My goddaughter Vannah and I went out on a "date" last week to a new candy shop, where she read me a Dr. Seuss story and we shared delicious frozen yogurt. Aunt Rox came along too, and a grand time was had by all.
When we took her home, Vannah said "Bye!" and ran upstairs to play with her siblings and a 5-year-old visitor.
As we headed for home, it dawned on me that this date was notable for three reasons:
1. It was the first time Aunt Rox had come along with us.
2. It was the first time Vannah didn't throw me an unsolicited "I love you, Uncle Jim" at some random moment.
3. It was the first time she failed to kiss me goodbye.
Vannah is 8 years old now and getting noticeably taller. Her mother told me Vannah grew a whole shoe size in five weeks' time. You can tell her thought process is maturing and her awareness and understanding of the world around her are growing, too. She's becoming less passive and more interested in setting her own agenda.
These are good things. Still, with the sweet comes the bitter, and I'm realizing that she's not going to be my baby girl for much longer. I pray constantly for the life events and challenges she has yet to encounter, some of which are (I hope) decades down the road. I haven't lost sight of the present moment, but she's made me aware that it's a moving target.
With that in mind, here is this year's Father's Day offering, courtesy of former Hootie & the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker:
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Curse you, Facebook!
I have stuff to say, but I haven't been saying it here because I've been spending too much time and energy on Facebook.
Writing whole paragraphs is harder work than dropping a tart sentence here and there as most of us do on Facebook. It's great for the lazy and the unmotivated.
On the other hand, I know that people actually see what I write on FB, however short and shallow it may be, and there's some reward in that. And, legitimately, FB does help me stay connected to many friends and family members, some or most of whom I otherwise would have no contact with at all.
Most times, I spend 10 minutes or less on a Facebook session. Still, once I'm done doing that, I don't feel like doing much else with the computer, so the blog goes wanting.
This has to change. If I'm going to call myself a writer, I have to write.
Writing whole paragraphs is harder work than dropping a tart sentence here and there as most of us do on Facebook. It's great for the lazy and the unmotivated.
On the other hand, I know that people actually see what I write on FB, however short and shallow it may be, and there's some reward in that. And, legitimately, FB does help me stay connected to many friends and family members, some or most of whom I otherwise would have no contact with at all.
Most times, I spend 10 minutes or less on a Facebook session. Still, once I'm done doing that, I don't feel like doing much else with the computer, so the blog goes wanting.
This has to change. If I'm going to call myself a writer, I have to write.
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