Hello Kindergarten

Perfectly Logical

Arrrr! Happy Birthday Matey!

See Album Here.

It wasn't easy - trying to figure out if we were going to be blessed with rain or shine - the weather reports won't make up their minds and I got no real help from the cards - and Mommy's failed attempts at checking with psychics didn't help either. But in the end, we thought we'd take a gamble and commit to the original August 20 date - in Grandma Flo's backyard.

And boy did we have a ball. Daddy was an awesome Captain - shooting water at unfrozen freeze dancers and disobedient Captain listeners... and Battleship Balloon was an encore.



Digging for treasure was fun too and the jello, PBB, chips, Oatmeal choc chip cookies and of course the triple layer chocolate cake with vanilla whip cream and buttercream frosting. And not forgetting girl skull pinata.

Happy Birthday Sidney. You've been a great girl all year and you deserve a little celebration. (Now mommy and daddy are just exhausted! And by the way - all day, Mommy could hear her grandmother saying, "The gods must love and adore you to bless you with a beautiful day.")

Gong Gong

On the morning of July 4th, while Sid and I were in the kitchen making breakfast, she tells me, "Oh mommy, I dreamt of Gong Gong last night."

"Oh, that's interesting, what did he say or what was he doing?" I asked.

"Nothing. It was like he was there, like his spirit came back and then he was gone."

I was intrigued. "How did you know it was his spirit?"

"He just came, like a ghost and then he disappeared," she replied matter of factly.

I was taken aback. That didn't sound like "just a dream." In fact, I know those "dreams" - they have a vivid feel in a realm that is almost real, but not really. Viscereally, it felt like he actually came to visit her. But why would he? There's usually an occasion, an event, something. I racked my brains but couldn't figure it out.

Later on, as I was mindlessly drying some plates, it hit me like a snowball. My god, how could I have forgotten (oh my father knows me so well), that in a week's time on July 11th, is his 3rd death anniversary.

That was affectionate, to have chosen his grand daughter as the last person who should see him.

On July 10, we visited the Chuang Yen Monastery and were joined by our dear friend Papa Ozskie. For a day of rememberance, meditation, reflection and simply, time out.

Summer Pet

At Aunt Dawn's July 4th BBQ - a green little grasshopper jumped on Sidney and will not leave her, like it was her little pet. Of course she loved every minute of it. It was kindred and almost strange, for a grasshopper to be so affectionate with a little girl.

And they said...

Jesus

"Mommy, do you believe in Jesus?" she asks.

"Yes, I replied. "He was a real man."

I was drawn back to the time when her teacher at school asked us for some help. She wanted us to explain to Sidney how God made her. Apparently the teacher was challenged in class, "God didn't make us Ms. ______. My mommy and daddy did."

She continued on, "But mommy, how can a regular guy make all those stuff happen?" I couldn't give her a simple answer because I wanted to talk about peoples' beliefs in miracles, dramatization of stories for inspirational purposes, and you know, a re-writing of history that became fact to some. Later on in the night, she said, and it became apparent she was trying to find an answer to the conundrum, "I know.... all Jesus did was put a pair of glasses on the blind man so he could see!"

I can't tell if you are my daughter Sidney... the fact that you find magic hard to believe (you know your mommy believes in fairies) or that you won't stop asking challenging questions. Love you.

Moving Up

And here is the link to the album.