You know somethin'?
It is so cool when instead of being the teacher, you become the taught.
It's been happening for quite a while now, probably the last ten years or so. As a parent you teach your children, right? So that is what LifeWife and I did. We taught our children. Then over a period of time we found that instead of being the teachers, we were becoming the taught!
What have they taught me you ask? Well, let's see. They taught me that wearing black socks with running shoes was definitely uncool! They taught me that my role as a parent never ends, my job as "Dad" never ends, they still need me. Sometimes it will be a totally different aspect of Dadishness that they will need, sometimes it will be typical Dadishness that they need. Sometimes it will be Dad in a way I'd never quite thought of before. They taught me that it is possible to move from Father to Friend, yet still be Father. (Now that is totally amazing! I revel in that.)
On Father's day we all got together, and celebrated, BBQ in the backyard, hanging out together, relaxing, enjoying each other. BUT Fathers day for me was really yesterday, a week after the official "event". Why you ask? Well I'll tell you why. Yesterday my three daughters took me out to see "Harry Potter The Exhibit", at the Science Center.
Which brings me back to being taught, I love to read, I believe I have taught my daughters, the joy of reading, but here is where the teaching comes in, (I used to suggest books for them to read) now I'm having books suggested to me, by them! Way cool! In fact, there was a day that the older two and I went around to about three or four used bookstores and I was making suggestions to them about books they should have in their libraries. That was a fun day, exploring, looking for books. Now since then D3 has discovered the JOY and she and I have a plan to do the same thing at some unspecified point in the future. (Actually if they are available, D1 and D2 would be quite out out if they weren't invited along.) I would probably never have read the Harry Potter books if they hadn't suggested them to me. Totally enjoyable reads, each book. It's probably a time for a re-read.
It started with all three of them putting on the Sorting Hat, which was kinda cool. We had a great time wandering around the exhibit, looking at the costumes and props. They had some monitors with some clips from the movies, which brought back a lot of memories and we wistfully commented what an awesome thing it would be to watch all the movies in one day, what a marathon that would be. Marketing being what it is of course on the way out of the exhibit there was a "Harry Potter Store" with all kinds of "gear", they had the books and the movies and chess sets and pencils and coffee mugs, some of which revealed hidden images when hot liquids were poured into them, tshirts hoodies, fridge magnets, wands, HP glasses, some of the Weasley twins weird candy, they had just about anything you could think of. So as "Dad", I bought them each a bookmark, and a fridge magnet.
Then we went out for dinner at Spring Rolls, one of our favourite restaurants. We all were taking it easy and no one was in a rush and we had a thoroughly enjoyable time. Me an ma gals!
Now THAT was a Father's Day!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
Oh What Fun!
Well it's only Monday but LifeWife has already posted 69 photos. Some beautiful shots, but the thing I like the most is that she just looks like she is having so much fun. I was looking at some of her photos while at work and I went up to the hub-room to do some work on our server, and I was sitting there with a big grin on my face and I realized that I has so happy and pleased that she was having such a good time. I was delighting in her delight! I was enjoying her joy! She makes me smile she makes me laugh, from the other side of the country! She is amazing and I'm so thankful that she is part of my life.
Now not only is she having so much fun, but today she is going on a mail flight up the Campbell River in a float plane. Delivering mail and supplies to some of the remoter communities along the coastline. Man oh man I wish I was there. She is just going to love that! And what a photo op.
Now not only is she having so much fun, but today she is going on a mail flight up the Campbell River in a float plane. Delivering mail and supplies to some of the remoter communities along the coastline. Man oh man I wish I was there. She is just going to love that! And what a photo op.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Well she's off.
I dropped LifeWife off at the airport this morning. She is heading out to Comox on beautiful Vancouver Island. She'll be visiting her sister and her husband. She was very good because I dropped her off 4 hours before her plane leaves, this was so I could still get to work around 6ish. She didn't mind and in fact she suggested it. I phoned her around 9 and she was on chapter 5 of the book she had been saving for the trip!
She is looking forward to seeing and visiting with her sister. They have a sailboat and not just a little one either, I think it sleeps 5 or 6. I really don't know but she is excited to get out on the mighty Pacific and sail the ocean waves. If they are really lucky she might even see some whales. That would really be the icing on the cake. I'm looking forward to the photos she will undoubtedly take. I asked her, if there is a chance to see if she could try and get to some old growth forest and take some pics there, not sure if she'll be able to but that would be really cool.
