Once in a While, I do Something Right

My wife, #3 daughter, and son were in St. Cloud this morning, to see a doctor: a routine follow-up on surgery.

I was a bit distracted when they returned, and didn't ask #3 daughter how she was feeling. This evening, when she was in the kitchen, I remembered - and asked.

Later, my wife told me that #3 daughter had observed 'you know, Dad can be nice sometimes.' Awww. That's the sort of thing that makes this 'parenting' thing feel worthwhile.

Friday Morning: The Out-of-Nesters and Us

We were getting frequent updates yesterday via cellphone from #1 daughter, as she experienced a cross-country bus trip in the depth of a North American winter. She finally arrived in Washington, DC, and was very, very impressed with the hotel that her convention was at.

The glass doors and bellmen seemed to attract her attention the most.

That, and that the room ("suite," I suspect) she's in is shared by a large number of people: including some young men. Neither #1 daughter nor her friend knew that it would be co-ed, apparently.

She called again this morning, about 6:40. My wife and I hadn't gotten up yet, but our son had. He tells me that he thinks #1 daughter hasn't figured out time zones yet. Also, that she said she'd call back.

I'll be interested in learning how her dis-advised, unsanctioned, excursion is going. But, as I said before, she's of age. And, I think she's learning something.

Meanwhile, up in Moorhead, #2 daughter has been impressed by the four school shootings (so far) this week. I think the killings at NIU DeKalb, in Illinois, impressed her.

I can understand that: She's on a college campus, and there'd been a shooting at a school once a day, on average.

She called yesterday, and had a long talk with my wife. I think that helped.

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Update, about 10:30 a.m.

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Back to #1 daughter: She called, a little before 10, talked with #3 daughter, then with me.

Last night she addressed her roommates, holding her bokken (a wooden sword) aloft, and announced her both her intention to protect her virginity, and her proficiency with the bokken. The girls, she said, regarded the announcement as "stupid." On the other hand, many of the guys thought it was cool.

The girls stated that the guys were okay, and could be trusted. I'm a man, and have rather well-defined standards of behavior. But even now, in my fifties, I would keep a sharp eye on myself, in the unlikely event that I found myself sleeping in a room full of young women.

Men in their twenties? Never mind.

#1 daughter, after her head dropped on the bokken several times, decided to give up her intention of sleeping sitting up, and retired to the floor of the closet. Curled up with her bokken.

At what she called "some unholy hour," a very concerned young man approached the door. He said, "I'm just here to get my costume. Please don't hit me." Offhand, I think she gained a level of respect in that group.

Meanwhile, convention registration is underway, and #1 daughter has been meeting people and taking photos. I think she'll have a good time.

Damp Autumn, Outdoor Grilling, Sunday Afternoon Naps, And Thanksgiving This Year

If the snow that came down early this afternoon had been rain, it would have been a drizzle. It was drizzle, a little later. The grass doesn't seem to be dormant yet: yards around here were a lot greener around sunset than they had been before.

Not that "sunset" was a very definite time. We've had one of those dark gray autumn days.

We went to Mass this morning, I grilled lunch, looked up outdoor gas grills at Wal-Mart, and took a long nap. I think my wife's serious about getting a new one. Those flames shooting out the bottom might have something to do with it.

I was up in time for supper, enjoyed supper for the family, and then settled down to get some reading done while my wife, #3 daughter, and son went to Soo Bahk Do. He was complaining about a stomach-ache, but it didn't seem bad enough to keep him from going.

He and the ladies were back in about half the time they usually take for Soo Bahk Do. I was talking with #1 daughter on the phone. She's been feeling under the weather lately, and wanted some company.

My first clue that the ladies and my son were back was the sound of the van pulling in. The second was #3 daughter scooting through the kitchen, and scooting back with a plastic bucket.

I'm just glad that I hadn't told him that exercise can help upset stomachs, before he went. Under the circumstances, he took the way he's feeling pretty well.

Aside from that, it's been a fine day.

Assuming that our son's actually got a bug, and didn't eat something regrettable, this will put a severe crimp in the family's Thanksgiving plans. My father, "Grandpa Gill," is almost exactly thirty years older than I am. That puts him in his mid-eighties.

He's using an oxygen generator, and careful management of his activities, to keep going, and adding a diseased family to his environment doesn't seem like the best idea right now.

Parenting in a Diverse, Multicultural, Borderline-Insane Culture

This post isn't about politics, although the central character is a politician.

The headline attracts attention, as they're designed to: "Republican senator arrested, reportedly for lewd conduct." The politico is Idaho Senator Larry Craig. The senator was "apprehended by a plainclothes police officer investigating complaints of lewd behavior in an airport men's room."

News reports very carefully didn't mention what the "lewd behavior" was. I finally learned what happened in a report that started, "WASHINGTON - Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, who has voted against gay marriage and opposes extending special protections to gay and lesbian crime victims, finds his political future in doubt after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges stemming from complaints of lewd conduct in a men's room."

Still sounds serious. Farther down, the article said that "Sgt. Dave Karsnia made the arrest after an encounter in which he was seated in a stall next to a stall occupied by Craig. Karsnia described Craig tapping his foot, which Karsnia said he 'recognized as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct.'"

Tapping his foot.

That's proof, apparently, of something. "Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, an advocacy group, on Monday called Craig a hypocrite.

"'What's up with elected officials like Senator Craig? They stand for so-called family values and fight basic protections for gay people while furtively seeking other men for sex,' Foreman said."

Tapping his foot = furtively seeking other men for sex = being a hypocrite. I hate to think what the senator would have been guilty of, had he blown his nose.

I'm a devout Catholic - yes, one of 'those' - and now I'm going to have to decide whether to add foot-tapping to the list of culturally inappropriate behaviors, or whether it's a rule that applies only to conservative politicians.

No complaints: to be Catholic is to be counter-cultural. Strongly, in some cases. But living in a culture where foot-tapping has become inappropriate behavior doesn't make parenting easier.