PRIDE Course (no, not that kind, NTTATWWT)

To adopt there are many tasks and red tape one must complete. To an absolute computer geek like myself, it helps if I image these tasks as a quest in an online role playing game... something like World Of Warcraft.

Wise Old Mage (WOM): Lo! Thou hast before thee thine quest! A quest to conquer the foul beast of PRIDE! Tis wise to bring a companion on thy quest, lest ye be beseech-ed by tasks beyond what thine mere mortal hands may handle!
Me: Yar! Ready my steed! I shall set off in yonder Steel Stallion (my Saturn) and travel great distances (to Kanata, ON) to vanquish said beast! And I shall take with me, mine fair maiden! For together, we shall triumph!

This is generally when my fair maid... er, wife, interrupts my little make believe world (where I am one with Conan) and brings me back to real life.

The PRIDE course is a basic parenting course to help get oneself ready for adoption or foster parenting. It is a pretty intimidating course. There are broad topics covered, and you actually have to "pass" the course in Ontario in order to be able to adopt.

After the last lesson learned with that whole "spanking incident", I knew to keep my mouth shut. :-) My wife on the other hand, was a fount of wisdom. At one point, the course instructor came by on a coffee break and commented that she particularly liked her answer with regards on how to handle a tantrum in the grocery isle. (Um, for the curious, you leave the store, that's what you do!)

Course Leader (CL): Oh, I really enjoyed your answer about the tantrum.
Fair Maiden (Wife): Thanks.
CL: Yes, you have shown a lot of wisdom in that answer.

Well, my wife was flying! She was convinced that the leader hadn't liked our answers... Not that I really tried to answer anything. But my wife being the mature person she is, took what the leader said, and treasured it in her heart....
... not really.

Wife: Did you hear that?! I'm SMART!
Me: Yes. Good for you. I knew that.
Wife: The leader LIKES me!
Me: Yes... yes she dose.
Wife: And she DOSN'T like you!
Me: .. well, I don't kno...
Wife: She didn't say she liked you!
Me: Hey now, it was our answer. I said it to you, you just put up your ha...
Wife: She likes me! She thinks you are stupid!

Okay, maybe I'm paraphrasing there a bit. But not much. To make matters worse, when we got our Home Study complete, we scored pretty much the same (not that I'm comparing tho) in all areas, except she eeked me out by 2 points in the parenting category. Well... you should have heard her then!

NOTE: I would like to point out, that all things considered, she gets to do a fair bit more parenting than me. You know, while I'm working 13 days straight to pay for the new "counter top" for our "new daughter"... shes off parenting. So naturally she would have more experience. I think on a per hour per score basis, I would have won. Not that I'm comparing. :-)

Back to the PRIDE course tho.

During another part of the PRIDE course, we had to break off into small groups of 3 or 4 people and answer some different questions. I got put into a group with a couple other guys, and my wife wound up with some of the other ladies.

The small group time started as we all grabbed our markers, and big sheets of paper, and set off to begin journalist-i-cising our thoughts on the matter at hand.

As I looked at my fellow men, we started trying to decided what was important information to write down, what was fluff, and what was not at all related to the specific topic. This dosn't sound like a big deal... but the conversation quickly went off track and we would up arguing over how to write on the paper... landscape? or Portrait? Who would write? Why him?! Why not me?! You saying I have messy hand writting?! Oh yea! No, YOU'RE the jerk!

Meanwhile, I glace over my shoulder at my wife and her ladies, and they are talking, and laughing and having a great time! They've started filling sheets of paper with poetic words, and pictures, and little borders... you would think its a scrap book meeting over there!

Finally we get to the point of writting something down. Damn! Markers dry! What ensues can only be described as mayhem as the 3 (there used to be 4... one guy left to go be with his wife) of us argues over who should have to walk all the way across the room to get a new marker. Finally, while the other two are still arguing, I duck a flying chair and go get a new marker.

Upon my return, I see that the ladies are now sipping tea, with what can only be described as a stack of paper resembling that of an Agatha Christie novel, leather wrapped and bound, in full color detail sitting beside them.

I on the other hand, return to my netherlander(ish) co-horts and find that they have managed to kill a Caribu and have used our paper to start a fire and are cooking its meat.

... I love being a guy!

:-) The PRIDE course was actually really fun. Not only because you got to learn lots, but because you get to meet people going through similar "stuff" and encourage each other.

Good times... good times. :-)