Many of you may not realize that Jen, who you have seen comment on my blog, has been very sick for the past year. Tomorrow she is going to the doctor to get a head scan to see if she will need a brain operation. I can't imagine the fear that must be involved in this process.


I'm not aware of everyones religious or spiritual affiliations but I ask and hope that everyone takes a moment to say a prayer for her. I don't believe a person can have to much support in a situation like this.


Jen my thoughts and prayers are with you.

Expectations

Expectations are a big part of every body's life. It seems to me that expectations are the cause of a lot of unhappiness in this world. Are they a good thing or a bad thing? What are they really based on? Usually I set my expectations for myself and my situations so high that the outcome can only be disappointing.


I seem to have high expectations for the people I know and love as well. They have to go above and beyond my expectations to impress me. Expectations they aren't even aware of sometimes. Strangers, on the other hand, can do the smallest of things and make me happy. Is this fair?


This scenario players out hundreds of times a day with the end result almost always disappointment. Everything from how I expect my wife to treat me down to how my food should taste is all weighed against my expectations. This can lead to hurt feelings when people aren't even aware that they have injured me. In fact, they may be thinking they did me a favor. When I am sick I expect my wife to take care of me but does her definition of care match my expectation. It better or I might just blame her for my unhappiness instead of the illness. Totally unfair on my part but it has happened.


Of course the few times my expectations are met euphoria should ensue but in most cases I just feel relief that I wasn't disappointed. Most of the time I find happiness when my bad expectations turn out to be false. A good day when I expected a bad one. No traffic when I expected rush hour grid lock. No waiting at my favorite restaurant to get a seat.


Why do I feel the right to place my expectations on everything and anyone? How do I keep from having these expectations? Where do they come from and how do I control them? I hope some of the answers I find are the ones I'm expecting to hear.

Per Harbinger

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After reading Lindsay's comment about not having children I sat in disbelief that anyone would not want kids. Of course my opinion comes from my own experiences with my children and the fact that I have always wanted a family more than anything else. I will admit that children are not for everyone and everyone shouldn't have them because your life, as you know it, pretty much ends if you plan on doing it right.


Still I can't help but want people who have never experienced the joy of it to know what it's like. So here is a list of what I love about children and why I think people should have them;


You will never know unconditional love until you have a child


You will never know true pride until you have a child to be proud of


You will never understand your parents until you have a child


You will never understand the magic of being a child until you have a child


You will never understand concern until you have a sick child or you stop by their crib just to hear them breath (yeah, I still do it)


You will never truly under stand innocence until you spend time with a child


You will never know true Patience until you teach a child


You will never know trust until you have a child count on you for their life


You are almost guaranteed immortality through your child

I didn't know love - TRUE LOVE - until I had my first child.

A woman will have something to blame her saggy boobs and flabby stomach on after having a child. :)


There are probably hundreds more but these are the ones that quickly came to mind.


I'm sure people will say they have experienced some of the things on my list without having children but I never knew these things completely until I had my children. Just something to think about.

My middle name is "childish"

After accepting 20 Somethings challenge to do something childish this weekend I had to stop and think what I could do. The problem is I act childish all the time (no noise from the peanut gallery here). It really wasn't any problem for me to do something childish this weekend or any other day. The wife says I'm just a big kid anyway.

At work I'm in a position that nobody will say anything no matter what I do, so pulling a few pranks is kind of expected. It helps break up the day. We shout things, throw things, and hide each others stuff all the time.

In case there's any doubt that I did do something childish here a few things I did this weekend.

Played hide and seek

Rode a scooter

Rode a tricycle

Had a tea party

Played army

Played ring around the Rosy


Yep, I lead an exciting life.


The other day when Spiller told the story of him jumping to his car on one foot in the snow to freak out his neighbors it reminded me of another funny story. This seems like a good place to put it so I'll remember it.

A friend of mine in his fifties told me this story last year and it cracked me up. It seems his neighbor got a new Cadillac that he was very proud of. So every few nights my friend would sneak over to his house and pour a few gallons of gas into his new Cadillac. After about a week the neighbor came over and slapped my friend on the back and said "62 miles to the gallon." Every time the neighbor saw him he would run him down to brag about the car. After a month my friend started taking a little gas out of the car every few nights. In a few days his neighbor would come home and go straight in his house without saying a word. Eventually he took the car back to the dealership claiming it was broke because it wouldn't get 62 miles to the gallon anymore. They thought he was nuts. I think that's funny :)

Per harbinger

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Family Traditions

Traditions anyone?

