I don't celebrate Valentine's Day. It's silly to me. Why do I need to tell my significant other, family, and friends that I love them one day of the year just because the calendar tells me so? Why can't I tell them every single day of the year if the meaning is there?  I feel, if your significant other, family, and friends truly loved you, they'd show, say, and express it all the time - not try to make it up to you one day of the year when Hallmark, Hershey's, and flower shops make their most money.

Let me begin by saying, in no way am I going to pursue this because I find it incredibly funny. Leave it to me to be the one candy is "attracted" to, and ultimately be the one that candy has caused pain. Now, I know that candy can be a cause of the dreaded "tooth-decay", but who knew getting whipped in the head with a Fifth Avenue candy bar could leave one with a headache that's lasted over 24 hours and a head welt. *wince*

When I go to work and have to take one of my fifteen minute breaks, I take the opportunity to hop online and check out the latest news on Yahoo!. Of late, the site seems more gossipy than it has ever felt in the past, and I've been an avid Yahoo! user since I was 13-years-old. I choose to ignore the majority of the "gossip" stories and try to stick with the news, to see what's going on in the world.

On Monday, one headline read, "200 Pound 3rd Grader Put Into Foster Care." Being a foster child myself until the age of 13 (technically 10, as I was adopted by the family that I moved in with at age 10), I was intrigued (if not, morbidly curious) at what this child's parents had done to make the state intervene in such a manner. Did this child's mother force feed him, like that mother that killed her baby by force feeding it? Or, did the child want to win some sort of Guinness Book of World Records contest by being the largest 8-year-old, and did the mother allow that? Instead of coming up with other wild and weird scenarios, I decided to read the story.

Today's flash fiction I set up the limits of :
1. It had to be no more and no less than 500 words.
2. It had to leave the reader wanting more, but still explain a situation - a serious situation - so that the reader could understand.
3. It had to evoke emotion.

With that being said, I think I've done that. I title this little piece 'Alone'. Do you think I hit my target this Friday?

This is a blog post that has absolutely nothing to do with my writing, except for the fact that I feel like writing about it.

I just got a phone call from my kid's doctor telling me my youngest has a reported 22 on his lead blood test. A normal 3 year old should be below 10 and his is 22. Even an adult should be below 20. Last year we had this scare, his levels were really high and when re-tested, they were reported much lower. At that time we were renovating our upstairs apartments and had a possible explanation for the increase in levels; our babysitter had fallen asleep and wasn't watching him while he went upstairs - where the renovations were being done. We don't know for sure if there is lead paint, we've tested some areas and the majority was wallpaper, with the exception of the upstairs. He never goes up there. Renovations are done in one apartment, and the other apartment just needs to be painted and have a kitchen put in. No lead paint there either. Where are these high levels coming from?

So the doctor would like my older children tested as well. I'm freaking out! What if they're higher too? How? Where is this lead?

The nurse, lovely lady there, suggested it could be the water pipes. She told me to let the water run a while before serving it, but I don't even recall giving my children tap water often. Even when making juice (kool-aid), I let the water run, or use bottled water.

I'm really hoping when they all get tested, it turns out to be nothing. I'm really worried that the lead is somewhere, lurking, like a silent monster ready to strike. My house is old, but still ...

My youngest isn't even home the majority of the time. He's over his great-grandmother's house. Even on the weekends, he's never upstairs or in the basement. Does this mean it really is my pipes? I'm always using water in my cooking, but wouldn't the boiling get rid of the lead - if there was any to begin with?

I don't have the money to remove every single pipe from my house, but this is my children's health and safety we're talking about. They're more important, and I must do anything and everything possible to protect them. Sigh ... Fingers crossed the hospital's blood work/tests come back normal.