You Can Achieve Your Goals - Beefcake!

When I picked Kate up from school yesterday the kids were making big posters about hope and change and the like. Her teacher informed me that if Kate could still tell her tomorrow "I can achieve anything" she'd get a treat at the end of the day.

I dutifully worked with both Kate and Sarah to memorize this aphorism, as I'm hoping they will still assert it not just today but every day as long as they draw breath. Sarah says it beautifully but has no idea what she's saying and so must be coached each time. Kate can usually remember but is sometimes hesitant.

This morning I was asking her to tell her daddy what she was going to say when she got to school. She just sort of looked at me...I asked her if she knew what "achieve" meant. She was silent. So I started giving some examples. "To achieve something is to reach a goal. Like your goal to learn to write your name. Now you can write your name, that's an achievement, you achieved your goal." She really seemed to be paying attention so I threw out a few more to drive home the point. I finished with "you should know, that whatever your goal is, you can achieve it, even if it takes a long time and lots of hard work." I'd run out of examples so I asked "what do you think you'd like to achieve?"

"I would like to achieve, " Kate said evenly, quickly, "an Ariel Barbie with the necklace and the fishy bottom and the bra. I want you to achieve that for me." I considered trying to explain it again but opted to go with "maybe Santa will achieve that for you."

Even after our little chat, Kate seemed unable to repeat the statement for her daddy. As I was about to head out the door to work, holding the big bag of chocolate chip cookies we'd made together because I was bringing it to my coworkers, I asked her to try again. Nothing. I said "if you girls can both tell Daddy what we talked about this morning, you can each have one of these cookies." They both fired off "I CAN ACHIEVE ANYTHING!" with laser accuracy.

This afternoon when I picked the girls up I asked Kate, in front of her teacher, if she'd remembered the phrase. She nodded her head. I asked if she remembered what "achieve" means. She said "I achieved a treat!"

So. Happy.

Fittingly, it was from my second greatest love, Jon Stewart, that Jeremiah and I learned that Barack Obama will be the next president of these United States. And I cried. At this moment, right now, the American Dream seems real. My little girls will now grow up in a United States in which a person can actually be judged by the content of his (or her) character and not the color of his (or her) skin. In a country where despite our claims of freedom, the paths of the lives of many of our fellow citizens have been largely determined by racism, we just elected a black president.

The past 8 years have left me so angry and so horrified by my government's actions that I only cared that Bush would be forced to leave the White House, I didn't even dare to hope that there would be a candidate I'd be excited to support. But the very thing that the bitter hate-mongers on Fox "News" like to sneer about, Obama's charisma, is part of what makes him a potentially great leader. To be able to rouse people to action is leadership. To inspire is leadership. So, as a matter of fact, I do have hope. I've always felt fortunate to have been born in this country, but this is the first time that I have been so very proud to be an American I feel like my heart could burst. My only regret is that Kate and Sarah are sound asleep, and too young to understand what just happened.

Here we go - a list

Ah, expecting an Election Day list, weren't you? Even though I'm watching non-stop election coverage as I write this, I can summon the desire to write about it (except OMG Ohio just went to Obama! ) Instead, I'd like to let you know what you should be aware of during the month of November. My friend Cindy asked if I knew this was Diabetes Awareness month. I'm aware of diabetes, but I was not aware of that. It sounds like we need a Diabetes Awareness Month Month. Anyway, a little deeper digging revealed that it's not just Diabetes Awareness Month. So, in addition to that, please keep the following in mind this month:

Adoption
Novel writing
Alzheimer's Disease
Epilepsy
Lung Cancer
Prematurity (Not to be confused with January, National Immaturity Month)
Realtor designation
the Flu
Homeless youth
Domestic violence
Pancreatic cancer
Manatees (sea cows)
Health
COPD (apparently, lung-related so you can probably be aware of this while you're aware of lung cancer if you have trouble with this much awareness)
Home staging (no idea)
Drugs
Culture
Marrow
oh, and blogging!

Tap, Your Troubles Away

I sat down here to bang out a post before Kate, who keeps wetting the bed lately, comes in the office to sleep (no sheets on her other bed). From the other end of the hall I listened to Jeremiah talking to Kate while they girls got ready for bed. I'd help them get ready for bed but I'm busy blogging and drinking wine. I can't be expected to do everything.

Anyway, so I began to write about what an obnoxious line-crosser Kate is these days (later) when I heard Jeremiah say "Kate, are you standing on point?" Kate asserted that she certainly was. Then I learned something about Jeremiah I never knew. He said "You know what, Kate? As a little boy...your daddy took ballet."

I leaned back and peered out the office door to catch sight of everyone in the bedroom doorway. Jeremiah was standing right in my line of vision. "What?!?" he barked at me. "I wanted to learn tap!" I said nothing. "You had to take ballet if you wanted to get the tap portion."

Walk-Obama-Rama

Today's weather was nothing short of stunning. We took a walk to the Square in Decatur to hit Cook's Warehouse with our gift certificate. I brought the camera along so I could photograph all the Obama-Biden signs we saw. In fact, I skipped a few because I got tired of having to catch back up with Jeremiah and the girls. What follows is my little Obama Photo Essay (oh, and a few signs that, while appearing not be political in nature, are possibly subversive. What's with the sign for Don Brown of what appears to be the Century 21 party? That guy is not going to win...) Anyway, I know what you're thinking here, but my point is this: we live in Georgia. Our walk today was maybe 3 miles round trip. And I deleted a bunch of these (also, I got kind of tired of dropping them onto the page, I mean, you get it, right?)