Alone

Driving home the other day i was stopped at a light, it was 4ish and there was a lone girl, 14ish standing at the corner waiting for the walk signal, she caught my attention because of the slope of her shoulders, chin on her chest, eyes downcast, she seemed sad at first glance.

As I waited a beat up blue Hyundai drove by turning away from her, there was a beep and i looked up and saw the teenage girl passenger of this car flick the standing girl the bird. Standing girl looked up because of the horn, saw the finger...and there was no reaction.

The signal came on and she shuffled across the intersection and I made my turn, but she stuck with me. Thinking of it she was not sad but...alone. I hope this was something that ended for her when her walk home was complete, that she was able to shake this off and turn into a bright and happy girl who is loved and noticed at home.

As for the girl passenger of the car...hopefully she never has feel the hurt she caused...for no reason....at all.

Middle School

Last night was middle school orientation for the girl child. It was...interesting. My memories of elementary school are...cloudy at best; over the last 6 years she and the boy child who is three years younger, have been going to elementary school i have not waxed about my school days as the frame of reference was not present. Sitting in the middle school gym last night on those..."order the hardest most uncomfortable" bleachers, watching the orchestra play, the chorus sing, the band perform it hit me that she...and by association, the boy child will....grow up.

It is not that I was in denial of this, far from it, i have had a balanced attitude towards the kids growing up since the day they were born, the balance consists on one hand simply reveling in the wonder of watching two little people become...who they will be, it is magic and something not to be missed. The other side of the balance is...the countdown to college when they go away and I and my wife get our lives back...hehe.

Being at the middle school (Which is so un-cool compared to Jr. High as it was when i went school) provided an interesting moment of symetry, where my daughter goes...i have been, the world different now but the path's...so very similar. It was comforting to find that she has reached this milestone, to know that I and my wife have gotten her through the first 12 years fairly unscathed, that she has...reached a bit of a peak, and now the climb changes, she moves from childhood into...that gray area of time where we become...us. I enjoyed this transition myself, it was easy for me, i hope to help make it the same....for her.

Neil Armstrong

We have salt water fish at home, well to be honest we had a tank filled with salt water and rocks, the last fish died a few weeks ago and the forlorn tank kind of sat there for awhile. I finally got the energy to clean the tank rinse the rocks etc....then off to the fish store, water checked out good and so 4 fish came home, 3 are still alive, hehe. One of the survivors is a black and white damsel named Neil Armstrong by my son. He is 9 and has entered his space phase, astronaut is the new job choice, he has been happily devouring his newly acquired space encyclopedia and has been facinated by the Apollo program, ergo...Neil Armstrong.

Now then, Tuesday night science fair at school, the boy child pulls off first place 3rd grade life sciences div. Magnets was the theme, on the way home we start talking about next years project, once we get home he picks a dvd to watch, is it animated...no...is it by disney...no...it is the documentary Planet Earth which santa brought him last year.

So there you have today's musings, the boy child names fish after astronauts, wins science fairs and chooses documentaries to watch...it is a good day to be Dad.

So Far

The day moves ahead at an even pace, things are getting done, items checked off the list of things that need to be acomplished. There is a conversation i need to have sometime today, more of a request than a conversation, i know the outcome of the request but it is interesting how knowing we will get what we need can bring up personal costs, questions of our decisions, our honor, the rightness of our actions. Ah well, another tuesday.

Thursday

I have always found thursday to be an interesting day, the rubicon of the week crossed, now the slide into the weekend begins. Not as energetic as Friday with the anticipation of a few days off but still better than Mon-Wens, the anticpation begin's to build today, the rush to get x project complete, the planning for next week begins. Thursday is a good work day, not burdened by the wistfulness of having a day off the next day but also lighter as the week has begun it's wind down.

Thursday is and interesting day, as it really kind of exists in this week and the next.