Ben & Shae Cecka's family in Gilbert, AZ

Last week we got back from a long trip to California to visit family that we haven’t seen collectively in years. We were supposed to leave on Monday and end up home that night (between a 15-18 hour drive, depending on stops)… unfortunately we were delayed by a day. Was it California’s fault? Not entirely. To be fair, it is mostly our fault (myself and Shae) for not being assertive enough about the dangers of his allergy. But during the process we were shown yet another reason why we will never live in the state again. I’ll try to keep this short for my sake more than anyone reading this. I’m tired (look at the time).

On Sunday night Djai got hold of a small amount of peanut butter from a cookie. We’re talking a corner of a 1″ by 1″ cookie… not too much. But, as anyone with a peanut allergy knows, it doesn’t take a great deal of the stuff for a reaction.

Shae noticed it by the small bit of chocolate around his mouth. She knew what it was. My Mom knew that the only cookie on the table that had melted chocolate was the ones with peanut butter. We were all saying good-byes so nobody saw him get it. I’ll be honest here that I was in complete denial and wanted to believe that he had gotten anything other than the cookie with the peanut butter. A brownie? Anything. But no. I didn’t want to believe it.

Then he started coughing.
Read more

I’ve been marveling over the past few days at the really awesome radio advertisements on my favorite AM station, KPOJ. They had aired different spots about how to teach your children to deal with anger by dealing with it appropriately yourself, and how to just interact with your kids. Their mantra is, “You don’t have to be perfect, to be a perfect parent.” I love it.

Well today they aired a different one: “Terrorism forces us to make a choice. Don’t be afraid… Be Ready.” Yes. That’s right. We should all be prepared every day because we might be attacked by a terrorist. Did you know that more people died of the flu in 2001 than in all the terrorist attacks on U.S. soil that year? Including the World Trade Center?!?! But no. We should still walk in fear of a terrorist attack. See it for it what it is. Please. Forgive my broken thoughts here but I’m completely incensed at the audacity of the Department of Homeland Security. A child’s voice comes on the air and says, “Should I stay where I am and wait for you? Or go to Gramma’s house?” Sure kid. Just make sure to look both ways and don’t take candy from strangers because you’re more likely to get killed crossing the street or kidnapped. C’mon guys! How about you fix those damn levies first, eh? Sure would hate to see Willy Wonka 2: The Underwater Chocolate City. Sequels always suck.

http://www.ready.gov/

Cellar door is a combination of words in the English language once characterized by J. R. R. Tolkien to have an especially beautiful sound. In his 1955 essay “English and Welsh”, commenting on his affection towards the Welsh language, Tolkien wrote:

“Most English-speaking people…will admit that cellar door is ‘beautiful’, especially if dissociated from its sense (and from its spelling). More beautiful than, say, sky, and far more beautiful than beautiful. Well then, in Welsh for me cellar doors are extraordinarily frequent, and moving to the higher dimension, the words in which there is pleasure in the contemplation of the association of form and sense are abundant.”

Just to clear up the confusion: This was Tolkien, not that drunkard Poe. (in jest)

Source