When our first child was born, my aunt sent us the book, "Let Me Hold You Longer." by Karen Kingsbury. It is the story of a mother looking back on all the "lasts" of her grown child's life. The last time she held a bottle, the last time she rocked him, and on and on until the last time he drove away to start a life on his own.
Having a newborn, I found the book to be sad and depressing. I did not understand why such a book, as well done as it was, was sent to us as a gift at the time of our first child. Today, almost five years later, I still find the book sad and depressing but I understand why such a book was sent to us. It is a reminder to never take any moment, no matter how small or routine for granted.
As I was making my daughter's lunch for school today, it hit me that this would be the last day of this routine. There will be other days and other routines, but this would be the last time for this particular one. Tomorrow is the last day of preschool.
The routine will be changed for tomorrow. There will be the year end show and presentation instead of staying for lunch. Instead of the same few parents or nannies who drop off and pick up the kids each day, there will be a school full of parents who will be there to enjoy the festivities.
All this is how it should be but this morning was the last time for the routine that has served us well since the beginning of September. Preschool is ending.
There have been other "lasts" and if I am blessed to live a long life, there will be many more. There will also be a lot of firsts. When summer ends, there will be the first day of kindergarten and the first day of another routine but as dawn sets on this one, there is a little sadness at this "last".
"Long ago you came to me,
a miracle of firsts:
First smiles and teeth and baby steps,
a sunbeam on a burst.
But one day you will move away
and leave to me your past
And I will be thinking of
a lifetime of your lasts"
from "Let Me Hold You Longer" by Karen Kingsbury
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
One Dad, Two Children and No Power
In a world with no power, one man must feed and entertain two small children. What will he do with no television to fall back on? And how, oh how, will he make dinner with no microwave at his disposal?
Such was the case today.
We lost power for a couple of hours. Fortunately for me, it was during our son's nap time. Even more fortunate, he was exhausted and decided to take a marathon nap. He slept through the whole thing.
It has been dark and rainy all day so when the power went out, the house was fairly dark. I broke out a couple of battery powered lanterns for light. Our daughter, who is not afraid of the dark, was just worried about how she would be able to see to play. When she I gave her one of the lanterns to carry around, she found the idea of no power quite enjoyable.
Normally I do not like having gas appliances. We have had numerous small and annoying but not necessarily dangerous gas leaks over the years. I always felt that if all things are even, I would prefer a house with only electric appliances. Today, however, it was nice to have the gas appliances.
With no power, the microwave is unavailable and if we had electric appliances, there would be no way to cook dinner. As it was, I could use the gas stove to make dinner. I would need to manually light the burner as it has an electric lighter rather than a pilot light but that is not difficult. So I did what any good father would do in this situation, I grabbed my cell phone and ordered pizza.
As I was talking to the lady at Mario's about our order, the power came back on. There was no need for the pizza order after all but hey, I already had them on them on the phone so what could I do. I completed the order. Our daughter was very excited. Our son was still asleep.
So I sent our daughter to wake our son in time for the pizza delivery. Pizza arrival is quite the spectacle at our house. The Beatles got a colder reception at JFK on their first trip to the U.S. than the pizza guy gets at our house. The delivery guy was laughing so much that I thought he was going to have trouble making change.
So with the arrival of dinner, the crisis was officially passed and I somehow managed to survive the horrible power outage of twenty ten.
Such was the case today.
We lost power for a couple of hours. Fortunately for me, it was during our son's nap time. Even more fortunate, he was exhausted and decided to take a marathon nap. He slept through the whole thing.
It has been dark and rainy all day so when the power went out, the house was fairly dark. I broke out a couple of battery powered lanterns for light. Our daughter, who is not afraid of the dark, was just worried about how she would be able to see to play. When she I gave her one of the lanterns to carry around, she found the idea of no power quite enjoyable.
