History Has No Closing Ceremony

So my son had his last game on Saturday. His team took 2nd place in his rec league. Here is a picture of his team on the court. He is number 8.

The taller boy beside my son is Brandon. He is 12 years old. It is “The Blind Side” in our world. My son David has known Brandon for a couple of years. He is shy, quite, and polite. He has always been aware of his size and has never to my knowledge intentionally used it in a mean way, unless you say something about his mother or grandmother. I guess some kid did that and it was the last time he did. Brandon has always been cool with David.

Saturday night my daughter was up to something. Not anything good either. She asked if she could stay with a girlfriend of her’s that lives in the same area as we do. At first I didn’t mind, but as always we had to ask especially with this kid if the parents would be home….

No, they are going out.
Be home at 9:30 then.
Why can’t I stay?
It’s always been the rule, no parent, no stay.

So my daughter conceded and came in and out of the house about 3 or 4 times. My wife being suspicious went out and checked and sure enough she is sitting in a car with an 18-year-old. I had told her I didn’t want that boy around unless he came and met us. My daughter, of course, ignored what I said so as I pulled up behind the car and called her on her phone I told her she had 10 seconds to get out of the car.

I’m in Rachael’s house.
No you aren’t, look behind you.

Out of the car she goes, the boys speeds off, and my daughter is grounded for a day. So much for sneaky girls. The DAD Detective Agency has foiled them again.

I’m not upset by it. I am more concerned about what would have happened if we told her she could have stayed. I am certain it would have been not good. See these kids she wanted to stay with, their parents go to the bar and hang out every other night till close. There is no supervision, and it is no surprise that one of their daughters is due to deliver a baby next week. She is 16 years old, the father is 19.

 I am still waiting on pictures of the house to come through. I am anxious. The more I think about it the more I am for moving. Maybe it’s just a combination of everything. Then I do what I did last night and think about all the things I love where I am at. Again to rehash what I’ve posted before I know we have to do something.

My thoughts are out to those in Chile. An 8.8 magnitude earthquake hit the region and again we are flooded with pictures that cannot put into perspective the loss, horror, and grief our friends there are going through. I would ask if you are able to donate to The American Red Cross in their relief efforts there.

I watched the Olympic Hockey game yesterday. What a game! It was good to see hometown hero Rick Nash get a Gold Medal. It was nice to hear the announcers plug The Columbus Blue Jackets as well. There has been talk here that they might move, which I don’t believe will happen. The NHL coming to Columbus is the best thing to ever happen to this town. For Columbus to lose that franchise would deal a death-blow to an entire district that has sprung up around Nationwide Arena.

I watched a little snippet that NBC ran on the 1980 USA Hockey Team that defeated the Soviets.
I’m not going to give anyone a history lesson, but if you aren’t old enough then this is something reserved for those of us that grew up under the cloud of mistrust portrayed only in bad 80’s movies such as Red Dawn w/ Patrick Swayze.

To see the footage again of the old CCCP uniforms brought back a flood of memories, emotions, feelings about living in that time. It doesn’t seem that long ago we were talking about Nuclear Winter, Evil Empires, and the made for tv movie, The Day After. Which allowed us to contemplate further the pushing of buttons and turning of keys in a silo somewhere in Nebraska.

Do you believe in miracles?????

At any rate while watching the game, my son who was itching to play video games asked why we had to watch this. I told him I wanted to see it, and secondly that history that he reads about in books was happening right now on television and he should watch.

He watched for about 10 minutes…….

History passes us by in subtle ways…
Doesn’t it? The games may be over, but History has no closing ceremony.

Take Care…..Bob D.

And they cried in the streets…….

I am sure there are a million bloggers going on about the tragedy in Haiti now. There are pleas from the American Red Cross, The Salvation Army, and even Wyclif Jean for money. But sometimes a picture does more than what a tweet, text, or FaceBook update can do…..

They cried in the streets…The end of the world has come…God Save Us.

On a more personal note……

I cried yesterday at a meeting.
I cried this morning in the parking lot of a UDF. I cried out loud to God, what it is that he wants me to do? How to go about this. I tried again this morning to talk to my daughter about things and it ended terribly. It ended with her telling me as long as “I don’t make her mad” everything will be ok.
As she got out of the car I watched my hope, my very being leave my body. I am powerless over this. I realized this as I screamed into the phone at my wife, taking my frustrations out on her. Justifying what I was saying based on anger. The Text tells me that anger is my reaction to my present reality. Right now my present reality and grip on life is not good.

My wife cried over the phone. Telling me I was giving up, that she was worried about me. That I was leaving her, that I wanted to get rid of my daughter. That I had given up on them.
This broke my heart and has sent me into a tailspin.
Crying in the streets isn’t limited to Haiti.

I’m supposed to meet with a guy about helping me with the credit cards I overspent on. This has been on my mind as well.
I guess most of the pain I am in is self-induced one could say. Maybe not. The point being is that right now…..I just don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel. That’s the way I feel. I just don’t know what I am supposed to do now……