Jury Duty

I'm convinced there is some cosmic force against me. My husband and I have been married for 5 1/2 years and during that time I have been called for jury duty 5 times. How is that possible? I'm not talking called like I'm in the pool of prospective jurors for a year, I'm talking like called, had to show up at the court house, and questioned to see whether or not I'm fit to sit on the jury. Unfortunately, I am not one of those people who thinks being called for jury duty is some wonderous adventure. I prefer to go about my normal routine, go to work, pick up the kids, etc. etc. Jury duty greatly disrupts my normal routine. And not knowing until the night before whether or not the case is preceding as scheduled? Talk about an inconvenience! And don't even get me started on the whole not knowing how many days it could go on. As I get my summons, I get the pleasure of listening to my husband go on and on about how it is my civic duty and I should consider it a great pleasure and blah, blah, blah. All this coming from the man who, in the 5 1/2 years that we have been married has never even received the letter at the beginning of the year for potential jurors.
So yesterday I show up for my 5th jury duty in as many years and I sit. My name is about 3/4 of the way down the list so I am not immediately called to the jury box. Instead I sit as they weed out the prospective jurors, knowing full well that I should be able to leave as in this particular case, I know too many of the parties involved. Instead, I am forced to sit through 3 hours of this selection process, only to not be selected as I knew I wouldn't be. As I head out to the clerk's office to receive my "compensation", I am told that because I didn't actually sit on this jury my name will be thrown back in to the pool for the rest of the year. My excitement is overwhelming.

Smith, Party of Six?

I can honestly say that when I started out in life, I never imagined being those people waiting for a table at a restaurant and hearing "Smith, party of six. Your table is ready". Seriously? Party of six?? What was I thinking? I've always been pretty intelligent, did well in school, full-ride to college, and all that jazz so what would possess me to end up with such a large family? Is it the hope that the more kids I have, the more likely that at least one will end up a good person? I mean, statistically speaking, that would have to make sense right? My youngest is just 10 months old. And when I walk in the room after being gone all day and see his little chubby face light up because momma's home, it is then that I remember why I opted for such a large family and why I could almost envision it being bigger (I said almost!!!). It's not just the idea of having more children to care for me in my old age (although that is an added bonus), but it's the little rewards each of my children give me day to day - a kiss, a hug, an out of the blue "I love you, Mommy". It's knowing that God has a special plan for each of my little monkeys and that it's my job to help them figure out what that plan is. Of all the many hats I wear, "mom" is by far the most important!