Surviving Thanksgiving with the In-Laws

Because I love my wife, I purchased plane tickets that would allow us to spend Thanksgiving with her parents in New Hampshire. Like most, the thought of a week with the In-Laws, including meeting the extended family I haven't previously met, leaves me feeling a bit apprehensive. But we live in the same city has my family and we get to see them all the time so it is only fair that we take the opportunity when one arises to see hers. It's only for four days so and if I take it one day at a time.....
First things to survive were airports and flying with a wife who doesn't like to fly. Aside from some nervous hand and leg squeezing during take off, turbulence, and landing, that went as good as can be expected. Her dad meet us at the airport and drove us down to where her mother was working. She nannies three young children which Tracy use to help her with in the summer before we got married. I visited them on my trip up there last summer but they didn't remember me. Then it was chines food and movies with the family. We also taught them Farkle which I won. The first day went well, I felt more relaxed and at ease then I have in the past and they seemed more ready to accept meas a member of the family.
Day two meant Tracy going shopping and getting her hair done with her mom and sister and me and the father in-law hiking in the New Hampshire mountains. We attempted to hike up Mt. Cardigan which had had about six inches on snow. The going was very slow up the mountain in the snow and due to time restraints and limited daylight we only got about 3/5 or so of the way up. (We both felt old and out of shape).
The time spent alone with my new father in-law was actually pretty enjoyable and I felt like he might like me.
Day three was Thanksgiving where I had to travel the house of my new Aunt Kathie and Uncle Gil and meet the rest of Tracy's dad's side. I managed to meet everybody and talked a little but kept to the background as much as possible. Thankfully I managed to make it through the evening without insulting anyone or making myself look like an idiot (as far as I can tell anyway).
Day four was the day I finally met Tracy's BFFs from high school. Despite feeling a bit like the 7th wheel it was a little amusing, if not alarming, to watch Tracy revert to a more 13 year old state which I nicknamed Captain Giggles.
Then early the next morning it was just having to survive a grouchy wife who hates flying and then home sweet home. All in all the experience wasn't that bad and I actually have to admit I enjoyed myself much more than I thought I would. In the very least I am no more worse for wear.

Hospitals suck

I had to take Tracy to the hospital today for her to "deliver" the miscarried baby. We got to the hospital early 7:45am and after 10 hours I have come to the conclusion that hospitals suck, as we don't seem to be leaving anytime soon.

Rock-A-Bye-Baby

Last night I went to help my wife babysit the three children of some friends of ours. My main job was just to entertain them especially the oldest of three who happens to also be the only boy. I played video games, and horsed around with them and played a little Disney Scene-It until bedtime. Tracy took the two year old upstairs to put to bed. Naturally there was some resistance has the child screamed for its mommy. Knowing that the bedtime for the older two had come (and not being privy to the family's bedtime procedure) I went upstairs to see if I could relieve Tracy of the crying two year old so she could the others ready for bed.
She accepted my offer and I took the crying child into my arms. I held her close and sat down on the rocker. I rocked her back and forth and started singing softly to her. It wasn't very long until the crying stopped. I continued to rock her back and forth for a while longer until she was asleep. While this was happening I just kept imagining doing this with my own child. The joy of the thought brought a tear to my eyes and a warm glow to my heart.
I so look forward to being a dad. Not just for the fun, playful moments but for the quite tender moments also. There is no denying that I will love my child. No, the real question is when I am able to pick my child up and hold it close in my arms, will I ever be able to let it go?

What one person can do.

Often people do not act on what they feel is right. They might say I'm only one person what difference can I possibly make. Here's a little story I came across from Yahoo News. The article is about how the Proposition 8 passed in California.

"Still, even though gays were fighting to preserve a basic right, it was the anti-equality side in California that seemed to have the most fervor. A symbolic low point for the gay side came on Oct. 13, when the Sacramento Bee ran a remarkable story about Rick and Pam Patterson, a Mormon couple of modest means - he drives a 10-year-old Honda Civic, she raises their five boys - who had withdrawn $50,000 from their savings account and given it to the pro-8 campaign. "It was a decision we made very prayerfully," Pam Patterson, 48, told the Bee's Jennifer Garza. "Was it an easy decision? No. But it was a clear decision, one that had so much potential to benefit our children and their children."

You could argue that marriage equality has little to do with children, but Patterson seemed to speak to Californians' inchoate phobias about gays and kids. On the Friday before the Bee story appeared, a group of San Francisco first-graders was taken to city hall to see their lesbian teacher marry her partner. Apparently the field trip was a parent's idea - not the teacher's - but the optics of the event were terrible for the gay side. It seemed like so much indoctrination."

If you want to read the whole see Yahoo. I just felt this was a good example of how one (or in this case one family) had a significant influence for good. I am sure they didn't expect to have this big of an impact of get the attention they did. They just did what they felt was right, but their actions helped to inspired others to action.

Falling behind and catching up.

One of the biggest problems that has plagued me for years is my tendency to procrastinate and then causes me to maybe fall a little behind in my school work. One of these days I might learn my lesson but for some reason I never seem to do. For example I recently had this big research project paper due, that I just kept putting off and I end up falling behind on it, getting stressed out, and then turning it in a week late. I know with the class load I'm carrying and also having to work and do my church responsibilities it is going to be difficult to find the time needed for everything. Maybe with perfect time management, I could but until that time I am going have to sacrifice time on one project to work on another. Hopefully with a strong concentrated effort today I can get everything caught up and after tomorrow I'll only have one more research paper and what is basically a book report left to do (outside of smaller homework assignments). If I can get started on them soon I can hopefully not fall behind and turn them in late.