Trying to Stop being Clever

Great news! Wifey's not going in for surgery. I wasn't worried, except a little. But SOOO glad it doesn't have to happen. Such a relief! Now that it's not a concern, I suddenly started to wonder if we would have had to pay for it. It's not a life-threatening condition, so we might have had a hefty co-pay. I hadn't thought for a moment of the cost. That's a step. That's the kind of thing I always admired in fictional heroes: not one thought of a financial aspect of something typically costly when it concerns the health of a loved one. I've always felt that characteristic may be missing from me. But hey, there it is! Great news indeed.

I put in my request for 1 1/2 weeks off from work next month. On the first day of August my little family & I board a plane for Dallas, and after almost 10 days of traveling around the south we get on a plane in Atlanta back to L.A. We will visit at least 3 states and various family & friends, some for the first time in years, some for the first time. It will be Delilah's first time on a plane. And second. And third. It will be her first time out of California. Except for our drive to San Francisco back in October 2009, it will be our first family trip. This has all been made possible by a man who I'm sure would prefer to remain unnamed due to too many people having access and government conspiracies and coverups & whatnot. Anyway, thanks old man. We'll try to make sure they don't rent us a Kia. So that's exciting. Tonight we're supposed to go on a sort of double date. Again, I don't know that I should name names, but one participa

This is a very exciting time in Delilah's development. She is talking all the time. She's learning to put together all kinds of sentences, & I hear from parents of other children her age that their babies don't talk anywhere near as well as she does. Besides that, it's great that we can communicate with her now. It was only 3 months ago that I was amazed by her handful of one-syllable words in her vocabulary. Now we carry on conversations. I've always been fascinated by the idea of molding a young mind, creating a human personality. It's scary & adventurous. There's no telling what she's going to turn out like despite our efforts, or rather because of them. She understands an amazing number of things, she recognizes things like t.v. show sets, people's voices (like Randy Newman), & she is showing signs of being a great dancer. She's got rhythm, & for that I am endlessly grateful. I don't know yet if she is going to