The Kid Just Kills Me

My grandson is 5 years old and the things he says, well, as I said above, they just kill me!

Nathaniel loves to visit with us and he was really looking forward to coming down to the house this past weekend for the Super Bowl.  The only problem being that on Friday he was still suffering from a runny nose, hacking cough and modest fever.  His dad told him, until he got better, he'd have to stay at home.

Nathaniel quickly responded, "Dad, we can still go, Amma is a doctor!"  She's not on record with the Connecticut Department of Public Health but, Nathaniel is right, Juls has the wisdom of a country doctor.

On Sunday, John took the kids to church before coming down to the house.  At the start of the Mass the priest invited all the children to go with the religious education teacher for their own special service.  All the kids poured out of the pews to gather together, including Nathaniel's 4 year old sister, Ayva.

When John asked Nathaniel why he wasn't going to the church hall with the other children, he said matter of factly, "I got to stay in here and watch."   Hey, he wouldn't want to miss the Transubstantiation, after all.

I'm thinking about asking him to help me re-balance my portfolio later this week.

Women Dominate Super Bowl Sunday

On Sunday, John brought the newest Mullen to our Super Bowl Party, Baby Grace.  John walked in the door, handed off Grace to Amma (Julie), and never got the ball, er baby, back!  For the next 5 hours, Grace was fumbled or intercepted by Amma, Papa, Ian, Mimi, Jessica, Geoff, Jennifer, James, Elizabeth, Connor, and Bob before landing in Cathy's arms as the clock wound down to zero.  The women took the prize.

Things looked good for the men at the start of the game as Ian had Grace in his clutches for 15 minutes straight.  But a poor grip allowed Mimi to use a swim move to strip Ian of the baby.  The women never looked back.

"Time of possession killed us," said Coach Papa Mullen.  "In retrospect, John was too quick to give up the baby early on and it was evident as the day progressed that we just didn't have the skills to recover."

Mimi Mullen was named the day's MVP based on her cumulative time of possession and a record breaking minutes held without crying.  When asked to comment, Mimi said, "To win any of the baby marathons, you have to be willing to change the diaper.  It's all about executing on the fundamentals."

Avaporn

If you haven't seen the movie Avatar by now you are either a hermit, or live in Port Au Prince.  My wife has seen it three times.  Everyone is gaga over Avatar.  Everyone that is but, you guessed it, me.


While I'll admit the 3-D effects are awesome, and much of the imagery beautiful, the story is lame.  It's Dances With Wolves in Outer Space. 380 years after The Battle of Little Bighorn, the evil white man is still trying to colonize natives and destroy the environment in the name of power and greed.  And as in Dances With Wolves, an enlightened and wounded white veteran comes to the rescue.  Another fanciful movie to help us white guys publicly cleanse are souls from the sins of our fathers.


Okay, so the theme works for me on a movie about the cavalry in 1876, as I do feel a sense of guilt for the mistreatment of Native Americans at the hands of my forefathers.  What would I have done had I been part of the expansion West, or as a land owner during the height of slavery?  Would I have recognized the injustices?  Would I have been courageous enough to stand with the afflicted?  I can only romanticize about being a good guy in the past, but  projecting out to the year 2154, I can see myself loving people of every color, including blue.  I mean come on, I watched the 1st movie for godssake.


Beyond the stereo-typical socio political statements, I thought there were some weird sexual innuendos in Avatar as well.  Early in the movie, Dr. Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) jokes with the transformed Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) not to play with his new found tail as it could cause him to go blind.  Well, I only know of one reference to playing with something that can make you go blind, so in subsequent scenes when Jake plugs his tail thingy into a horse, flying dragon, another Na'vi and a tree that talks with dead people....well, that's just damn disturbing.


Anyhow, I am assigning the movie three and a half stars based on ground breaking animation and beautiful cinematography supplementing a tired and predictable story.  I also suggest changing the rating from PG-13 to R to account for bestiality, necrophilia, masturbation and interspecies fornication.

Working Through It All

Julie and I visited Point Reyes National Park (north of San Francisco) the last week in January and it poured the entire time.  The local news termed it "the storm of the century" - darn, wish I had thought of that!  The torrential wind and rain was so bad that local authorities attributed the disappearance of two women (separate instances) to the violent coastal surf.  It was bad.

And yet, there we were with little else to do but to get out and walk the beach, hike the trails and roam the countryside.  We were happy we did.  The elephant seals didn't notice the rain.  The surfing pelicans didn't notice the winds.  A friendly hawk went about his daily feeding habits.  Had we stayed in our room, we'd have missed the show!

There's something to be said for just showing up.

