am--Stuck in the Middle with You". This describes my life perfectly right now. I have three adult children living at home --all currently unemployed and not in school. There are two younger children that are incredibly involved in sports and cannot drive so guess who gets to chauffer them around. There are my elderly in-laws , my widowed mother and my husband's widowed aunt that lives in an apartment attached to our house. Add my OCD husband and my nutty friends and Stealers Wheel song starts to make a lot more sense. As you can tell--I'm the only sane one around (twitch twitch). At the risk of offending everyone that is around me, let me describe the "Clowns and the Jokers".

This is Paige, my 22 year old daughter. She just got home from serving an LDS mission in Austria. She does not go back to school until August. She is currently substituting as a a German teacher for a half hour every day at Meridian Academy. Currently she is the record holder for Solitaire on her iPhone.

This is Erika, our adopted daughter. She, too, is 22-years-old and a returned missionary from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. She has applied for so many jobs, when she gets interviews, she can't remember what company they are for. In her spare time, she likes to bowl and go to doctors' appointments.

This is Seth, my 18-year-old son. He just dropped out of high school and says he is going to get his GED soon. He just became certified to be a flagger for road crews but hasn't gotten around to applying for any construction jobs. The two jobs he has applied for haven't called him back. Strange.

This is Hudson. He's 13. He's good at it. He likes basketball, soccer, Hope Solo and long walks on the beach. When he's not playing some sport, he is picking on his younger brother. He's good at that too.

And Mitch: Ten years old and cute as a button...when he isn't crying as causing himself an asthma attack. It would help if his older brothers didn't pick on him but that is asking too much.

I have one more adult child: Colin. He is currently serving and LDS mission in Germany. At the moment, he is off the "Clown status". But he's been there before and I am sure he will be there again at some point.

These are just some of the clowns and the jokers in my life. They certainly make things interesting.