"a night at the Radisson in Visalia"
Saturday, February 18, 2006 Filed in: deep thoughts
| random
musings
know what you're asking
yourself. "why, dear God, would he be at the Radisson
in Visalia!?!?" well, normally i would be as weirded
out by the thought as i imagine you are right now,
but tonight is different.
i'm here to visit my friend, Jen. Jen is one of my oldest friends and one of my most unique relationships. Jen and i met, very randomly, in high school at a leadership camp at UCSB. we have one of those rare/great relationships where, from the moment we met, we were instant friends. we don't see each other much (because she lives in freakin' Visalia!), but when we see each other, it's as if no time has passed at all. (even though, at times, it's actually been years.)
normally, when i see Jen, it's in Orange County. i live there and she lives in Visalia so i automatically win when we play the "where are we going to meet up?" game. so, why am i here? two weeks ago, Jen gave birth to a little girl she named Nathalie. because of these extenuating circumstances, she won the battle this time. but that's not what this blog is about.
i don't know what it is about this baby, but i think she might actually be as close to perfect as a baby can come. as soon as i got to the house, i was handed the baby and i didn't want to let her go. (this is abnormal for me as i'm generally bored with babies who cannot walk, talk or at least crawl.) for some reason, i'm totally enamoured with this child and totally weirded out by the fact that this baby belongs to my friend.
i think it's because she's really my first close friend who's my age to have a baby. maybe it's because it makes me realize that i am (and people i'm friends with are) capable of doing this thing that i already know i'm capable of doing, but am not actually sure i could do. plus, i've known Jen for so long and i still think of her as the goofy high schooler i met at UCSB all those years ago. so, the whole thing is this weird experience for me. i don't know. i've been around babies a lot, but somehow this one is different.
then i got to thinking about the idiots in this world who take children for granted. these people who have kids and don't appreciate them or realize how amazingly great they are and what a miracle they are. the ones who actually treat their kids like animals or worse. the one's who don't want their own children. i thought about this tonight as i was holding Nathalie and she looked up at me with those piercing eyes and she gripped my finger with those fragile little hands. i mean, if anyone ever needed proof of God... there she is. and millions more like her. how could you look at any of them and see anything but God? to ignore that... to somehow see a burden or a mistake... i can't even fathom it.
so, now i'm back at my room at the Radisson in Visalia just in awe of God's creation. anyway, sorry this one isn't funny or random. maybe you understand what i'm talking about, and maybe you don't. if you don't, that's okay. it took 27 years for it to hit me.
i'm here to visit my friend, Jen. Jen is one of my oldest friends and one of my most unique relationships. Jen and i met, very randomly, in high school at a leadership camp at UCSB. we have one of those rare/great relationships where, from the moment we met, we were instant friends. we don't see each other much (because she lives in freakin' Visalia!), but when we see each other, it's as if no time has passed at all. (even though, at times, it's actually been years.)
normally, when i see Jen, it's in Orange County. i live there and she lives in Visalia so i automatically win when we play the "where are we going to meet up?" game. so, why am i here? two weeks ago, Jen gave birth to a little girl she named Nathalie. because of these extenuating circumstances, she won the battle this time. but that's not what this blog is about.
i don't know what it is about this baby, but i think she might actually be as close to perfect as a baby can come. as soon as i got to the house, i was handed the baby and i didn't want to let her go. (this is abnormal for me as i'm generally bored with babies who cannot walk, talk or at least crawl.) for some reason, i'm totally enamoured with this child and totally weirded out by the fact that this baby belongs to my friend.
i think it's because she's really my first close friend who's my age to have a baby. maybe it's because it makes me realize that i am (and people i'm friends with are) capable of doing this thing that i already know i'm capable of doing, but am not actually sure i could do. plus, i've known Jen for so long and i still think of her as the goofy high schooler i met at UCSB all those years ago. so, the whole thing is this weird experience for me. i don't know. i've been around babies a lot, but somehow this one is different.
then i got to thinking about the idiots in this world who take children for granted. these people who have kids and don't appreciate them or realize how amazingly great they are and what a miracle they are. the ones who actually treat their kids like animals or worse. the one's who don't want their own children. i thought about this tonight as i was holding Nathalie and she looked up at me with those piercing eyes and she gripped my finger with those fragile little hands. i mean, if anyone ever needed proof of God... there she is. and millions more like her. how could you look at any of them and see anything but God? to ignore that... to somehow see a burden or a mistake... i can't even fathom it.
so, now i'm back at my room at the Radisson in Visalia just in awe of God's creation. anyway, sorry this one isn't funny or random. maybe you understand what i'm talking about, and maybe you don't. if you don't, that's okay. it took 27 years for it to hit me.