Meeting up with Jon

Got together with my Cousin Dan today. 1st time in 10 or 12 years. Don’t tell him but he is still cool to me. - Jon Z

Hi, Dan - sending you a private message from husband, if you don’t mind checking Messenger. Thanks - hope you and your family are doing well!  - Wendy, Wil's wife

RIP

My friend Mike's mother passed away today. Please keep him and his family in your prayers.

Happy Birthday!

A happy 40th birthday to my friend Eric. May you reach the midpoint of your life ten years from today. Salud!

A Dinner with a Friend

Team Slap enjoyed a nice evening with Dale C who originally came over to set up our aquarium but stayed for dinner and took not one but two trips to the pet store with the crew. Thanks Dale!

What's your take on this?

Over the weekend I received news from YaYa's Godfather that his Grandmother had passed away.

The viewing was held today at a local church and  I took YaYa out of school for an hour to attend.

My rationale for taking her was simple: I thought it was an appropriate show of respect for her Godfather and a good way for her to cement his importance in her life. He lost his mother a few years ago and I imagine that made the loss of his grandmother even more difficult to handle. He attended the funeral of my own Grandma in 2006 and I had met the woman, if only briefly. I felt it right to make YaYa attend.

[by the way: as his mother was the first of our parents to pass, it was horrible harbinger of things to come for everyone in my generation; it signaled that a new day had arrived for us all]

At the showing she was not 'bad' per se. She was quiet and more or less respectful. But she acted very shy, hiding behind me at times and offering her condolences only when strongly prompted, and even then with a dopey grin on her face. She prayed by the casket with me but claimed to have forgotten the words to "Hail Mary", which is a bold-faced fib. Her hug was more of a headbutt. And she seemed to take far too much pleasure in being the demure, shy little girl at the party.

None of this, on the face of the retelling, seems worthy of my anger. I know I'm coming off as over the top when I say that on our ride back to school I ignored perhaps six apologies and didn't speak to her at all.

But you know what? Every parent wants other people to see their kid for who they are, and YaYa's a very social, very courteous (when she wants to be), and very refined kid.

Yet every time - and I mean EVERY time - she's near her Godfather she turns into this shy, goofy stranger. Every. Single. Time.

The guy has no kids of his own, so I can only imagine what he  says when I'm not in hearing distance. You can't say 'wait til you have kids of your own' to someone who doesn't have one; they might nod agreement but in their heads they're thinking their kid will be better, more polite, more social.

I did it. You did it. Every future parent thinks it.

His Dad was cool about her behavior.When she bumped into an easel of pictures he was quick to her defense. "That's ok. If you drop it we'll just pick it up. No big deal."

So some folks will say she was too young to attend, and in my defense she's been to a few before and certainly has attended fewer than I did as a child.

So what do you think? Was she too young? Does she feel too pressured by me and so act out with her Godfather? Does she try to 'be' someone else to impress him and have it backfire? Or am I just nuts?

What's your take?

Tags: YaYa

Congrats to Tre

On this fine Wisconsin day I'm pleased to extend congrats to my good friend Tre, who just received word that he'll be moving on to a bigger and better job.

Best of luck!