Scheduling miscues impact First Brother, Local Consultant and Best Wife
“It was a 6:00AM flight, Dan.!” Nazy interjects. Forcefully.
“And, because it was the first flight, you didn’t have to worry about incoming flight delays. The airplane was waiting for you and that 6:00AM flight.” I explained. Cautiously.
“Actually, Dan, it was supposed to be a 6:00AM flight.”
“But the airplane was there..”
“The airplane that was there was broke. They had to bring a replacement.”
“Ugh.” I replied. “You must have used my travel agent.” I thought.
Nazy’s flight actually left at around 9:00AM; her revised itinerary took her to Santa Barbara via Portland and Seattle. And …
“I had to get up very early for that 6:00AM flight, Dan.” Nazy explained. “There is not much to do in the Bellingham airport at 6:00AM.”
“Did you have a book?” I asked. Stupidly. And: “You know, my dear, I had a similar problem.”
Pause for Nazy’s response — which was not forthcoming
“I had a call with someone on the East Coast that very morning. They said that the only time they could talk was at 6:00AM my time. So, I got up early and… at 5:30 this person cancelled.”
“Ah, Dan. That is soooo very, very sad.” Nazy replied.
“Thank you.” I replied.
“It seems that the same person — you Dan — made both scheduling blunders.”
I am however, happy to report that Nazy (eventually) made it back to Santa Barbara. She’s not only back, she’s also resumed painting. A masterpiece is in progress.
Tiger in Santa Barbara… before Valentine Day shopping
While Nazy was gone, Tiger and I went shopping for a Valentine card and gift. Tiger insisted that I buy a set of colored pencils..
“… for Mamon Joon, Dan.” Tiger explained. “For Mamon Joon to share with me,” Tiger thought.
Tiger has also decided that being the big brother also means been the first brother. After we picked him up from school, I explained that we would be dropping him off at his house because we were taking Arrow to swimming lessons.
“I want to go to swimming,” Tiger responded.
“You go tomorrow — on Wednesday,” I replied. “Today is Tuesday and that’s when Arrow goes.”
“I want to go on Tuesday,” Tiger replied. Forthrightly.
“But Tiger,” Nazy responded. “The Tuesday class is for babies. You are a big boy swimmer. And big boys go on…”
“No! I should go on Tuesday. I want to go before Arrow.”
“Tiger!” I interjected. “You do go before Arrow. You go on Wednesday. And then Arrow has to wait while Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday come before he can go swimming on Tuesday.”
“I’m brilliant,” I thought as silence reigned in the back seat.
“I want to go today. I want to go Now.” Tiger replied — shunning logic and explanation in favor of pure pragmatism.
“Another not too brilliant scheduling miscue,” I thought.
Tiger is getting more adept and skillful running and jumping and doing ‘big boy’ things. (Like jumping down the steps.)
When Nazy returned form Bellingham (and after she had a day or two to recover) we took Tiger and Arrow to MOXI — the local Children’s Museum.
Tiger really likes the outside lego block trains. Arrow liked the exhibit where you jump up in the air while a slow motion video is taken. He likes to watch the video after the jump. He thinks it’s funny when his hair (and he has a lot of that) flies up in the air.
After we had jumped (several times), I took him to the light bright exhibit and the giant cardboard blocks. He was not happy. I asked him what he wanted to do. He looked at me… and then he pushed his hair up.
“Why didn’t he use his words?” Melika asked.
“I don’t think I’d know the words for that,” I replied.
Arrow is also learning social skills. At music school, they were playing with colorful whiffle balls. The children chase after and pick up the balls. Then they throw the balls so that they can chase them again. Arrow was very understanding when someone got to the ball before him. But one little boy got to the ball late..
“… and he took the red ball away from Arrow.” I explained.
“Did you take it back for him, Dan?” Nazy asked.
“I couldn’t. The thief’s Mother didn’t see what happened and if I grabbed the ball from her one year old, I’d look bad.”
“So what did you do?”
“I found another red ball and gave it to Arrow.”
“Did that work?”
“No. He wanted ‘the red ball’. So I got him another red one.”
“And..”
“And then they started singing the ‘it’s fun to help clean up’ song and Arrow threw all of the balls back in the storage bin.”
“That’s his favorite thing to do.”
Nazy enjoyed her visit to Bellingham. Darius, enjoying his new job at Western Washington University, was very busy. They both missed Leandra and Christiane who are in Lebanon strictly following the current immigration procedures.
We learned this week from Republicans Rubio, Cruz and Scott that ‘evil, sadly, is always present’ and people will ‘find a way to get a gun’ In short: “We can’t do anything.” What do you think their response would have been if the gunman was a Moslem? Or an immigrant? (From a s*hole country?). Or a member of ISIS? This inability to think of anything to do comes from Republicans who a year ago voted to make it easier for mentally ill people to get guns. Republicans who didn’t think it was a good idea to limit gun access for people on the terrorist watch list. Now will they probably vote on the newest Republican bill — The School Shooter Armament Enablement Act which includes a meaningless ‘Thoughts and Prayers’ amendment.
The second amendment is about militias. It was written in a time when the country didn’t have a standing army. Now we spend more on the military than the next ten countries combined. We have a standing army. In their time, our founders proposed fundamental change. They were open to change as circumstances changed. They were not divine: they actually included slavery in the Constitution. We can do better with our interoperation of the 2nd amendment. (Anyone could do better.)
For last week's letter, please click here
Dan, Tiger and Arrow at MOXI