Bachelorhood Redux

Well, this morning, the girls left for Colorado with "Granny Sharon", Cathy's mom (one of the sweetest people I know). They will be gone for a whole week, leaving me here with two dogs and a fish..........the silence is deafening. I keep waiting to hear,"Daddy!" or "hey, Bear" or "Ouch! Stop it!"...but nothing. I have been alone in the house for a weekend before, and the first hour or so is sheer bliss...until that one moment when it really hits me that they're not here...and I truly miss them for the first time...and something deep inside yearns....until I realize that I have sole control of the television! Seriously, though, it's going to be a long week.

My New Favorite Quote

"Absurdity is the only reality"
- Frank Zappa -

Seems to fit the times, don't you think?

Tradition!

I watched the musical "Fiddler on the Roof" for the first time in a long time last night. It was the first time I'd watched it since I've had kids. It made me see it in a whole new light. It's the story of a poor Jewish man living in a village in Tsarist Russia (in the early 1900's, maybe?) trying to eke out a meager living, balancing his religious faith, his cultural traditions, and his desire to see his 5 daughters happy. As a parent, I watched as he struggled between his traditional beliefs and mores and the changing world around him. I had been in a bit of a struggle myself, of late. It was becoming a major struggle to get up and go to work everyday, as it was a meaningless series of motions I went through, without any real significance to it. But, as Tevye, the main character in the movie, said, "but look at my daughter's eyes". I did, and remembered that it's all for them, all of it.