Fulfilling the Old Lady Prophecy

People on a pension always seem reluctant to celebrate a birthday.  They don't want to be reminded of another year come and gone.  Whereas a youngster counts to 10 with glee, a senior's interior clock is always in constant countdown, 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1...1...1...wait, is this it?  No?  Okay, Lord, I'll take another day.

Mom, Ma really, is 83 today.  Born to the Silent Generation, she took on the character of the Greatest Generation and has weaned the rest of us from the Beat Generation to Baby Boomers, Gen X and to the present day, Entitlement Generation.  The lady has seen it all and remained steadfast to her own moral compass whose four points of navigation are modesty, duty, faith and love.  Her magnetic north has always been love.

I'm thankful for every "another day", Lord.  My children and my grandchildren are thankful for the same.  We are all so lucky to have someone in our lives to show the way in an oft indiscernible world.

Age changes some things.  She no longer knocks down walls or works the band saw, but instead pieces together puzzles - all with the same wonderment and keen mind.  She still volunteers her time at the hospital charity shop with the same purpose and sense of duty.

My son, keep your father's commandment, and forsake not your mother's teaching.  Bind them upon your heart always, tie them about your neck.  When you walk, they will lead you, when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you.  For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching the light. (Proverbs 6:20-23)

Amen, to that.  Happy Birthday, Ma!

What Can Brown Do for You?

I don't know anything about Scott Brown, but the drama of his upset win in the Massachusetts' Senate race was as good as The Bloody Sock playoff game of the 2004 American League Championship Series, and Curt Schilling had a hand in both.  It probably didn't hurt to have Doug Flutie in his corner either.  26 years after throwing college football's all-time Hail Mary pass, the guy is still legend in the Bay State.  Toss in a couple of ex-Pats, and the campaign rally felt like a tailgate party at Foxboro!.

The guy absolutely took everybody by surprise, except for the voters of The Commonwealth.  Despite visits from former President Bill Clinton and current President Barrack Obama to campaign against him, the citizens of Massachusetts looked beyond party labels and made up their own minds.  After his win, several Democratic pundits, all smarter than any of us, gave explanations on the error of the way of 1,168,107 voters ranging from an inept opponent to the absence of a real Kennedy in the race to lack of knowledge that the now Senator Brown supports water boarding.  One whining commentator called Brown an “irresponsible, homophobic, racist, reactionary, ex-nude model, teabagging supporter of violence against woman and against politicians with whom he disagrees…” on the eve of the election.  One can only conclude that this is just what the electorate was waiting for, or they got the message a day late.  Anyhow, they can take up the argument again in 2012.


Most campaigns are boring and lack any real gotcha moments, but Brown's response to a question from debate moderator, David Gergen, will be cemented in history.  Asked if he won 'Teddy Kennedy's seat,' was he prepared to cast the vote that killed health-care reform, Brown responded, "With all due respect, it's not the Kennedy's seat.  It's not the Democrat's seat.  It's the people's seat!"  Put that one in the museum along with One if by Land, and Two if by Sea!  And another one with some serious possibility, "In dealing with terrorists, our tax dollars should pay for weapons to stop them, not lawyers to help them!"


Go get 'em, Scott!

This is Easy

I have to admit, I was a little apprehensive about coming into this world.  I mean, I'm in there swimming around and month after month doctors are poking me, taking pictures of me and talking about all the things they need to do to make sure nothing happens at birth.  Like what?  I heard Mom screaming a little bit, but I thought the whole thing was a lot of fun.

Anyhow,  I'm here now, wherever that is, and just loving it.  So far I figured out I have a mom, dad, brother, sister, grandma, great grandma, grandpa, aunt, uncle, 2 cats and a turtle.  I don't know what any of those words mean, but I think the turtle is the one who keeps changing my diapers.  I could be wrong, but hey, thanks Turtle, from the bottom of my heart.

Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

On This Day of Peace

Ah, how far we can go with a heart full of love.  Peace be with you.

Back to the Future

In saying goodbye to 2009, we are also closing out the decade.  Wow, another 10 years gone by; where does the time go?  Thinking back on my 1st 5 decades, the time went something like this:

1960's - playing with toys.
1970's - drooling over girls.
1980's - raising children.
1990's - chasing a career.
2000's - baby sitting grandchildren.

Now with 3 grandchildren ages 5 and under, I can see the 2010's holding a lot of promise for playing with toys once again.  I'm feeling younger already.

Happy New Year!

Little Grace Jean

Introducing the newest Mullen Clan member, Grace Jean.  Born on Christmas Eve and blessed by the angels, we are so happy to have her.  As with Nathaniel and Ayva before her, she will bring great joy to our family in the days ahead.

In Biblical terms, grace means undeserving favor, mercy and love.  A reminder that we are all creatures of a loving and caring God.  With Grace in our presence, it's a gift we won't soon forget.