Random (not-so-deep) thoughts

Not everything that happens is worthy of an entire post. In fact, most of the time, there are just a series of completely unrelated events and experiences that occur in the typical day (or week?) in a life. They may warrant some commentary, but it might be a bit of a stretch to turn them into one long post. In other words, I’m about to start babbling about all kinds of things. Not sure if any of it will be relevant to actual parenting, but it definitely will describe the things that happen in the “day(s) in a life.”

Planes: I’ve spent a great deal of time on airplanes recently. New York, Milwaukee, Omaha, Denver, San Diego, and LA are just a few of the airports I’ve seen in the last few weeks. On a few of these trips, I was seated in the exit row and got the typical speech from the flight attendant about being able to perform the duties that come with extra leg room. As she was giving the speech, a dude in the seat in front of me turned around to check me out. It was a look that said, “I just want to make sure the exit row guy really can lift 35 pounds.” I thought it was interesting. I’ve never checked out the people sitting in the exit rows and, I guess, in theory, those people may very well make the difference between life and…well, not life.

Trumpets: Because of K-Man’s interest in music and my thoughts about my own music history, I’ve been thinking about my trumpet. I know where it is. I’m just afraid to bring it back out. While I played it well and actually loved playing it, I’m terrified of the noise it makes! G-d knows, with kids, there’s enough noise in a house (and a life) – does it really make sense to start playing the trumpet again? It’s tempting, of course. I think anything you’re good at is tempting to try again.

Crushes: K-Man has a serious crush on one of his teachers. Makes me think about my first teacher crush on Ms. Konecy (sp?). She was my first-grade teacher and she sort of laid the groundwork for the “crush that started it all” years later (that would be Pam Dawber). K-Man’s crush is for Yavit. He talks about her all the time…and she’s not even his primary teacher! His crush goes so deep for her that he wore a blue shirt yesterday, simply because Yavit had worn a blue shirt the day before. He’s three years old…and whipped.

Limos: I rode in a stretch Hummer limousine last night as part of the rehearsal dinner festivities for my friend’s wedding. It’s an incredible spectacle – this vehicle that seats 12 or 15 people chugging down the street (and with a carbon footprint big enough to kill a small country). The irony of this tank (literally) is that it looks really cool from the outside (it was good fun to watch all the people staring and taking pictures of the thing), but inside? It wasn’t all that cool. Kind of a cheesy night club vibe, more than anything. Maybe there’s a lesson in that? The old cliché rings true? It’s what’s on the inside that matters, looks can be deceiving and don’t judge a book by its cover.

Parenting: Getting away from “being a parent” for a few days is the very best way to be a better parent. Because our kids are in school most of the day, I think we sometimes feel guilty taking time away from our kids. That’s just silly. Get away. Remember what it was like before you had kids, and be reminded about how great it is (most of the time!) that you do have them. And then…when you return, you’ll have patience and be a better dad or mom. (Most of the time!)

TiVo: It just sucks watching TV without a DVR.

Told you it was random.


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