Sigh-ning all the papers that come home from school.

The guys came home yesterday with the usual stack of papers that require a parents signature. I LOATHE this day every year. It's a bunch of pointless crap for the most part. I mean why in the hell do i have to sign a copy of the code of conduct, i'm not going to school there? As long as i'm familiar with what it says is that not good enough?? It's like when they took the sodas out of the school vending machines or cupcakes at in class parties cause they make kids fat. Are you kidding me?? I mean really we have to make sure johnny doesn't get fat from eating cupcakes at a class party, but they serve fried burritos covered in nacho cheez in the lunch room. I'd really love to meet the person that finds the fried burrito more healthy than a cupcake.
Something new for us this year, but probably not for the rest of the world cause our school district is five years or more behind any trend, was the racial/ethnicity updated survey. They have incorporated the one that was started under Reagan and passed by king george; hell it could have even have been Clinton. There are two parts that just annoy the hell out of me. First is the Hispanic/Latino or Not Hispanic/Latino question. That is the ethnicity portion. There are no other ethnic divisions worth noting, obviously or they would have been included. Well, for me this is a murky ass question. If you think of all the Ethnic markers for Hispanic/Latino, we certainly fall into that category. However, as it is defined by the OMB and the statisticians, most of the people i know would fall into this ethnic group. You know what, i don't have a problem with that. What i have a problem with is that it's either that or nothing else. The question is, is this really necessary??
The other weirdo part is under the race category. I absolutely abhor this one. Now before i get to it, i'll say that part of my ancestry is from Scotland and part is from the Creek and Cherokee that went to Spanish Florida and my wife is, for lack of splitting hairs here, Lebanese. This is where the Race section is just wacked. The White box is for anyone that is descendant of the peoples of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Let's see Scotland is Europe so White and Lebanon is North Africa, so White again. Does this make all Lebanese White?? What about those people from Egypt or Dubai, are they White also?? WEIRDNESS!!!!!
So, We are Hispanic/Latino and White. I hate being labeled. Would it not have made a hell of a lot more sense to just put a NATIVE TEXAN box?? Now that's a label i not only can live with i am proud of.
Oh and for those of you thinking, what about the Native American box?? Well you only get to claim that status if you have lineal documentation to one of the nations. Really and truly that is something that i should have as i am the family historian and have tons of information about those that came before me, but there was a census done after the Seminole war stopped, note not ended, it just stopped. In that census my ancestors were worried about reprisals or worse and adopted the names Johnson and Williamson from people they admired. That census was to get an accurate count on the peoples of what had been Spanish Florida and family history, customs and traditions, the very identity of some families were lost forever from something as simple as that census. What will the ramifications of the new one be on the American Ethnicity's in the decades ahead?? I'm sure i don't have the answer, but what really sucks is that i'm sure they don't either.

a piece of Perfect...

At the street end of the dirt drive, you could only turn right or left. The funny thing, both directions ended up in the same place; Fox Hollow. Fox Hollow was the only bar in town and doubled as the Post Office. Coincidentally, it was the ice cream parlor in the summer and where you take your kids to get their picture with Santa during the holidays. Oh! Let’s not forget the Rotarians and Tuesday night bingo. The other handy thing about the place, it’s also the bus stop. Naturally, that’s where I met Loyd, nine years ago, when I hit town. You might say it was two steps down from the Army and a stumble back in time.
Back at the house I’d make my left or my right and head for the Fox Hollow. Me, Loyd, and Bit had been meeting up there for coffee at O’dark thirty for a number of years now and it just doesn’t seem right to start the day differently. Sure, I guess we could have met at the diner, but as long as Paula Ann was willing to bring our plates to us, why change?
By the time I get there Loyd will be on his second beer and his third cup of coffee. Bit will ask him why he drinks beer so early in the morning and Loyd will tell him it’s cause he never met a beer he didn’t like. Shortly after that, Bit will ask him why he doesn’t eat something and Loyd will remind him yet again that there is a sandwich in every bottle and a pork chop in every can. Then there will be silence till I get there. God, I love small town life. Nothing ever changes and there’s security in that.

Missing the Font

I sit here tonight with about a thousand things racing about my head. I have rats tearing flesh from bone and worms devouring the scraps. The echos of this carnage bounce around my skull with cavernous abandon, while i attempt to make sense of it all. The raging thoughts inside are leaving me out.

I find myself sitting in the parking lot of Our Lady of Perpetual Recreation and yet, can find no courage to enter. No candle will be lit and my bemedaled ladder Rosary will see no daylight today. I simply admire the facade. I can't afford myself enough grace to enter the house. If my peace lie in thee, I'm on the outside and shall not know.

The sins of the father are nothing more than a road map. The repetition of history cast along another generation. Will the son walk this same highway and if so will they all or just one? I ache for them. I hope for them. I pray for them. Will they find grace in all things or will they be chained by the sins of the father in all aspects of their life? I burn for them. I give myself freely that they might never bear the yoke or feel the lash. All i am is for them and still I'm merely looking in.

Nearly all of my life i have been blessed with a tremendous font. Dipping my tired fingers every chance i got. I have now returned to that font to find only promises and dust. There is no font. What i had grown so accustomed to is gone and shall never return. One day i am sure i will catch up with my font and by then the rats in my skull will all be dead. It is my earnest wish that the sons have a font that doesn't disappear, but when it does they have the courage to be on the inside.

Looking in is not life, but it isn't death either. It is an earthly purgatory, one to be endured until you can rise up and open the door.

This is the last blog i am going to share on FB. I hope you got something from it, even if it is only that bemedaled isn't a real word. Besides, it's mine, so it is a real word. Bemedaled, having medals, usu. several.

Y'all take care of Y'all, Dave

I think i just earned myself the "Dad of the Day" Award today. I have been promising the guys MusicMan style guitar straps. Naturally, they had to be made of leather, oh and they wanted their initials to be revealed. Revealed in sewing terms means that there are two layers and when you cut out the pattern from the top layer, the bottom layer is revealed. How cool, No?? Garage Band, the next generation...........

Of course, my Alien child wanted his done in a font style like the movie Ice Age and he wanted "eye brows" on the letters. Undoubtedly, he got that crap from Chip Foose. I'm not thrilled with it, but he is and that's all that counts. He's a short little cuss and i'm probably going to have to take a couple more inches off of the end of the strap. I just hope i don't take off too much and that he'll grow into it. Though i doubt he'll ever be any taller than 5' 9" or there abouts.

My Beastly child, the one that doesn't stop eating, made a great font choice and i really liked the way it turned out. Since he'll probably top out around 6' 3", his strap was made a little longer and should see him through many years of playing. Really and truly, leather is the only choice for this job. Oh, and he totally digs the way the reveal came out. As they say, if he likes it, i love it. Pssst!, they practice with headphones on. That was money well spent!

And finally, i included this picture because it makes me laugh!!!! I just love the hair......lol I won't rain on his Heavy Metal parade, i'm sure the Football Coach will do that next week.

At any rate, i thought i would share this with the world. The straps are functional and durable and the guys love them. Who could ask for anything more. Y'all be good, DDDave