Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Happy 9th Grace!

You are nine years old today, even though you've been acting at least that old for several years now. You are becoming a very unique young lady right in front of me, finding your own personality and skills as you become more independent.

You retain your strongest characteristic--a fierce sense of independence and confidence. This has set you apart from many in our family and will give you the power and energy to become a very significant person in the years to come. Your ability to excel in school has already been proven and this summer you've added some pretty impressive budding softball skills to your repertoire.

What's next for you? Who knows . . . and the best thing is that you don't want to be held back and limited. As you have always done, you want to charge ahead and learn more, be more, do more, control more. I am excited about who you are becoming and (honestly) a little bit scared about what you'll want to do next. You are always going to be pushing the envelope and it'll be up to me to reign you in when I must and allow you to challenge yourself whenever possible. Being a parent isn't easy, and being a proper steward to someone with as much potential as you is a privilege.

I don't even want to think about what may come when you think about boys and they wise up enough to start paying attention to you. But, luckily, that is a few more years away. I am sure THAT will be a whole new set of challenges . . . but one we'll work on together.

I'm happy and proud to be your dad and I am very excited to see you experience your ninth year. Don't ever give up on yourself and what you want to do!

Happy Birthday to you!


Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Zoo Encounter

This afternoon, I took the kids to the zoo, as they weren't signed up for a camp this week.My other alternative was to go swimming, but the temperatures were a bit too mild and windy for that to be an attractive option.At the zoo, the girls wanted to see the gorillas and apes in the African Forest area. While there, I happened to notice a group of two women and a man standing in the crowd. I probably wouldn't have given any of them a second thought, but that one of the women was wearing a backpack with the words CREATION MUSEUM on it. The backpack also had an image of a dinosaur skeleton of some sort. I was intrigued and wondered if they truly were creationists and opposed to evolution. Maybe there were at the monkeys and apes exhibit to gather data on the opposition, I thought? I nondescriptly got closer, hoping to take a picture of the backpack to document my musings, but they started moving on and I couldn't get the camera phone shutter to work quickly enough. So, because I didn't want to be a jerk, my photo wasn't too great.
Not a very good picture, huh?
I gave up on the quest and just continued enjoying my visit to the zoo. But we kept on walking around the monkey and gorilla area and we ran into them again. As karma might have it, we were near this educational graphic that was discussing the connections between humans and other hominid creatures. (I didn't see any spray paint or other evidence of defacement as I took a picture.)
Tolerance is alive and well at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.
As we kept on walking towards the exit, I was able to get the camera ready again. And I managed to get a slightly better picture, to at least show that I wasn't making everything up.
She's on the right, with the black backpack.

What's my point? I guess I don't really have one. I just thought it was interesting.You may disagree.

Friday, June 01, 2012

#SummerHat12

Have you voted yet to determine my Official Hat of Summer? I've gotten a few votes so far (even one this morning) but the polls will stay open for a while. Visit this link to see the video of all of the nominees. Vote early, vote often.