Saturday, March 28, 2009

Rosalie Walks!

13 and a half months old and Rosalie has started walking. She is such an amazing person. I have three amazing children, each of them with very distinct personalities. I am such a lucky dad. I tell them everday that I love them and that my love for them is bigger than the sky. Watch Sammy kiss his sister's foot at 0:30 seconds into the video. Where's my Kleenex?

Heaven? No thanks!

Eternity is an unpleasant concept to me. How could I be happy in heaven knowing that freak accidents and horrible murders are happening on Earth? Does god make me blind to events on Earth? Well, who does he think he is? I want to know about my loved ones! Good times or bad, I want to be there for them. What happens in heaven? Are my memories erased? No thanks.

When someone dies, especially a child, I often hear religiots say things like, "she's in a better place now" or "god needed another angel." Those comments make me sick. How could a child be in a better place than her mother's arms? When god "needs" another angel, why doesn't he "take" them while they're sleeping, instead of drowning them, or letting them die in fires, etc.? Let's not even discuss sex crimes and murders. If there's a god, I hate him.

I do not believe in a god but even if I did
I would never force religion upon my children. When they're older they can decide for themselves. I was raised a catholic (I refuse to capitalize it) and I remember being haunted as a small child by the man in agony nailed to that cross. Who would allow little children to gaze upon such a horrible sight? And then tell the child that the man died for ME! Crazy! Child abuse!

The older I get the more sad memories I gather. That's life. Many happy memories too, of course. If not for happiness life wouldn't be worth it and it wouldn't make sense to have children. I see now that eventually the sad will outweigh the happy and I'll be ready to step aside for the next generation. Hopefully I'll die in my sleep, although so many brave and innocent humans have died in such painful ways that I feel guilty for hoping for a painless exit. Perhaps, if I get the big C, I'll walk to the edge of the Grand Canyon and learn how to fly.

Yup, heaven looks pretty damned ridiculous.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Fire!

A neighbor's garage burned down the other night around 11PM. We could see the raging fire from our livingroom window. Fortune smiled upon them and no one was hurt. I couldn't sleep that night. I tossed and turned and looked at the ceiling trying to figure out how I could protect my family from fire. I already have a smoke alarm in every room and a photo-electric flame detector (with a light) in the hallway and I test them often. We also have a carbon monoxide detector. Still though, a fire might block me from reaching the children because of the hallway layout. Suddenly it came to me - why can't I just go through the wall to get my children? Well, the next morning I went to Ace Hardware and talked with my hardware buddies about it and I walked out with a 13 pound mini-sledge. It will go right through drywall. I also bought a hundred dollar extension ladder. If the room is on fire I can jump out the window, grab the extension ladder, and be in the kid's room in under a minute.

I used to think it was weird for parents to sleep with their children, especially older children. Now I have a totally reversed opinion. If my children sleep with me tonight and a fire breaks out, I know where they are. They're right within reach and I can scoop all three of them up and be outside in seconds. Ain't nothing wrong with sleeping with your kids! Some psychologists say the kids might have future issues? I doubt it. One thing's for sure - they'll be alive to deal with those issues.

Do you have children? Test your smoke alarm this instant!