After the wife and I had our first child we wanted to start some traditions that we could look back on with some happy memories. We struggled to find something unique until our neighbor gave us a garden elf for Christmas. We had no idea what to do with the thing so it sat on our counter for a month. One day I needed the space and moved it. My son noticed it had been moved and wanted to know who moved it. I told him maybe the elf was magic and moved itself. To my delight my son started checking the elf everyday to see if it had moved again. That was the day we began living with the a magic elf. Now when the elf moves my sons search the house from top to bottom until they find it. Evey year right before Christmas the elf disappears for good and returns in a wrapped gift to one of the children. They love it.

We have had a few accidents with the elf and are now on our third one. It seems when they break the magic goes to the north pole and creates a new one. The latest one is cast iron so I think we have a keeper. My hope is that one day my son will move the elf on me and the other children. When the kids grow up and move out we can magical pass the elf around through gift giving and remember the days of them screaming through the house in search of the magic elf.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY EVERYBODY!

Free Speech, Free Press, 5 Grammys

Can someone please tell me why the Dixie Chicks won 5 Grammys? While your at it fill me in on what political and diplomatic experience a entertainer has over the rest of mankind. Why don't we let football players start setting economic policies and actors advise us on medical issues?

I knew a few months ago this was where we were heading. I wrote this and had it published in our local news paper back in May of 2006.

" It would be hard not to notice that the Dixie Chicks have put out a new album. Not because their music has been played non stop for the past few years or because I'm a country music fan. It's because they have been featured on every publication and television show there is.
You would think the Beatles had gotten back together. They have been featured on the cover
of Time as well as 60 Minutes. You can't go anywhere without seeing this media blitz. Good
performers couldn't pay to get this kind of free publicity that the Chicks are getting.Why? Because they insulted the President and now the liberal press wants to make sure they get more chances to do it again. It's a shame the media isn't even trying to hide their bias anymore.
Oh yeah, by the way, that was nice picture of the Dixie Chicks on the front page of the paper, S Morning News."

After this media bliss the Chicks had to cancel some of their concert dates due to lack of ticket sales. The band broke up or almost broke up. It's hard to say because the media didn't seem to have much to say about it. It seems somethings aren't worth reporting. Don't get me wrong I have nothing against what they say or what they sing. I think they have every right to say whatever they want no matter how stupid or brilliant it may be. The fans can answer back by supporting them or turning them off. It's a fair system.

It's a fair system until the media and the Hollywood left get involved. I doubt any fair minded person couldn't help but think that the agenda pushed by the Dixie Chicks had something to do with their awards. Even if you like their music it's hard to deny that they have been rewarded for bashing the president and our country. What right does the music industry have to push a political agenda on the population? Mostly on the youth of our country that, largely, have no clue of what they're being fed or why? Would these same people show up if they were told they were going to a political rally with no music? I doubt it.

Let me make this clear. The Dixie Chicks have the right to say what ever they want. The press, who is suppose to be fair and fact based helping them push their agenda is obscene. The Grammy awards will be forever tainted and performers who want one have been sent a clear message the path they need to follow to get one and it has nothing to do with music. Maybe next year Justin Timberlake can spit on an American flag and get his.

Always say you're sorry

So I admitted to the wife that I had been a bit (ahem) of an asshole Thursday night. To my surprise not much was made of it until Sunday. That's when she arranged for me to spend the day with my oldest son and his best friends family.

I'll have to admit it was cool. Ok, it was very cool! My son's friends dad is a doctor who just, a week ago, got back from a tour in Afghanistan. So him, his three sons, my son and me went to a local museum. The male testosterone was aloud to flow and flow it did. The museum is full of real military aircraft and any other World War II artifacts you can imagine. My son is a nut about the military so he was in heaven.

I enjoyed talking with the other dad about his experiences in Afghanistan and got a chance to thank him for his service to our country. After the museum we went back to their house and played a great game of back yard football. It was awesome getting to see him enjoy time with his older boys, ages 12 and 14 after being gone for eight months. I was happy they let me be part of it. The only down side is I'm going to have to tell the wife I had another good time because of her, damn!