Normally I do not like having gas appliances. We have had numerous small and annoying but not necessarily dangerous gas leaks over the years. I always felt that if all things are even, I would prefer a house with only electric appliances. Today, however, it was nice to have the gas appliances.
With no power, the microwave is unavailable and if we had electric appliances, there would be no way to cook dinner. As it was, I could use the gas stove to make dinner. I would need to manually light the burner as it has an electric lighter rather than a pilot light but that is not difficult. So I did what any good father would do in this situation, I grabbed my cell phone and ordered pizza.
As I was talking to the lady at Mario's about our order, the power came back on. There was no need for the pizza order after all but hey, I already had them on them on the phone so what could I do. I completed the order. Our daughter was very excited. Our son was still asleep.
So I sent our daughter to wake our son in time for the pizza delivery. Pizza arrival is quite the spectacle at our house. The Beatles got a colder reception at JFK on their first trip to the U.S. than the pizza guy gets at our house. The delivery guy was laughing so much that I thought he was going to have trouble making change.
So with the arrival of dinner, the crisis was officially passed and I somehow managed to survive the horrible power outage of twenty ten.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Guitar Lesson
I am a terrible musician. I mean awful. I would say godawful but there is a band that I like by that name and I wouldn't want to insult them.
Perhaps if I actually practiced I might get better but with the two little ones, practice time is limited. As it stands now, when working on a song, I move from something that is incomprehensible to something that sounds like a song being played badly. I consider that progress.
Fortunately, what I lack in ability I can make up for in volume and distortion. So essentially, I play very bad, very loud music which is exactly what my wife would say I listen to.
I am proficient in badly playing acoustic and electric guitar, bass and a drum machine. Actually, I can get some really good beats out of the drum machine. So what if it came pre-programed, I am.the one who hit play.
Playing around with the guitar last night, I was joking about my playing when my daughter said, "Daddy, I like your playing even though you are not very good." I started to laugh.
She decided that what I needed were some lessons. Thing is, she had decided that she was the one to give the lessons. So she marched me over to where her guitar is kept. It's a small scale electric with a body shaped like a gold fish. She calls it her fishtar.
I asked her if she wanted me to plug her in. She did. So she sat on the floor with her fishtar coaching me how to play.
She said I needed some rock lessons and that I should play what she did. She would correct me if I played faster or slower than her. I had to match her rhythm or else she would stop the lesson and tell me to do what she was doing.
Once the lesson was over, she decided to play a little bit more for us. Fortunately, we had the foresight to get out the Flip and record a little of it. So for your enjoyment, click on the link below for a clip of Caelyn demonstrating how to rock.
Caelyn's Rock Demonstration
Perhaps if I actually practiced I might get better but with the two little ones, practice time is limited. As it stands now, when working on a song, I move from something that is incomprehensible to something that sounds like a song being played badly. I consider that progress.
Fortunately, what I lack in ability I can make up for in volume and distortion. So essentially, I play very bad, very loud music which is exactly what my wife would say I listen to.
I am proficient in badly playing acoustic and electric guitar, bass and a drum machine. Actually, I can get some really good beats out of the drum machine. So what if it came pre-programed, I am.the one who hit play.
Playing around with the guitar last night, I was joking about my playing when my daughter said, "Daddy, I like your playing even though you are not very good." I started to laugh.
She decided that what I needed were some lessons. Thing is, she had decided that she was the one to give the lessons. So she marched me over to where her guitar is kept. It's a small scale electric with a body shaped like a gold fish. She calls it her fishtar.
I asked her if she wanted me to plug her in. She did. So she sat on the floor with her fishtar coaching me how to play.
She said I needed some rock lessons and that I should play what she did. She would correct me if I played faster or slower than her. I had to match her rhythm or else she would stop the lesson and tell me to do what she was doing.
Once the lesson was over, she decided to play a little bit more for us. Fortunately, we had the foresight to get out the Flip and record a little of it. So for your enjoyment, click on the link below for a clip of Caelyn demonstrating how to rock.
Caelyn's Rock Demonstration
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