Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Circle of Life


It's official. Summer is now over and my weekly schedule has returned to somewhat normal. This morning I dropped off Benjamin at his new school and headed back to an empty house. How nice.

So I have to tell you about another one of those moments of parental realization for me that happen last week.

I took Benjamin to school to meet his new teachers and talk with them about how he is as an active boy. For the most part it went well. He seemed like he would do fine when school started and he gave his teachers a warning shot of his active nature.

While Benjamin was busy playing with the new toys he found in his classroom the teacher asked me to fill out the emergency contact info and other last minute forms. I didn't think much about it and took the forms to one of the tables in the classroom and squatted into one of the miniature chairs to fill out the information. Then it hit me. Wait a minute. The teacher got me into a midget chair.

At this point my mother is laughing loudly while reading this entry. There is a story that she likes to tell about how I got her into a midget chair when I was in second grade.
Back in the day, I was known as the class clown. I know shocker. Well apparently I considered music class my chance to dazzle my classmates with my stand-up routines instead of learning my do, re, fa, so la, ti do.

So when it came time for parent/teacher conference day all of my teachers lined up for an inquisition of my mother. To this day she still talks about how when she walked into the room there were three big chairs and one midget chair. That's when she was hit with a barrage of attacks on how I wasn't taking the lessons seriously. She said she felt so belittled just by the simple fact that she had to sit in a midget and take the attack I caused.

Fast forward 27 years. As I was writing down my cell phone number a wave of memories hit me. And the feeling of being a parent settled in. I was now sitting in a midget chair in my son's classroom. Thankfully he hadn't been there long enough for me to endure what my mother endured with Mrs. Boone, Mrs. Gonzales and Mr. Campbell.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Counting My Blessings


The last few days have been self-reflecting. You see a very good friend of Cathy and I's is showing true Grace through a very difficult time. I for one have hugged Benjamin more often because of what Sylvie is enduring and have felt blessed for having a child as I do.

Sylvie is one of those people who is such a beacon in this world. You probably know the type. She is one of the most optimistic persons you know. Sylvie is a sorority sister of Cathy's and I shot her wedding a few years ago.

When she told us that she was pregnant last Fall we were so happy for her as we knew she would be a great mother. She was so looking forward to seeing her baby girl.

When Sydney was born March 14th she was 7 lbs. 7 oz., 20.5" long. The doctors at first didn't know what was wrong with her right lung and how it was effecting her heart. Eventually they found out that she suffered from Scimitar Syndrome which effects these organs.

I'm by no means smart enough in this area to break it down into laymen's terms but to put it simply Sydney had a lot of obstacles from the start. The doctors said that she faced some serious corrective procedures. Some surgeries would take place in the first months of her life and continue well into her childhood.

Cathy and I have kept up with Sydney's progress be reading Sylvie's journal on Caring Bridge. It seemed that with every step forward there were two steps back. Then came Saturday's entry.

In Sylvie's entry she informed us, "On Monday, the doctors indicated that Sydney is having multiple organ/system failures. It breaks my heart to tell you all that she will not ultimately survive. There is nothing the medical team can do for her except offer comfort, dignity and loving care. Yesterday we had a care conference with her doctors and nurses where we decided the goal of her care is to keep her comfortable."

After reading this I wanted to hold my son in my arms and thank God for the blessings he has given me. Sylvie deserves nothing more than to care for her child like most of us do everyday. She wants to provide for Sydney. To change those diapers and rock her little girl to sleep in the middle of the night.

Cathy and I have talked several time over the last couple of days about this. Words can't describe what we feel for Sylvie nor can they come close to what our dear friend is enduring. As Cathy said to me, "for her to come home and see the nursery that Syndey will never see must be heart-wrenching."

I don't know how I would react if I were in Sylvie's position but I admire her for her strength. As she puts it, "I don't know how much time there is left. My goal is to be with her as much as possible. Family and friends can pray for our family, pray for her comfort. Hope is still around us. It's only changed form. I appreciate all of you going through this journey with Sydney, and I offer my love and compassion for your feelings of sadness and loss. She is a light in all of our lives. No one will forget this precious little girl. Our lives are better because of her. She did have purpose. I will never know how many people prayed for her. How many became closer to God because of her. How many held their own children a few minutes longer each day because of her."

Friday, August 14, 2009

Mad Men Season 3 promo shoot

For those who are addicted to the AMC series Mad Men you already know that the new season premieres this Sunday. You may have also seen the promo poster for season three where the lead character Don Draper, played by Jon Hamm, is sitting in his office surrounded by water.

When I first saw the ad I thought that the water was photoshopped in like most imaging in today's ads but it wasn't they actually had Hamm in a water tank for the shoot.

Anyways I thought it was a pretty cool behind the scenes video to watch how an ad is created.


Thursday, August 13, 2009

Twittering Myself


Yeah that's right. I broke down and created a Twitter account. For the uninitiated Twitter is a way to post quick thoughts, pictures or links for the world to read or see. It's essentially the same as Facebook status updates just through a different source.

Some friends of mine sync their Twitter and Facebook accounts so that if it goes out to one it goes to both. I haven't done that as I want to try using Twitter for something a little different. I guess I post more thoughts to Twitter than I do for Facebook for now. Some of my Facebook friends have complained about the frequency of my status updates.

One of the things that has surprised me about Twitter since joining are the random people who have added or "followed" my feed. I get an email every so often saying @JoeSchmo is now a follower of yours. Who the heck is Joe Schmo and why did he decide to read my tweets? Who cares join my bandwagon.

In the process of getting more acquainted with Twitter I've found the page called Trending to be insightful especially on Fridays when new movies come out. Last week I wanted to see the thoughts of those who went to see the new G.I. Joe movie. I had low expectations of the movie but a lot of people on Twitter were giving it favorable reviews.

Then this past week the wife of Twitter CEO tweeted during the birth of their first child. It started with this tweet:
"Dear Twitter, My water broke. It wasn't like Charlotte in Sex and the City. Now, timing contractions on an iPhone app." When the contractions became too strong she handed the phone over to her husband Evan Williams to update followers on the baby's progress.

Kind of cool how some of this technology is changing the way in which we communicate. Like I said this is just something I'm dipping my toes in to for now. I'll see if there comes a time in which I'll take the dive. If you would like to follow my Twitter feed you can see it at http://twitter.com/livingstonphoto