Playing in the dirt

As all kids don't grow without a little bit of dirt, I took Hannah outside to enjoy a few moments of fresh air. I really just needed to cut a few leaves off our basil plant for dinner, but I got carried away. As I looked up from my aggressive weeding program, I notice our dear sweet Hannah playing gleefully in the dirt. She happily sat on a potato mound. She dusted off the top of the mound with her sweeping arm moment that she is quite famour for at dinnertime. She put her hand to her mouth several times, which I know will just make DW cringe. Never boring with the mounds of dirt in the garden.

Fargone

I have so many questions I would love to ask US (speaking to our society and not individually)! Have we become so communist that we want to 'extra tax' a group of companies because they are profitable(big oil)? When did the political left sway so far as to desire universal heathcare(all democratic presidential candidates)? Have we forgotten what it really means to be an American; to believe that anything is possible with enough work and desire(unions and lottery)? Are we so lazy, are we so hooked on easy money that we vote to give it to ourselves(income tax rebate)? Has Texas' Robin Hood made communists(Texas' Robin Hood public school reform)? Have we not read Ayn Rand in all her capitalist, individualist glory(Atlas shrugged/The Fountainhead)? Why do we strike for money(many union examples)? Is it because we lack the drive to earn something more because we deserve it? Can we truly be so easily influenced by unscientific, unrealistic media campaigns(global warming whose name has subtly changed to climate change)? Does the person in the editing booth really make the story?

I am so tired of whiners! And that statement makes me a whiner, which annoys me even more!

What is wrong with us? What is so bad about our lives? Why can't we be happy? I will answer for you: What is wrong with you? You are impatient and unsatisfied. You are prideful and unjustified. You have lost your moral compass. And you don't know which way to go and thus you go nowhere. What is so bad about your life? Nothing. You have just forgotten to appreciate what you have received because you are constantly looking too far ahead to notice what is all around you. You don't appreciate your daily breath and thus you pollute. You don't appreciate any cover over your head and thus you go in debt or envy for something better. You don't appreciate your meal and thus you waste. Your lack of appreciation makes your life bad. Why can't you be happy? You only think about yourself. You aren't happy because you mis-take your roles in life. All of us fit in society like an individual piece of a puzzle. When you don't know your bounds and limitations, when you misrepresent the bounds and limitations of others, when you try to fit into someplace that is wrong for you, you are unhappy. Please, be happy and realize I am talking about everyone except you.

Sleep

This morning you might have eaten breakfast, you might have exercised, you might even have gone to a full service spa. This afternoon you may have eaten lunch, maybe you had to work, or even gone to the zoo. This evening you maybe had dinner with your family, pulled weeds in your lawn or worked on your hobby. All of these things may or may not have been important, but the thing that you did without realizing it that is the most important thing you did today was to wake up. I could write about the deep-rooted philosophical nature of the fact that you woke up, but I am not feeling very deep today.

Instead, I want to write about the importance of sleep mostly from observation. The first distinction I will make is quality sleep versus quantity sleep. I have heard that some people have sleep apnea sleep or fall asleep all the time and never feel rested. I can't really comment on these medical cases. So leaving aside any medically related sleep problems, I will comment on my observation of normal people sleep. Sleep increases your ability to remember, I don't care what you've read about ginseng, sleep will help you remember everything clearly as long as you get it in your head in the first place (but that is a different topic.) Sleep increases your energy, instead of relying on caffeine or other harmful drugs, try using the natural chemicals created in your body for providing that extra boost. Sleep increases your awareness/ your ability to focus. I have seen hundreds of people that are sleep deprived that just make mistakes, simple mistakes like walking, like talking, like calculus. (Despite what you may think, real world calculus cannot be done by anyone in their sleep.) The same thing goes for people that are overtired. Construction worker are the worst on this, they work all day and they are "almost done" with a job for six hours. They fall asleep in their truck late and wake up to find a crappy job that they have to redo. Sleep reduces irritability. When you have had a good night's rest, you will find that you are far more patient, more understanding and appreciative. You are also less aggressive, less annoyed, and less condescending. Sleep increases coordination, as evidenced by my daughter. I have observed on many occasions that as she gets more tired, she tends to fall down more, this typically ends in injury, Motrin, and sleep.

I am sure that there are other benefits to sleep, however, I am far too lazy to list them all. I am unmotivated to think critically because I am lacking sleep. Probably you also lack the ability to think clearly, otherwise you wouldn't be reading this blog. So do me a favor and get some sleep.

Kids

Children are ____.!? Well, children can be many things to a parent at many different times of the day. Previous to my wife being pregnant, I hadn't really planned on kids very early in my life. But I have learned and changed so much in the last three years it may have been worth it. I still feel like the same person I was long ago (so it seems) but I no longer have a free, unbound spirit. That sense of freedom that I once enjoy is no longer there. That is not a bad thing, my daughter (age <2) now seems to evoke within me the greatest happiness. Mostly because she is someone with whom I play. We enjoy rolling around on the floor, walking around the neighborhood, pulling weeds, and rolling balls. She has filled a role in my life, she is my friend, she has made me responsible, she relies on me for basic needs, she relies on me for bounds and rules, she has fun with me, and she looks forward to seeing me when I get home each day. I love her. The feelings I feel are like none that I have ever felt before. I know I am going to get some reaction from long-time parents, but up to this point, we get out of our daughter what we put into our daughter (with a little twist called personality.)
On the other side of the fence, what have I exchanged for the "joy of parenting"? ...A few other things I never really loved (like hours of shopping with my wife), some of the things I thought were ok (like going to parties and meeting new people) and pretty much everything I thought was fun.
It is a fact of life, you need to have kids. Kids keep you sharp and intuitive, they keep you young and fresh, they provide a lifetime of laughs and most of all a never-ending abyss into which you can throw money and watch it disappear.