Originally I was going to go as well, but some scheduling issues with others on vacation at work prevented that from happening.
So its just me at home, ahh, peace and quiet, oh and some wild women and parties too. (Yeah right.)
She is looking forward to seeing and visiting with her sister. They have a sailboat and not just a little one either, I think it sleeps 5 or 6. I really don't know but she is excited to get out on the mighty Pacific and sail the ocean waves. If they are really lucky she might even see some whales. That would really be the icing on the cake. I'm looking forward to the photos she will undoubtedly take. I asked her, if there is a chance to see if she could try and get to some old growth forest and take some pics there, not sure if she'll be able to but that would be really cool.
Originally I was going to go as well, but some scheduling issues with others on vacation at work prevented that from happening.
So its just me at home, ahh, peace and quiet, oh and some wild women and parties too. (Yeah right.)
Monday, June 7, 2010
Celebration
Well we celebrated GS1's birthday on Saturday, and as is to be expected it was more about others celebrating than GS1 celebrating. The party was more for us than it was for him, I mean, come on, poor little guy, he wakes up from his nap and his Mom brings him downstairs and the house is full of adults all looking at him. If I was him I'd be ticked too. Who are all these people? What happened to my quiet and peaceful house. Why is everybody looking at me? Why is everybody trying to make me smile?
He brightened up though and an hour or so later when some other little people were around he was a lot more animated and happy. D2, nice party!
These wonderful occasions are part of building the bond as an extended family, shared joy, shared memories, shared reminiscences.
"Wow, a year already"
"Do you remember when you first saw him."
"Remember when he..."
These threads are part of the tapestry we are crafting, each of us playing a part and added our own unique colour to the weave. What a fantastic voyage we are on, as the tapestry grows...
I love my family!
He brightened up though and an hour or so later when some other little people were around he was a lot more animated and happy. D2, nice party!
These wonderful occasions are part of building the bond as an extended family, shared joy, shared memories, shared reminiscences.
"Wow, a year already"
"Do you remember when you first saw him."
"Remember when he..."
These threads are part of the tapestry we are crafting, each of us playing a part and added our own unique colour to the weave. What a fantastic voyage we are on, as the tapestry grows...
I love my family!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Some random cogitations..
On Racism vs Patriotism
My friend made this post on her blog, read it then come back here. She raises some interesting points. I must say that there was a resonation that occurred in me while reading her post. When my children were younger we would go in to the local "foreign" grocery, we'd be looking for something specific, and I'd call it a cultural experience, but it was amazing the things we found in there. The smells also were sometimes very interesting. Now I'm making no judgments here, but I too, sometimes feel like a stranger in a strange land. (By the way the book by Robert Heinlein titled Stranger in a Strange Land is a good one.) The richness that cultural diversity brings, also seems to bring a paucity of understanding. How sad.
Then I started thinking about the recent situation with the Israeli's intercepting the "Flotilla of Hope" or whatever they called it. I don't think most of us will ever really know what actually happened there. Benjamin Netanyahu's quote "This wasn't a love boat, this was a hate boat." There is so much filtering going on that the truth becomes obfuscated. Two entirely different stories when told by opposite sides. Then there is the "today's terrorist is tomorrow's government" idea, look at any of the old colonial countries in Africa where freedom from the colonial power was extracted from the barrel of a gun. Look at Israel itself. Those terrorists, as labeled by the colonial powers at the time, are now the government. Whose to judge? The winners usually write the history books, and after time passes, who is to say who was right who was wrong.
If you and I were faced with some of the things the Jews Israeli's were facing prior to their becoming a state, what would we have done? What about being a black man or an Indian in South Africa during apartheid?
Apartheid truly an evil system of legal racial segregation enforced by the National Party government in South Africa between 1948 and 1994. Apartheid dictated that the rights of the majority non-white inhabitants of South Africa were curtailed and minority rule by whites was enforced. As would be expected this "separateness" sparked significant internal resistance and violence as well as an almost universal trade embargo against South Africa. A series of popular uprisings and protests were met with the banning of opposition and imprisoning of anti-apartheid leaders. As unrest spread and became more violent, state organizations responded with increasing repression and state-sponsored violence.
