Happy Birthday phantom_wolfboy and kennycelican!

Many happy returns of the day to both of you!

Recently Watched: Hook

Hook

Watching this movie is a bit like looking up to a mirror.

When we were kids, Peter Pan was an idol - he's never going to grow up, and he always has all these grand adventures with indians and pirates and flying and swords and on and on.

Peter Panning, lawyer, is afraid of flying. As a parent - the mostly-absentee father of two - he is afraid for his children: the very enemy of adventure. In business, he swoops down on floundering companies, buying them out, breaking them up, and selling them: as Granny Wendy points out, he has become a pirate.

Pirates, in the language of the story, are parents. Grownups. People with the inability to see what is really important in life, and to attempt to dictate their rule upon those that they can. To raise them right, to their way of thinking. To destroy their childhood and bring them to a soulless, productive adulthood.

When you look in a mirror, it's hard to escape the things you don't want to see: a bit too much weight around the middle, work playing a more important role in your life than your children, your best intentions at having a great family damaged by your attempts to meet those intentions.

When I watch the relation of Robin Williams portrayal of a middle-aged Peter with his son Jack, I can't help but think of relations between my first-born Justin and myself. I convince myself that I'm not doing that, or, at least not *that* bad, and in some ways it helps me see my situation clearer than I do on my own. The need to be present for my children, the need to keep the spirit alive and not just plod through life paycheck to paycheck. Or, for some, for larger and larger paychecks.

Of course, it's just a movie. Just a kids movie, and it's not really supposed to be that deep. It's a Disney product, not likely to be shown at art houses where a thoughtful analyzes and dissects its meaning.

And I enjoy it as such - a fun family film. Bright colors in Neverland, contrasted with the more subdued wintry weather in London. The war between the Lost Boys and the pirates. Mermaids, shadows, thimbles for kisses, crocodiles and clocks, Tinkerbelle, and happy thoughts.

All of which still manage to provide a reflective surface for parenthood in general, and being a father in particular.

Holiday Updatia

We decorated the tree last night - it was a bit tough on Brandon (and, by extension, Deb) because his two year old head couldn't wrap itself around the idea that a tote full of delicate, breakable ornaments wasn't something he could pull things in and out of as he can with his toy box. After a few tries, and a couple of times where I sat back with him to watch Justin and Rachel decorate, he settled in with the much less breakable ornaments we had given him to play with - and by the time we were finishing, he decided it was fun to hang those ornaments on the tree.

We talked a bit about trees - how, while we could all admire a simple mono-colored one in a display amongst other trees, we all felt the family holiday tree should represent, well, the family. Ours has Russian and Polish glass ornaments, glittery guitars, owls, pianos, and handmade ornaments that probably cost oodles of money to handmade ornaments such as the picture of a zebra flipsided with a letter R that Rachel made out of a coffee can lid when she was much younger. The tree reflects what is important to us as a family.

Deb has come up with a design for the cards - so we should be able to proceed with those soon. There's still time to get your address to me if you haven't already.

~ ~ ~

This Saturday we're having a stuffed shell dinner at 1:00pm - please let me know if you're going to make it! (kk1raven: If you're coming, I'll make sure we have some cheese-less pasta on hand as well!)

Rocky Road

We moved most of the nine tons of gravel and distributed it - the last one or two tons sit in a pile about 50 feet up the driveway.

Deb feels that the rake and shovel are faster, but I'd say the opposite, by nearly an order of magnitude.

So far, I've spent 3 hours plowing materials into place, and Justin spent 1 hour raking. From the resultant size, I'd say it's a healthy estimate to expect another hour of plowing, and, to be generous, 3 hours more of raking.

The guy across the street had 6 people working 4 half days (this is a guesstimate - one or two of those days were full days, the quantity of troops varied, and he also put another half day or more in afterward) using rakes, shovels, and a lawn tractor with a trailer to move materials.

So, that's 8 hours versus 100 hours. I would further estimate that familiarity with moving and grading the gravel could shave more time from my number, which we would certainly get if we did this the recommended two times a year.