Well, by my watch and warrant I see that I've not posted anything on this here E-Lec-tronic thingie since May 16th. It's old news (and stupid news) to mention that the world didn't end on May 21st. The End was revised, again. Ok, have fun guessing the next time Mr. Jesus will return. He said He would. But He ascended, and we're all still here....so behave yourselves just in case.
Since living in constant fear is about as fun as chewing thumbtacks, I'll sleep through your static.
Anyway, in 1995 my wife and I became the proud parents of a little girl we named Sarah Giacinta, after two of our grandmothers (it was gonna be Giacinta Sarah, but my wife balked). My other choice was "Velouria," the title of a Pixies song....this was a non-starter.
......and life as we'd known it changed wholly, completely, and I'm out of poorly-used adverbs here. We were drawn inexorably (more adverbs!) into parenthood without a clue as to what we were supposed to do. Our friends were useless, they were all single and had no experience. Our parents told us to settle down and roll up our sleeves, and that's about as good advice as anyone can give you.
Lots of trial and error with Child #1. Hits and misses. Starts and stops. Insert more cliches here ____________. As a baby, she was fiercely independent. As a toddler, she was hell on wheels (at least, until the boys came along).
On this Saturday past Sarah was confirmed, and will be 16 in a few mere days. Oh, and she's driving now, Saints preserve us! She often complains that I don't pay enough attention to her nor do I give her credit for the positive things she does because (for example) I like my son's ice hockey practices more than her marching band events. While it's true that I love ice hockey and am lost at a marching band competition, I go see her play anyway. She's grown into a lovely young woman (though she doesn't seem to think so and doesn't seem to care when I say it) who's pretty, smart, fairly articulate, and is by far the best musician my side of the family ever produced.
But, all of that conditional gushing aside, she's a teenager - so she's still a pain in the butt.
For my part, I spent most of the Spring saving money for an AWESOMELY EPIC gift that would suit both the Confirmation and the 16th birthday, plus I was landscaping our back yard for the party we had. I planted many plants, slung much mulch, and worked pretty much up until about 3:30 pm last Saturday afternoon.
Amazingly, it all looked pretty good. Even better, the party went off without a hitch...sort of.
It wasn't supposed to rain, therefore it ended up raining --- if only a little. One can lament life's curveballs ad infinitum or one can learn how to make contact with those curveballs and just f'in deal with them; maybe you won't hit a home run but at least you'll put the ball in play.
Me? I mostly lament, then when I'm done I feel stupid and start learning.
And it didn't rain for long.
Love ya, kiddo. Enjoy your epic laptop,
Dad
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