on January 27th, 2010 by mark
Too easy to pick on the President. The man can speak, I’ll give him that. But, the jury is in–and while he’s a fine speaker, he’s a piss poor Executive and his governance is…well….bad.
So, on to cooler climes. Peanut had a brilliant 24 hours. She has shown a kind of maturity and responsibility that I have never noticed before. She is affable and friendly, attempts to overcome odds and today, she conquered a nervousness and fear she had.
Today was her first ever bona-fide field trip on a school bus, out of town without mom or dad coming along. What a treat. We built her up for it, but she couldn’t seem to conquer the little worry demon about this new experience. So, with my new found approach to being a dad, I simply acknowledged her fears and nervousness and said they were normal and asked her not to let those things run her life.
And she didn’t. She rose to the occasion and she handled it so well-and, of course, she had fun seeing the New West Symphony play a special concert just for third graders in our area. That was a pretty cool thing. Not much of a symphony guy, or at least I have not been, but I am a fan of music-and a musician (or at least a recovering one) and I was so excited for her to sit in a seat with her friends and classmates and have an internal experience of listening to music, not being told what to think about it or whether to like it. It must have felt so free to her, like her brain counted and in fact, at that moment, it was the only thing that did.
When she got home, I met her and after her homework, I took her to Rocket Fizz which is a candy and soda shop that started right here in town (there are now 6 of them-including one in Lincoln, NE). It was a reward for behavior that met and exceeded expectations and it is the best part of being a parent-the part that is not only responsible for the discipline of a child, but of appropriately rewarding the child when she makes choices that are so right, so correct and in accordance with how I’ve raised her, that I burst with pride.
It’s days like this where all else melts away and what’s left is the essence of who I am, now. I’m a husband and a dad and for all of my own cloudy worries and preoccupations, I have an obligation to make sure that my child-and someday soon, my children, have a clear and honest acceptance of life. That’s a big charge and I find that it is the one thing that dwarfs job and money and appointments.
The days are striving for length, now, as February approaches. To be sure, it’s still winter and the cold, even in So. Cal, is heavy around us at times. But the sun is angling to come closer and brighten our days. While it’s working toward that end, I’ve learned that it’s important to me that I allow light to come from other sources. Today, it did just that.
Posted in Family
