On the South Side

Everyone was so nice with their comments from last night’s post, it really made me feel better and I really appreciate it. But now what to write about? I don’t know. It’s not that I have nothing on my mind; it’s just that as priorities go, most everything is way down on the list, you know? OK, this has been on my mind today: In Canton, Ohio, there’s a high school with 490 female students, of which 65 are pregnant. Here’s a quote from the story: “School officials are not sure what has contributed to so many pregnancies…” Now, I know what they meant by that, but you have to admit that it’s kind of funny. So, they’ll do a study to find out why the rate is so much higher there than the state or national average. I could save them some money though, if they’d just ask me; I’ve got a hunch as to what caused the pregnancies. Read the story here…

It’s been very different around here since Emily has gone. Annette and I are both prone to spontaneous crying; just for no reason, really. My emotions go from reminiscing over the little girl to praying that God will guide her in these turbulent years. If there’s one thing that I wish the most it would be that she learn to lean on God at this point in her life and not spend a lifetime figuring it out like yours truly. With that, all other things will come in their due time. I apologize for not writing more often and also for this repetitive entry. I confess that it’s all I think about. I probably worry needlessly, I know. I think I’ll feel better when she’s past this first stage; when she gets in the groove, past the I-want-to-come-home phase. I hope everybody will write or email her. Please call or email me if you don’t have her addresses. (I also know that it’s quite possible that I’m the one with the problem and she’s doing great and will continue to do great. So, write or email me!

Well, Emily is safe and secure in her dorm room. Her roomate is a friend from high-school and her good friend Alex and his roomate (another Metro kid named John) are close by. When Alex came over to the girls room, for some reason I felt very comforted. I like Alex. He's an Eagle Scout, you know. We said our goodbyes rather quickly, which felt appropriate, and were on our way. Christians have a phrase to describe why Jesus came when he did which very much describes our feelings right now: The time had fully come. The time has fully come for this. I think Annette, Emily and I all feel this to be true. Sure, we have our moments of crying, but we know she's where she should be. It's been a whirlwind summer, and today was the zenith. Sleep tight big girl, our thoughts and prayers are with you always.

We're on our way to Columbia to drop Emily off. It's a big day for all of us. Say a little prayer for her would you?

I wanted to write something for Annette for her birthday, which was yesterday. We are both very fortunate in that neither of us gets hung up on having much attention paid on our birthdays. Having said that, I'd like to share some stuff I wrote about her many a year ago. This first one is called "Miss Sunshine." When I met her, she lived in an apartment with an elderly woman upstairs. Mrs. Mellinger was her name, and she was an authentic ragtime piano player. Mrs. Mellinger's pet name for Annette was Miss Sunshine. This song paints a picture of two elderly people meeting across the fence in the yard. A while after I wrote it, Annette put some very nice chords and melody to it. Hey, hey Miss Sunshine How are your cats today? Hope you'all are feelin' fine Hope everything's goin' your way You say you've got just one cat now That's a sad thing to hear Tell me if you could, tell me how And what else has happened this year? You say you held him as

I know most you don't care about this, but I'm putting down this in writing now so you can see just how brilliant my political acumen is. I was having dinner with my dad well over a month ago, so he can verify this. We were talking about the Republican Presidential nominee for 2008. The usual cast of characters include: Rudy Guiliani, Jeb Bush, Condi Rice, Bill Frist and maybe George Allen. I told my dad, "There's a dark horse candidate. Can you think of who I talking about?" "Hmmm..." he said, "Nope." "Vice-president Dick Cheney," I said. "Noooo...," said he. Well, Tuesday night (8/9/05) in Aspen CO, Bob Woodward of the Washington Post predicted that the race would be between Hillary Clinton and Dick Cheney. So, there you go. And, who will win this race? President Dick Cheney? Get used to it.

I guess I shouldn't've been surprised. I'd never owned a home before. He's lived across the street from me for all of the 20 years we were on Dover Place. I'd seen him out there plenty of times mowing, watering, edging, painting, scraping, sweating. He began teasing me: "Yeah," he'd begin, "I'll drive by and there you'll be in the front tugging on the mower or taking apart an edger. Richard, the homemaker, that'll be you." "That ain't me," I cried, "It ain't me." Well, come on by some evening, and you'll likely find me in front or back. Edging, mowing, spraying, pulling...sweating. Yes, I've already taken the edger apart and I think I fixed it. Tonight, the condenser pan of AC suddenly stopped draining, so I fixed that too. Wally was right. He was right about another thing too. Camelot has passed. I've gone from eagerly looking out the window to see if anyone was out to hoping there's