Piercings....

Vivian now has pierced ears and wears bras. Bwaaaaah.

I love how matter of fact she is when talking about her biology. Many thanks to Jo and the way Magellan approached sexual education from the first grade. No silly giggling and weird names for anatomy. Just simply, "Hey Daddy - I'm going to need training bras now because I have breast buds". May be her generation will be able to reclaim their bodies from politicians and judges and garden variety pussy grabbers. 

Filling Food Packets

A few weeks ago I blogged about the posters I made for the Stop Hunger Now event at Evan's school. In the course of two hours a lot of little kids, parents and a staff or two filled, weighed and sealed ten thousand bags of rice, soy, dehydrated veggies, and spice/vitamins. Grace and neighbor Ava went with Vivian and Evan and were an integral part of the effort. Everyone pitched in, and while kids occasionally slacked, Evan worked every minute of the whole effort with a determined seriousness.

10

Your daughter turns ten just once.

I am filled with wonder and gratitude and hope and love and apprehension and purple and pink make-up all over the bathroom. If the world ends tomorrow I will cherish every moment of these last ten years as the very best of my life. Or if there is an eternity I would do it over and over and over and over and over for ever. But neither is. So now I must think about when she turns 11 and 17 and so on. 

Vivian - you are my treasure and my puzzle. You come jumping into my arms from ten yards away. You won't say "I love you". You can't spell "atom". You figured out how gravity and thermonuclear explosions cancel each other out to keep the stars burning. You lie about brushing your teeth. You lie to keep your brother from getting into trouble. You can't focus on what I ask you to do. You don't hear the world around you when you have your nose buried in your book.

As I type these words I look out over the Charles and see the glistening Great Dome of MIT. Harvard is just a bit further downstream. Before you were six months old we were in Boston for a holiday and I pointed to MIT and told you that I wouldn't be entirely unhappy if you went to college there. And played soccer. And sailed. Jo smiled. 

Soccer ain't happening. So I'm closer to understanding (the knowledge part was much easier) that you are your own person. And that I need to stop projecting my desires and dreams on your life. So I love you - anyway and always and even if you don't go to MIT.  

By the way, here's what you looked like when you were a tadpole.

Happy Ten. Reconsider soccer.

Love

-dad

Friends and Family

Alu and Michelle came to Austin for their spring visit. They have now been doing it for ten years at about Vivian's birthday. I picked them up from the airport a couple of Wednesdays ago. By the time we got home the kids were asleep and as Alu and I sipped whiskey I admitted to him that my goal was to have "a low level buzz" for the rest of the weekend.

Then Praveen and Renuka came in from Florida on Saturday. We hiked and sailed and Vivian gave Alu and new hair do and we grilled at home and ate out and visited the Mandola winery and had a great time.

Vivian took this group photo of the adults. Besides me looking like a gang member it's not bad. Neither was the "low level buzz".