I Didn't Like Typing 1002
2006-10-02, 15:52

What the hell? How can it possibly be October already? It's getting, like, cold and stuff, and it's dark again when I go to work, and blech. And this is probably the last year in forever that I'll get a little extra sun in the morning when Daylight Savings ends, because next year the start and end dates are changing and it won't end until a week into November. Again I say, blech. I like the stars and all, but really, that's not what I want to wake up to.

As much as I love both The Boy and Girl (which is a great deal, I'll have you know), these weekends where it's just the three of us - me, H and Laurana - are something I cherish, and I get to pretend for a little while that I didn't marry into a complicated family situation and I have my own, non-string-ridden nuclear family, Three is a Magic Number, that sort of thing. I certainly don't hate the way things are, and I wouldn't trade having the two older ones in my life for anything, but I also like to cling, if only a little bit, to the could-have-beens. Since I know there could be no biological child of mine own, that's as close as I can get to that parental ideal - man, woman, child. I take what I can get when I can get it.

This was one of those weekends, and it was about as playful and relaxed and soul-healing as I could have hoped. Saturday was my brother's birthday, and the only concrete plans we had for the day was to have dinner with the family. The rest of the day was at our discretion. We drew the water card, entailing packing up to head to the rec center for a swim, or at least a play-in-the-water. Laurana's taking to the water quickly, already trying to float, practicing dunking her head a little, and jumping in (with help of course) feet first. So that guarantees that her simmer mother will have a strong common bond with someone who will be, if I have anything to say about it, a Daddy's Girl.

We managed a nap and, after a number of miscommunications, managed to find out where dinner was to be - or, more specifically, had started already. It was at a Chinese buffet place in town, and by he time we finally managed to hear from someone, it was 15 minutes into dinner. We went anyway, because they'd delayed getting started in hopes that we'd get there at some point. Luckily we managed to get there and save my brother and sister-in-law from the certain doom that was singular conversation with my father and mother and grandmother, all of whom were in rare form for the evening. My father's always in rare form (which I suppose makes it common form), but it was a situation such as this that reminds one why people block out parts of their childhood (my brother described it as "doing an 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' kind of thing", to which I can heartily relate. Some things are best left unrecalled.

Yesterday was another event with bro and sis-in-law, the Prairie Peddler Festival in Butler, Ohio (outside of Mansfield, for those in the Ohio know). We all drove down together and met some of their friends from Columbus (where they used to live) there. For sale there was everything from cheesy Americana to truly nice woodcraft and ironcraft and the like. There was a decent bluegrass band playing in the center of the 'food court'; Laurana was, as seems normal anymore, transfixed by the music. I find myself wondering why we don't have music playing in the house 24-7, if only for her exposure to it. Anyway, we had a nice casual day of cracking jokes and tasting yummy things, and I got a few nice shots of (what else) the baby there (clicky clicky clicky clicky).

I'm really wishing I had a decent camera. Though I feel like I should try and really delve my brain into the nuances of photography before I invest. It'll be a reward for knowing what to do with the thing once I actually get it.

-- End Transmission --