In 1975, Israel had offered to sell South Africa nuclear warheads. In 1976, South Africa's prime minister, John Vorster, not only made a visit to Jerusalem but accompanied Israel's two most important leaders, Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, to the city's Holocaust memorial to mourn the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis.
FACT: Vorster had been an open supporter of Hitler, a member of South Africa's fascist and violently antisemitic Ossewabrandwag and he was interned during the war as a Nazi sympathiser.
Rabin hailed Vorster as a force for freedom and at a banquet toasted "the ideals shared by Israel and South Africa: the hopes for justice and peaceful coexistence".
A few months later, the South African government's yearbook described the two countries having one thing in common above all else: "They are both situated in a predominantly hostile world inhabited by dark peoples."
What?? I say WHAT??
So where does that leave me? Well I'm continuing to learn tolerance, I'm continuing to learn to look for those things for which one can have hope. I'm struggling not to think in stereotypes. I'm trying to smell the roses and ignore the manure out of which they grew... I can make a difference. I can be a difference.
What do you think?
My friend made this post on her blog, read it then come back here. She raises some interesting points. I must say that there was a resonation that occurred in me while reading her post. When my children were younger we would go in to the local "foreign" grocery, we'd be looking for something specific, and I'd call it a cultural experience, but it was amazing the things we found in there. The smells also were sometimes very interesting. Now I'm making no judgments here, but I too, sometimes feel like a stranger in a strange land. (By the way the book by Robert Heinlein titled Stranger in a Strange Land is a good one.) The richness that cultural diversity brings, also seems to bring a paucity of understanding. How sad.
Then I started thinking about the recent situation with the Israeli's intercepting the "Flotilla of Hope" or whatever they called it. I don't think most of us will ever really know what actually happened there. Benjamin Netanyahu's quote "This wasn't a love boat, this was a hate boat." There is so much filtering going on that the truth becomes obfuscated. Two entirely different stories when told by opposite sides. Then there is the "today's terrorist is tomorrow's government" idea, look at any of the old colonial countries in Africa where freedom from the colonial power was extracted from the barrel of a gun. Look at Israel itself. Those terrorists, as labeled by the colonial powers at the time, are now the government. Whose to judge? The winners usually write the history books, and after time passes, who is to say who was right who was wrong.
If you and I were faced with some of the things the Jews Israeli's were facing prior to their becoming a state, what would we have done? What about being a black man or an Indian in South Africa during apartheid?
Apartheid truly an evil system of legal racial segregation enforced by the National Party government in South Africa between 1948 and 1994. Apartheid dictated that the rights of the majority non-white inhabitants of South Africa were curtailed and minority rule by whites was enforced. As would be expected this "separateness" sparked significant internal resistance and violence as well as an almost universal trade embargo against South Africa. A series of popular uprisings and protests were met with the banning of opposition and imprisoning of anti-apartheid leaders. As unrest spread and became more violent, state organizations responded with increasing repression and state-sponsored violence.
In 1975, Israel had offered to sell South Africa nuclear warheads. In 1976, South Africa's prime minister, John Vorster, not only made a visit to Jerusalem but accompanied Israel's two most important leaders, Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, to the city's Holocaust memorial to mourn the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis.
FACT: Vorster had been an open supporter of Hitler, a member of South Africa's fascist and violently antisemitic Ossewabrandwag and he was interned during the war as a Nazi sympathiser.
Rabin hailed Vorster as a force for freedom and at a banquet toasted "the ideals shared by Israel and South Africa: the hopes for justice and peaceful coexistence".
A few months later, the South African government's yearbook described the two countries having one thing in common above all else: "They are both situated in a predominantly hostile world inhabited by dark peoples."
What?? I say WHAT??
So where does that leave me? Well I'm continuing to learn tolerance, I'm continuing to learn to look for those things for which one can have hope. I'm struggling not to think in stereotypes. I'm trying to smell the roses and ignore the manure out of which they grew... I can make a difference. I can be a difference.
Finally, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is fair, whatever is pure, whatever is acceptable, what¬ever is commendable, if there is anything of excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy—keep thinking about these things. Then the God of peace will be with you.
What do you think?
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