About a week before the submission deadline (which was 4/30), I took the kids up to Thousand Hills State Park for a photoshoot. The German manufacturer, Schleich, was sponsoring a photocontest. The theme was farm life, and the rules required the use of their figurines. Because we are HUGE fans of Schleich products, we thought we would give it a shot. If nothing else, we would have a lot of fun creating various farm scenes together as a family -- which was an absolute blast, by the way!
While in Seattle, WA earlier this week, I received a phone call from a very excited kid! He read me the following e-mail:
"On behalf of Schleich North America let me begin by thanking you for participating and making the first Schleich Hobby Farm Home Contest an enormous success.
I'm very happy to announce that your photo has been selected as one of our ten winners.
We are very excited to send out your prize, a new Schleich Red Barn. In order to do so as quickly as possible, we need the attached form completed and returned within ten days.
Congratulations once again for your winning submission."
Here is the winning picture, as well as a few other favorites from our photoshoot. Keep in mind that Caleb was the one who composed and shot the winning picture. Yes, he is becoming quite the fledgling National Geographic photographer (no complaints here)!
Winning picture!
Submitted one day late unknowingly (i.e., got hung up in the "outbox").
A slight deviation from the Farm theme.
(image provided by Kirksville Daily Express)
The feeling that prevailed Wednesday evening while walking through the ravaged neighborhood and seeing rooftops dismantled and laying in the neighboring fields was an overwhelming sense of insignificance! For me, it brought back feelings of 9/11. Though the destruction is different in etiology, the sense that my security had not only been jeopardized but attacked was very similar. Whether orchestrated by man or Mother Nature, to consider that at any one moment the world in which we have carefully constructed for ourselves and family could be gone -- in an instant -- is a reality that I do not wish to entertain in excessive amounts! Small doses, if I must.
Yes, life is both precarious and fragile! I vividly recall the events of 9/11. Particularly, I recall walking from the clinic to the hospital and wondering what (and who) was next. Were there any other sites in NYC that were under target? If the terrorists involved in the hijack of the planes were of Palestinian origin, was this attack on America retaliation for our support of Israel? If so, then how safe was I really working at a Jewish hospital in NYC that bears the name of Palestine's enemy (i.e., Beth Israel Medical Center)? As I was entertaining these questions in my mind, a distinct feeling came over me. It was a feeling that proffered peace and security, the very mainstays that were now under attack! The feeling was very clear and left no room for misinterpretation: that whatever happened (or was going to happen) I would make it out alive! What an incredible feeling that was to have received such an assurance as this! To consider that my life, insignificant as it is, was not only going to be protected but that it was worth protecting! This was a very humbling realization, indeed!
You will have to forgive me for reverting back to 9/11, but the emotional aftermath of the tornado is very similar. In an instant, in a matter of moments, everything we have known and worked so hard to build can be lost, destroyed, damaged . . . completely annihilated! However, the inner peace that comes from knowing that you are known by something greater than yourself is not for the taking. Rather, it is a gift from heaven above! If nothing else, the events of last week -- like the attacks of 9/11 -- have reminded me of this reality: that though my life is insignificant, it is still of interest to the God in heaven!
The following is an illustration of just how witty (or literal) children can be:
This afternoon we were having a little family "pow-wow" to discuss our options (all two of them) as to where to eat lunch (Mexican or Chinese). Trying to ease the tension that was building up inside me with our lack of choices -- good choices, that is -- I suggested that we go to a nursing home and eat at the cafeteria there.
Caleb objected, saying: "No, they will just have milk!"
I do not think I will ever be able to visit a nursing home again without seeing in my mind's eye the image that Caleb's objection invokes. There they are, sitting in the lobby, the cafeteria, the hallway, in the privates of their own room . . . playing dominoes or cards, crocheting, knitting, falling in love with Bob Barker while watching reruns of the Price is Right. Typical scene, I know, except for the fact that, along with the oxygen tank that sits beside them, they are all hooked up to a breast pump. . .
This scenario is not out of the realm of possibilities -- so I have been told. There is a herb (fenugreek seed) that when ingested can cause one to lactate -- grown men, even! In fact, tribal tradition in some remote areas of South America requires a father to assume the responsibility of breastfeeding in the event that something happens to the mother. And when the father is unavailable, then the next in line assumes the role -- that is, grandpa.
Lactating men? It does seem to expand on what it means to provide for one's family -- a little too literal, perhaps. Regardless, the movement does seem to be gaining ground a bit.
Just some food for thought --
(A preemptive disclosure: I have not taken, nor do I have any intention of taking, fenugreek seed supplements. Nor am I an employee of a manufacturer of the herb.)
Alright, so it is Mother's Day today, and it just so happens that I have a few moments to reflect on what an incredible wife and mother April is (and has been)! Perhaps sharing the date that we had this past autumn may illustrate my point a little better.
It was a weekday evening when we procured a baby sitter and dined out at the new (and only) Italian restaurant in town. The food was decent; it was neither spectacular nor awful . . . but acceptable (which given our options here in Kirksville does not really say much). The waitress asked April, who was pregnant with Elias and in her second trimester, if we would like a table -- as she was unsure if a booth would comfortably accommodate her. We took the table, but not without acknowledging the hole the waitress had just dug for herself.
Earlier that day at school I had catheterized a rat; this time around, though, catheterization was anything but routine. Though I had done it several times previously and was quite comfortable with the procedure, I was not able to foresee the problem that I would encounter -- as I was unaware of the secondary vessel that branched off the carotid artery. It can be quite difficult to complete the procedure when working in a pool of blood. The bleeding from this secondary artery was so severe that I thought he was going to pass on and into the tunnel of light -- but he did not, at least not at that moment! As April and I were enjoying this time together away from the kids, my mind kept drifting to the lab and to the rat that was -- hopefully! -- recovering from both surgery and the loss of blood. With 40 min left before the baby sitter was "off the clock", I asked April if we could swing by school and check on the rat. She graciously obliged!
Feeling just as much invested in my research project as I do, she accompanied me to the recovery room. When I opened the door and looked over towards the fiberglass cage, I could scarcely believe what I saw: Mr Rat was sitting atop the cage! Not only was he managing to recover well, but he managed to push open the metal wire covering that latches on to the side of the cage. It was unbelievable! Had I not checked on him, it is difficult to know where in the building he would have ended up and if, at all, we would have found his whereabouts. He literally could have wreaked some serious havoc, not to mention the thousands of dollars in experimental mice that potentially could have been destroyed as a result! (Note: rats and mice do not co-habitate well; rats are very territorial and will typically kill mice when given the chance.)
That night I drove home noting just how fortunate I really am -- as there are not very many women who would have obliged me the way in which April did! And without any complaints, too! Thank you, Sweetheart, for making my life much more meaningful and exciting than it would be otherwise! I look forward to the many more adventures that await us --
The following are just a few pictures that capture, I feel, the true spirit of motherhood! Happy Mother's Day!
Isaac's birth (June 24, 2004)
Traveling by bus from Queens, NY to the Bronx Zoo (October, 2005)
Enjoying a nature walk in Forest Park, Queens, NY (October, 2006)
Moving from NY to MO: farewell gathering in Tobyhanna, PA (June, 2007)
Awaiting the subway (August, 2004)
Got milk? (July, 2004)
Winning picture!
Submitted one day late unknowingly (i.e., got hung up in the "outbox").
A slight deviation from the Farm theme.
