To those few that follow this blog, yes it’s been too long since my last post. But this is actually a good thing. Please read below.
So, I have hit two months since I stopped working. And I can honestly say that mostly it’s been a blast. I’m doing all kinds of things that I didn’t have time for in the past (like playing golf regularly (and I’m really getting into it), learning about meteorology, writing, etc.) in addition to the things I have to do. I’ve been so busy lately that one of the things that is suffering is this blog, but I’ll try to write more often. There are so many things I want to do that sometimes I think I need to start making a daily schedule. In other words, I am anything but bored, and I don’t see that changing any time soon. But I am not complaining.
We spent this past weekend with our 2 year old granddaughter. It’s been great to be able to watch her grow and learn and be able to participate in it (even more so now that I’m not working). It’s easier to watch her develop than it was with my own kids because I don’t have so many responsibilities like I did when my daughters were growing up, so I can pay more attention (apologies to my daughters; I did the best I could, and I did notice your development and growth, too). It also helps not being the primary caregiver, though my wife and I hope to do more of that next year when we plan to move close to where my daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter live). Just sitting back and watching her figure things out is quite enjoyable. Her brainpower must be growing exponentially by the day. But her best feature is her unconditional love of her parents, her family, and (of course) Elmo. As you get older and see the craziness of the world today, it’s very refreshing to see that she (and most humans before the age of 4 or 5) love people and things for who and what they are. So what happens to kids between age 4 and adulthood? Well they change an awful lot. Part of it is probably natural and simply due to an aging brain and the need to survive. Part of it has to do with interactions with other kids, and kids can be rough on each other. But mainly ,IMO, it is once the adults start planting their worldviews into kids’ brains that they lose the capacity to love and think like they did as kids. In essence, we start (and then continue) the process of closing their once completely open minds. And it doesn’t help that many school curricula are light on teaching critical thinking skills. We need to do better. Maybe if we treat our kids better, there will be a lot less close-mindedness and division in the world. I know I will do my best (without overdoing) to help my daughters teach their kids (assuming there will be others someday) to be caring, loving, and thinking adults.
Disentangling the mess 