texchan | Sometimes "Slow" Days are the Best ... (Reply)

Well, the parental units (or, as my cousin refers to them: the little, gray-haired people --- hey, she's over 6 ft tall, so we're pretty much all "little people" to her ^_~) left today. It's always nice visiting, but it can be a strain, too. There's nothing like having your parents around to correct you on a daily basis to remind you that you'll always hover somewhere around the age of 12 in their minds. But, I guess that's a "parental thing". I wonder if I'll be like that with my daughter. Probably ... no matter how much I wish not to be. And, in some ways, it's a bit sad to go from a house full of people to just my little family again. Still, it's the way it has to be.

The weather was just gorgeous today, though. A huge plus. Gorgeous, hugely blue skies --- you know, that color of blue that's just so pure, it hurts your eyes to look at it for too long --- tons of sunshine, and just enough of a nip in the air to remind you it's fall. Thankfully, my daughter and I were able to take advantage of it a little bit. We spent a really fun time blowing bubbles. I just love doing this with her. She's so much fun as she runs around in circles, laughing her head off and screaming: "I love this game!" and "Catch one! Catch one!" There are times when it just hits me how honest, pure, and innocent children are ... and I mean "hits me" with the weight of a two-by-four right between the eyes. As an adult, it's so easy to get caught up in life and in the lies everyone tells ... until you're all jaded and twisted around, and you can't tell up from down or wrong from right. But kids ... they don't know all of that yet. It's such a pure and magical time, when they're still brand new and the world hasn't gotten ahold of them yet. It makes me wish I could just freeze frame time right here, right now ... just so my child would never have to experience the pain and heartache in the world. But, then ... she would miss out on a lot of joys, too. So, I guess that's why time really has to move forward. But, watching her chase the bubbles as they float away into the huge, blue sky ... I try, really hard, to just take a snapshot of that moment with my mind, so that, later, maybe I will remember it. Sure, maybe the colors will fade and the scene will be a bit frayed around the edges, like an old photograph ... but the memory and the joy will still be there.

Then, later in the afternoon, we managed to get out for a bit of a walk. Well, I walk ... she rides in her stroller. But, hey, it works out pretty well for us. There's nothing quite so challenging and, yet, quite so fun as a walk with a two-year-old (even if she's riding). Her little eyes are so busy, and she sees everything. Each thing she spots is a new and exciting discovery ... even if it's something she's seen a thousand times over. She pointed and giggled over every pumpkin we saw decorating people's front steps --- and, yes, the last one spotted was just as much fun as the first. She squealed in delight at every squirrel sighting, and took special note of every bit of birdsong that drifted our way. We even saw a very fat and very friendly tabby cat. It strolled out of it's hiding place behind a bush and rolled around on the sidewalk in front of the stroller. Really, that was the highlight of the walk. My daughter was still talking about it, several hours after the fact. And, believe me ... if it can hold a two-year-old's attention for that long ... well, it's something.

So, overall ... a slow and uneventful day. But I can't help thinking that, perhaps, these kinds of days are the best ones ... the ones I would really like to stock away in my memory for later viewing. Especially when my daughter comes to me, puts her little arms around my neck, and whispers in my ear: "I had lots of fun today."

Oh ... and, before I forget ... something to sock away in the "I've been watching too much anime" file. I sat down to watch a Tivo'd episode of CSI:New York today. I think it aired last Wednesday. At one of the crime scenes, the CSI detectives found a guy, sitting on a park bench, with his throat cut. Actually, it turned out that his head had been cut off and then replaced on his body. After they got the body to the coroner's office, they were studying the cuts and commented on how clean they were. One of the characters looks at the other one and says something to the effect of how the cut was so clean ... there were no tool marks or anything like that ... and what could have made such a cut. And, I, in my otaku wisdom, reply to the television: "A katana, of course." And, yep ... at the end of the day, that turned out to be the murder weapon.

Who ever knew watching anime could make you a good CSI investigator.

...

What? It doesn't? o_O