First Lady and shorts...

The news has been abuzz over the first lady wearing shorts. Who cares? I mean, she is on vacation with her daughters, it is 106 degrees where she is and she is wearing shorts. OK. I'd consider it new if she DID NOT wear shorts instead of wearing them!

The founding fathers did not set up a monarchy or a potentate. We have a president. Our government is OF the people, BY the people and FOR the people. I wear shorts all the time. I like a first lady that wears shorts. My real question is why didn't the president have on some shorts!? (Rumor has it he only had a short time and had to go back to work.)

Geez, we complain when they set themselves a part from us and we complain when they don't. Here is a president and first lady that are working hard, doing a good job (not that I agree with all they do but I appreciate work they are doing) and are staying in touch with their family, kids and the American people!

Get a life! This is to all you that think there is a problem with her wearing shorts! At least she has the legs for it! You should be much more concerned about me wearing shorts because I DON'T have the legs for it. Talk about a blight on the image of America, my legs fall into that category!

Today...

Brittany started school today. I've always sent my kids flowers on their first day of school. Being out of work put a crimp in that but my wife suggested I get her a bouquet and take them to her. As it turned out she dropped by the house to pick up some things so we took a ride. We dropped by the Fresh Market and while I was not thrilled about the selection she went straight to a bouquet of purple carnations. She loves carnations and these lit her face up.

She came home, put them in a vase and now has them at school. She has written me two notes about them and how they make a huge difference in her apartment at school.

She's reminded me today that the price or cost of something is not the thing. It is that I remembered them and kept that tradition alive that is a reminder of how much I love her and how proud I am of her.

Picked my son up after band practice and we rolled into home about 8:40. Neither of us had had dinner so we whipped up some burritos quickly. Some hamburger, taco seasoning, refried beans, shredded lettuce from the cuisinart (love that machine!), sour cream and some salsa (all of this was in the house...no trip to the store) and we were set. We supped large!

Today was a good day. Tomorrow I'll find out how the interview went today. I'm hopeful but we'll see. God has a plan and a reason. I'm along for the ride! I'm just thankful for all I do have.

Thoughts and rambles...

No more blog posts at 2:00 a.m. That is a "note to self". Got rambling which is normal when your mind is bleary from LOS (lack of sleep).

I think it is time for a family dinner. We do them at Thanksgiving and Christmas but I am thinking it has been too long since the last one and too long before the next one. I need to pull something together. Nothing fancy, just a big spaghetti dinner. Sauce from scratch with a bag or two of the frozen meatballs (yes, I use them. They are very good and so fast to fix!) Get the family to bring salad and bread and desert and we can all sup large together.

I wonder how many will come given that it is not a holiday? Do holidays matter? Do we feel obligated to go to family functions on those days or do we like doing that? Would we rather be with "our" friends except they are with "their" families? Interesting thought. Me? I like the family time. But, then again, we open it up to an extended family that includes many that are not even related but we like them so much they seem related. I like that. We'll include them, too. Hmmm....this is starting to sound fun!

My wife is now hooked on FB so bad it is not funny! She is not just doing FB but is also doing Farmville (see previous post that went on forever), Sorority Life, Yoville and who knows what else. Seriously, it keeps her off the streets but I am thinking serious intervention here! Darn aliens!

Our neighbor brought us a watermelon. What a wonderfully nice thing to have happen. She is my "favorite" neighbor. I put that in quotes because it is how she describes herself when she calls. "Hello Al, this is your favorite neighbor." She is very nice and her kids are around here a lot playing xbox with my son. Except for the NC State clothes they are good kids. Not as good as mine but then no one's are.

Brittany had 16 glasses, a bowl, a fork, two spoons and a pair of chopsticks in her room. She is like that. It just builds and then it hits her and she brings it all down. We were drinking out of jars but who notices? We just thought we were getting short on glasses because they had gotten broken. With all of us doing dishes no one keeps up. She is so funny. She openly admitted it and we all got a good laugh at it. I had cereal last night (one of my vices for late night) and went in her room, handed her the bowl and spoon and said "Here is a starter piece for your next collection." She and I got very tickled over that. Hmmm...that reminds me. Did I leave it in there or take it downstairs...

Gonna be hotter than blazes today and tomorrow. Hunker down time. Watch the pets carefully! If you are out and about drink water before you go out and when you come back. Me? I'm just gonna stay inside.

The glue that binds...

Families are in many ways an accident of nature. We don't get to choose our family members, except our spouses and even then I'm not sure we know them as well as we think we do. We certainly don't choose spouses based on the spouse-to-be's family (well, not many of us).

So, what is this thing we call a family? What defines it, what makes some work well and others dysfunctional? What ties us together besides birth or name or living under the same roof?

Getting too "deep" for you? Why ask this question? Just figure it out as you go along and don't worry about it?

I think about my family all the time. I don't take anything for granted and I don't do anything without a reason. My family is my focus and I know that what we do, what we share, what we focus on and what we make important shapes, molds and builds the family unit we have. Leaving things to chance is not good. (Just in case you are wondering, I don't use the terms "in my opinion" since this is my blog it is already my opinion.) To get the family you want you have to constantly plan, focus and make sure you are doing the things to get what you want our of it.

