Paige had a little dance class this weekend, just a two-day clinic to give her a chance to try dancing out. And she loved it. The shirt she got was worn for the rest of the day.
That weird thing that happens when you blink or turn around has just happened again. She's gotten taller. She is almost totally self-sufficient in getting ready every day. She is really interested in reading, writing and drawing. She's been scribbling in little notebooks, constantly narrating what's on the page.
Paige is as sweet a child as ever there was. She chatters & sings like a little bird, just happy to be alive. Every time we're together for more than 10 minutes, she looks up at me & grins, blows me a kiss, & it just slays me all over again.
Currently, she wants it to be her birthday so she can get her ear pierced, wants it to be fall so she can start real preschool, and wants to move so we can have a bulldog. Ah, to be four and want nothing more than a dog. Also, I now realize how much I've been whining about wanting instead of expressing gratitude.
Luckily, parenting is not all done in one fell swoop. We get to try again the next day. And the next. And the next. And.. you know. Just like life in general. We mess up, dust ourselves off, and start new.
Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you. 
