Sibling Rivalry TV

In the therapy room with Taylor, age 6.

Taylor: I know how to spell TV.

Me: Oh yeah? (trying not to laugh)

Taylor: Yeah, but my younger brother doesn't.

Hermione leaves for college in about a week. Oldest daughter leaving the nest. Big transition time. We've been doing special things together over the weekends this month in anticipation of her absence. The above photo is from a Japanese cultural festival in which paper lanterns that represent departing ancestors are launched across a big beautiful lake at dusk to enter 'the other world'. Well, she may not be an ancestor, but Hermione is on the family tree, and I couldn't help but think of my daughter's transition into independent living as the lanterns floated away with hundreds of others. The arc of her life, the transitory nature of all things, and what exactly is waiting on the other side.

Yeah, this is how my mind works. After awhile, we witnessed the most spectacular fireworks display I have ever seen in my life. We were so close to where they were being sent up and under the most sublime scenery. Utterly beautiful. How the fireworks followed the journey of the lanterns just made the show that much more special. What it said to me was:

all things must pass. celebrate this moment. enjoy the show.



This weekend.......

live jazz trio.

God's Waiting Room

This weekend we held a multi-family garage sale, and someone brought Uncle Arthur's Bible Stories to the table for sale. I was floored with flashbacks to being 5 years old and sitting in the doctor's waiting room, pouring through the contents of its pages.

What I remember is sitting there feeling quilty, like I was looking at pornography--so many nearly naked people--strutting around in Eden and then in later chapters, boys being bound by rope with men weilding knives over their heads. Tortures and nudity, like some S&M freak show. It was, to my young mind, not unlike the daytime soap operas that my grandmother loved to watch. I KNEW there was supposed to be something spiritual about it all, but couldn't get past all of the depravity and damnation.

It's funny, because 30 years later, I find that I STILL feel that way about Christianity. My 5 year old self got it completley, and taking a peek into Uncle Arthur's Bible Stories time capsuled for me the fact that traditional Christian doctrine is some really juvenille b-grade shit.