I pull up in the driveway last night after a conference with my English teacher. Trying not to forget anything in the car, I take a few minutes to get out. A typical, uneventful evening. Or so I though before I opened the door.
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I just spent the last few hours integrating the photo album with the rest of the site. It blends in now very nicely (identically). For what it’s worth, the thumbnail generator is also now XHTML compliant. Things just seem to work better when they follow the standards.
If you head over to the the photo album and still don’t notice a change then you may need to “Refresh” your browser. This is usually done by hitting F5 on the keyboard or sometimes Ctrl+R will also work.
This past week I’ve felt extremely drained. It’s as if all the energy from my mind, body, and spirit has been sapped away by some inexplicable force. I’ve got post-election blues.
Clark County decided to vote against a proposition that would have restored public transit service from the cuts that were previously made a few years ago. They saw it as another tax increase (.03 on $10), where others saw it as a necessity for survival. Now the service will be reduced to a mere fraction of what it was a few years ago. Every week I ride the bus the school and visit with the elderly and handicapped who preffer not to drive. At least once during the week somone in a wheelchair or electronic scooter uses a bus I’m on (all of which are equiped with kneeling hydrolics). Everyday in The Columbian I read articles from readers that urged voters to consider the elderly and disabled when they voted on this. I thought it was a sure foot-in, and I excitedly looked forward to January when all routes would run one hour later. I never dreamed that people would be so insensitive, so selfish, so ignorant. But they are.
This week, as I ride the bus, I feel shame when I look at the other passengers; not because I voted against it, but because I couldn’t do more. Democracy fails when the people under it stop looking out for each other, and focus on themselves.
Our neighbor and good friend Merlinda gave me the advice when I was pregnant to savor each moment in our child’s life. She said she spent too much energy wishing the time away (such as wanting to get past the morning sickess, yearning for the first full night’s sleep, looking forward to that last diaper change, etc.) that she did’t really get a chance to fully enjoy everything along the way. I’ve taken these words to heart and have remembered them at every situation from the precious sound of Johnathan’s new “words” and funny faces to the heart wrenching sound of his cries.
Ben and I recently fellowshiped with a couple who were married at the same age we were and had kids shortly after. I watched them sit on our couch and shake their heads at how the last twenty-eight years of their lives since their wedding day has slipped out from under their feet. I heard it a countless number of times as a child from grown-ups: “Time goes by so fast,” and “I can’t believe it’s almost Christmas time again,” when a homeworkless summer seemed to me lifetimes away. As an adult I understand, and so much more even now as a parent. Ji has changed so much and I can’t belive it has been five months, and the leaves are falling again already.
I look at John Issac’s cute little cubby face and think to myself some day this kid is going to be a great man with a wife and kids of his own. I think about what our conversations will be like when he is a teenager and I daydream about dancing about in the living room with him as a toddler… and maybe with a new baby in my arms. I think about these possible future happenings and know that when I am there I will be thinking back to the time that is now. I will reflect on how I felt at his birth, the way Ben looked holding his newborn baby in the moonlight and the sound of all those tiny sneezes, coughs and hiccups. I will think about how beautiful his first smile was, the thunder in his underpants and his fascination with the window blinds. I will remember how he repeatedly stuck his fingers in his mouth even after a self induced gag and the sleepy kackle he made just before signing off for the night… if I remember to revel in each of those moments.
I wrote this essay for my English 101 class. The purpose was to tell about an experience when we revisited a place or time in our life. I chose to talk about my history with Starbucks, what took me away from it (and California), and then what I observed when I came back.
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Welcome to our new online journal! We’ll update it from time to time and let everyone know how we are doing!
The Images pages haven’t dissapeared… look at the upper-right section of this page and you will the see the photo album under the Portal section. That will take you to the entire image archive.
Bear with us a bit while we get adjusted to this new logging system. It’s not like others that we’ve used – but still very nice!