Breakfast

Our daughter continues to crack me up. She can be so insightful at times, so willful at times, so unbelievably adorable most times, and other times . . . . . just plain ignorant.

This morning after dropping a friend at the airport and then dropping the boy off at his bus stop I came home to find some breakfast before heading out for a presentation I needed to make this morning. Upon opening the fridge door, I quickly realized, I was in trouble.

No bread, so that means no toast, which is my most common choice. No milk, so that means no cereal either. No Diet Coke, so that means no perky Kevin, at least not right away.

As I was recounting to my wife my thought process and having initially deduced I would be going without breakfast today, my daughter chimes in in her ‘you are so silly daddy’ voice and says “Noooooooooo, there are carrots!”

Carrots? Carrots did you say? She obviously has not gotten the memo that carrots are rabbit food and therfore not an acceptable breakfast food in Daddy-Land. But doggone it she was cute when she said it.

Fried Food Festival

My wife and daughter have been out of town for almost a week now. They went with a couple of guests to a different part of the country. This left me home with my son for the week. We tend to find ways to enjoy our time together. I always try to make sure we do something fun and memorable, and often that includes doing something we would not do if mommy was here.

This time, we decided we were going to have a Fried Food Festival for the week. If it could not be fried in oil, we would not eat it. We even made a special trip to the store to get frying foods. Had a little ceremony and all.

We had popcorn chicken, french fries, tater tots, fish sticks, more fries, bacon and eggs (even though they were not fried in oil, we counted it since it was indeed fried in a pan), etc. The exception to our Fried Food Festival was Sunday night, which was popcorn and ice cream according to our family tradition for Sunday night.

Mommy and the girl come back tomorrow, and I think after a week of fried foods, the boy and I are both looking forward to some ‘real food’.

Lyrically Challenged

My son loves to sing. Being in the context we are in, he hears and picks up bits of songs in several languages, and happily sings them, often not knowing what it is he is singing, and equally as often butchering the lyrics. Last night I heard him singing a song I recognized, since it was in English. Some of you might know the song. Lord I Lift Your Name on High.

The song goes as follows:

Lord I Lift Your Name on High
Lord I Love to Sing Your Praises
I am so Glad You’re in My Life
I am so Glad You Came to Save Us.

You Came From Heaven to Earth
To Show the Way
From the Earth to the Cross
My Debt to Pay
From the Cross to the Grave
From the Grave to the Sky
Lord I Lift Your Name on High

However, there were a few substitutions made lyrically in my son’s version.

Lord I Lift Up Your Praises
I am so Glad You Came to Save Us

You Came From Heaven to Earth
To Fake my Death

Lord I Lift Your Name on High

At first I giggled, but then as I thought about correcting him, I realized he was not that far off. In a way, what Jesus did on the cross was sort of like faking our death. He died, so that we would not have to, and yet, the death was so convincing (and real) that our sins were paid for.

Out of the mouths of babes often comes great truth and a wonderful simplicity.

A Near Miss

I was up late the other night waiting to go pick up some friends from the airport and saw something that was admittedly a little scary. The flat we stay in overlooks the runway of our towns’ airport. We are about a half a mile away, and essentially directly to the side of the runway, giving me a great view of incoming and outgoing flights, but with a lot less of the noise. It also allows me to be at home and watch the flight land, and then enjoy and icy cold Diet Coke or do a few small tasks before leaving to go pick the people up (allowing time for Immigration and Customs clearance formalities to be completed).

As I stood last night, I watched a flight from a well-known international airline taxi to the end of the runway (we only have one here) and turn around to prepare for takeoff. As he sat finishing his preparations, I noticed a second plane, this one having just broken through the cloud cover and descending quickly for landing. The outgoing flight was sitting at the end of the runway, all the while the incoming flight was still approaching.

At one point, I remember thinking “Oh, this is not going to be good.” Finally the outgoing flight began accelerating, but ever so slowly it looked like. The incoming flight was still descending. They were getting closer and closer, since the descending flight was moving much faster than the outgoing flight.

At their closest point, the incoming flight was coming in fast and was clearly over the end of the runway, while the outgoing flight was not yet halfway down the runway and gaining speed. I would guess they were within maybe 400 yards of each other at one point. The incoming flight either decided or was told to abort the landing, so he accelerated hard, and pulled up in a sharp climb to the left, passing directly over the airport building at a very low altitude. I am sure the people in the building were wondering what was going on at that point.

Eventually, the outgoing flight took off without incident, and the incoming flight circled around for another attempt at landing, which he did successfully. I am sure the passengers in the outgoing flight had no idea what happened. Thankfully the incoming flight was a cargo flight, so only the crew got the wits scared out of them.

As I reflected on the situation, I wondered not only how often that type of thing happens here, but also realized some thoughts has passed through my mind about my own convenience. My friends’ flight had not yet arrived, so if those two planes crashed, that would goober up the airport for days likely. What a pain. And what a hassle to figure out where they ended up landing, and how to get them to here from there. And would their schedule get messed up as a result. I was shocked at how easily my mind wandered to my own convenience and wants. It is not that I was not aware of the destruction and death and its impact on all those other people and their families, but I also quickly went to my own needs and feelings. Not sure how I feel about that.