I am convinced that the glue that binds a family, more than anything else, are the shared memories, the inside jokes, the "family secrets" and the shared experiences. These are more than memories, they should be bonds of trust, things that you can lean on in later times. These are the foundation on which each member will build on later in life.

My kids know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I'll be there for them. That gives them all the confidence in the world to go forth and make things happen. I was there on those many Saturday's and Sunday's for soccer, band, baseball, birthdays, parties and sicknesses. I've rocked them for 48 hours straight when they had chicken pox.

This builds a bond, a closeness and trust that lasts a lifetime. You can not get this cheap, you can not get this easy. It is not a once in a while thing. It has to be an all the while thing.

Being there for what is important to them is critical. As they grow, the absolute little things are the biggest things to them. Seeing you there signifies love, acceptance and affirmation.

Much is talked about child rearing. I've learned that watching a child grow up, changing diapers, taking them to the doctor on weekends as well as during the week, watching them eat those first cheerios all make for a better, stronger relationship. You get to know this person, who they are, who their friends are, the types of choices they make AND you are a person that is there when they need guidance, a shoulder, a reminder. If you come in out of the blue or out of the cold and administer advice or punishment they don't know you, don't know your love, your caring and that you have their best interest in mind.

Where does this whole thing come from? Well, I am convinced that Farmville on Facebook is an evil plot to take over our minds by aliens. It is addicting! I kicked the habit and got that monkey off my back months ago. Thank you! Now my family is into it! All of them! Even my wife! And today my middle child, the last bastion of hope went over to the dark side and has joined the ranks of those on Farmville! I swear I can see things crawl under her skin to her head and are taking her over! Woe is me!

Alas, I too have slipped silently, quickly and decidedly back into the abyss of Farmville. They are all enjoying it and how can I bind us together if now with the glue of Farmville? It was either that or take away all the PC's!

Heinous...

The web is a wonderful and awful thing. It brings us closer than ever yet can reveal things we'd rather not see. Today was one of those days for me.

Now, we all know the web took off mostly because of pornography. Much like how the porn industry decided that VHS instead of Betamax would be the choice for video taping. No news here. We all know that no URL is safe because we have either typed in or heard stories of people typing whitehouse.com (thankfully that is no longer the case) and gotten a porn site (even before the Clinton era).

Today I was just snooping around about the Godley name. Nothing new there. Most of us have googled ourselves and family to see what pops up. I've been having fun with images for GODLEY on Facebook and decided to hunt for a new one. Godley brings back a lot of results. It seems that Godley in New Zealand is pretty popular. Likewise in England. There is a Godley, Tx that is a small town outside the Dallas metro area. (Note to self, move there and have a town named after you!) Today I found that in NJ there were Godley's. They also owned slaves. One of them was William Godley, Jr. Not sure of the middle name but we have the same first, last and suffixes!

That kind of rocked me. To see my name attached to a list of slave owners from the early 1800's. Something I consider so heinous, so vile and so repulsive attached to my name. Even worse, there is a photo of a letter signed by this person who documents the birth of a female by his slave! He used the word slave in the letter!

I have no idea if we are related and I'm not sure I want to know.

I know this was a different time and a different place in our history but there are some things I think are universally wrong at any time and slavery is one of them. No amount of justification, attitude, explaining or view of history can ever justify this.

I've always been proud of the name Godley. The coat-of-arms is pretty cool (see photo) and the motto is "without God, nothing" which I really like. I'm not proud at all of this association with the name.

29 years and counting...

Yesterday was our anniversary! 29 years and counting. We didn't do anything special, so much going on with the family and I was exhausted from working the concert the night before. So we hung out with the family, which was great. She did some shopping with our daughter for college stuff (need things in the apartment) and then we all went over to help get the stuff in and see the apartment. We all ate together here at home. We had a fix your own sub dinner. Sort of a free for all. My daughter's boyfriend was here as well as my nephew (he is visiting for a few days) so it was fun to hang out around the table, tell stories and laugh.

I had a great day. I think that is one of the wonderful things about being married so long. You get comfortable with people and can enjoy the simple things. You don't have to prove anything, you trust those you love. Once things settle a little we are going out for dinner, just the two of us.

Oh, I got new Pyrex dishes for a present! I am so excited. Been wanting a set since I saw my mother-in-law's dish. Oven safe and with lids! Very handy for how I cook. Now I have to use them to fix dinner. Wonder what I'll fix.

Saddest Day of the Year...

Today is move in day for my college girl. She is moving into an on campus apartment at Meredith. I hate this day. I'm so proud of her and glad she is independent but I already miss her so much. This is her Junior year and it does not get any better.

Next year will be worse. She plans to do an internship in Japan during the summer, come home for a few weeks then go back and study there for the semester. I have no idea how I will deal with that! I am NOT looking forward to that at all. But, I need to get through this first. One heart break at a time.

She is heading over to pick up keys and drop a few boxes now. Then she comes back, we get the truck and load up the big stuff...fridge, TVs, etc. I'm not sure why she needs a fridge since it is an apartment and she has a big one there already but she has it from the dorm so she might as well use it.

I'm struggling like I always do to get through this. I will never get used to these days.