I had a great time with my daughter this weekend. Last night, on our way to her house, she said that it was the best Halloween ever because she got to spend it with me, her friends and because she got to be someone she actually wanted to be for a change. She even made her own costume. Yes. She sewed it together herself. I helped her cut a little and I braided her wig, because she was all stressed out as she'd waited until the final moment. But, it turned out really well.
She was Edward Elrick. Who's he? I didn't know either but, he's the star of Full Metal Alchemist and I intend to do my homework on the matter when I return to Seattle.
So, these are my final hours here in southwestern Ohio, in my daughter's abode. She's still at school but, will return in a couple of hours and then her mom will drive me to the airport a couple of hours after that.
In the mean time, I decided to quit procrastinating and make our travel plans for Christmas break but, I ran into a snag. We were supposed to travel to Oklahoma and visit my parents (adopted, remember) and spend a week with them. However, last winter the truth came out that I'd realized that there really isn't a god and my father lost all interest in me. He got mad at me and doesn't want to have anything to do with me anymore until I believe in his god again. Now, to me it's like telling people to believe that the world is really flat and not to believe that it's round or that it revolves around the sun and so forth. So, just to be safe before spending money on two sets of airline tickets, I called my parents to ask if it was alright for my daughter and I to visit them for a week and my father said no. My mom said she disagreed with my father's decision but, said it was my fault nonetheless. He's being juvenile, yet it's my fault because I don't believe in god after the nine years of raising me catholic that they went through. Go figure. Ignorance and nontolerance is just nauseating to me.
So, I called my daughter's mother who sides with my father, actually, and we had a half hour discussion on the whole deal. However, she's gonna let me visit our daughter here for the winter break but, she says she'll be like my father and refuse me if I try to sway our little lady to the dark side, so to speak. OMG. Okay, she didn't actually say "dark side," I just thought I'd be funny in putting it that way.
Anyway, I said I wouldn't. I wouldn't force her to do any such thing. I'd leave her to her own thinking and rationale. Hell, I even volunteered to take her to church the day before yesterday and we had a great time. My daughter was thrilled and it was there that I got to meet her best friends and her best friend's family. Afterwards I took the two, my daughter and her best friend out to lunch, the zoo, to dinner, and to a movie. I'm going to be in debt forever. Let me tell you. But, you only live once and it was all fun and worth it.
So, my kid has seen that I used to be "on fire for the lord" and used to be the one to press them (her mother too) to go to church and now she has that bug and I've got another. She goes to church and I don't criticize. I actually encourage her so that she can make knowledgeable decisions in regards to religion and can have a moral model upon which to follow for a bit. I think, that at this stage in her moral and social development, it is fitting for her to have such a model until she matures and is able to decipher moreat a later age, after she's acquired more life experience and formal education. Afterall, that's how schools do it in the teachings of science and whatnot as well. We're first told atoms are balls or whatever, then later we learn that they're sort of like clouds and consist of protons, neutrons, electrons and what have they. Baby food first, then the real good stuff later. Metaphorically speaking, of course.
Ugh. What do I know? I'm going to hell! Who's going with me?!
peace out!
She was Edward Elrick. Who's he? I didn't know either but, he's the star of Full Metal Alchemist and I intend to do my homework on the matter when I return to Seattle.
So, these are my final hours here in southwestern Ohio, in my daughter's abode. She's still at school but, will return in a couple of hours and then her mom will drive me to the airport a couple of hours after that.
In the mean time, I decided to quit procrastinating and make our travel plans for Christmas break but, I ran into a snag. We were supposed to travel to Oklahoma and visit my parents (adopted, remember) and spend a week with them. However, last winter the truth came out that I'd realized that there really isn't a god and my father lost all interest in me. He got mad at me and doesn't want to have anything to do with me anymore until I believe in his god again. Now, to me it's like telling people to believe that the world is really flat and not to believe that it's round or that it revolves around the sun and so forth. So, just to be safe before spending money on two sets of airline tickets, I called my parents to ask if it was alright for my daughter and I to visit them for a week and my father said no. My mom said she disagreed with my father's decision but, said it was my fault nonetheless. He's being juvenile, yet it's my fault because I don't believe in god after the nine years of raising me catholic that they went through. Go figure. Ignorance and nontolerance is just nauseating to me.
So, I called my daughter's mother who sides with my father, actually, and we had a half hour discussion on the whole deal. However, she's gonna let me visit our daughter here for the winter break but, she says she'll be like my father and refuse me if I try to sway our little lady to the dark side, so to speak. OMG. Okay, she didn't actually say "dark side," I just thought I'd be funny in putting it that way.
Anyway, I said I wouldn't. I wouldn't force her to do any such thing. I'd leave her to her own thinking and rationale. Hell, I even volunteered to take her to church the day before yesterday and we had a great time. My daughter was thrilled and it was there that I got to meet her best friends and her best friend's family. Afterwards I took the two, my daughter and her best friend out to lunch, the zoo, to dinner, and to a movie. I'm going to be in debt forever. Let me tell you. But, you only live once and it was all fun and worth it.
So, my kid has seen that I used to be "on fire for the lord" and used to be the one to press them (her mother too) to go to church and now she has that bug and I've got another. She goes to church and I don't criticize. I actually encourage her so that she can make knowledgeable decisions in regards to religion and can have a moral model upon which to follow for a bit. I think, that at this stage in her moral and social development, it is fitting for her to have such a model until she matures and is able to decipher moreat a later age, after she's acquired more life experience and formal education. Afterall, that's how schools do it in the teachings of science and whatnot as well. We're first told atoms are balls or whatever, then later we learn that they're sort of like clouds and consist of protons, neutrons, electrons and what have they. Baby food first, then the real good stuff later. Metaphorically speaking, of course.
Ugh. What do I know? I'm going to hell! Who's going with me?!
peace out!
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Interesting family dynamics (an interactive system or process, especially one involving competing or conflicting forces: the story of a malign dynamic between white prejudice and black autonomy (Edmund S. Morgan)).