Learning/Wishing

 We did our first Gulf Dive Yesterday.  Wow. Not as scary as I thought.  Actually calm, relaxing, beautiful.  Even with low visibility and spending the first dive wasting all of my air bouncing up and down like a yo-yo.  The second time in, we fixed my weighting, used the air diving, had better visibility, cooler structures, and a bonded with a little blue and yellow fish that reminded me of BB (the parakeet) and was perfectly willing to go home with me if I had asked.

I love that we are doing this, and am especially happy that the darling girl gets to have really cool experiences growing up.  I do spoil my child. If it is in my power to let her do or try anything, as long as she learns and follows safety precautions, is willing to put the time in to do something safely and conscientiously, I will try to make it happen.  Not a big fan of buying her things.  Every electronic gadget she owns (which is a bunch) she either bought herself or was a gift from not-the-mommy.

Someone asked me the other day what I wished for my daughter.  The knee-jerk reaction was what my Mom always said: "I wish that she grows up happy."  But I really don't.  Wishing is something you do when there is an element of chance in the outcome.  The smaller the odds the more fervent the wish.  I wish that she has a great job, that she enjoys and pays her a comfortable income (small wish - she has the skills, internal drive and practical nature that makes this nearly a given).  I wish that I get at least one grand-child out of the deal (bigger wish - who knows what path she'll take, she likes kids, but has such big dreams and ambitions, and just because maternal bliss is my path doesn't make it hers). I want a million things for my daughter, but mostly I want her to make decisions that will build her character and keep her always engaged in her life.

Happiness?  This is the one thing in our world that we have complete control over.  I can't wish happiness for her, because nothing in the world: money, relationships, career, experience, family, candy, toys, world peace, global domination, NOTHING can make you happy.  Happy is a choice.  I fervently wish that my daughter understands this and makes this choice, but I have no control over this.  The universe at large, whom I generally expect to deliver my wishes, has no jurisdiction over this.  Only the Darling Daughter can make herself happy.  All I can do is try to show her what happy looks like.  And I am happy, very, very happy. :-)    

OW

As in Open Water.  As in Open Water Diver.  Which on one level, may qualify as an ow!  Very excited.  fairly nervous.  a little scared. Now we have to actually do it.  Our first dive is lined up for next weekend, in the gulf, off a boat, in 50-60 ft of water.  We are going on the dive charter run by the shop that we took lessons with, so there is the comfort level of familiarity - sort of - the boat is being run by the Clearwater store, and we really only know the Tampa people.  The captain seems ultra friendly and "newbie sensitive."

It's all good, and it will be fun.  If my ears don't completely freak out on me, and Riki's sinus' don't stop her at 15 ft.

The child is absolutely determined to muscle ahead with her fund raiser.  She does not have sponsorships or participants lined up, and the cost of event insurance is around $600.  She has faith that it will all come together.  I have faith that regardless of the outcome, she will have learned some pretty important lessons.

I leave on October 1st for a week long intensive training in Completed Decongestion Therapy/Lymphatic Drainage.  Exciting.  The Darling Husband and Darling Daughter will have to figure out school, gym, breakfast lunches and transport without me.  And the last day I am gone - they have to run a Wild Child Pics booth at a local market.  The first one of the year.  And I'm not even available for moral support. Phone off from 8:00am-8:00pm except for potty breaks for 9 days.  I'm looking forward to it.  The family is pretty self sufficient.  They make me feel needed, but I think they do that because they love me, not because they can't handle it without me.

2012 Wild Child Pics Calendars are almost here.  We picked up the proofs, made a few changes, hopefully will pick them up next week.  We take credit cards now - but I'm not quite getting it - it makes people nervous when you swipe their card 5 times for a $12 purchase.  So far I have not actually overcharged anyone.  The people I have sold to have been quite patient.

On a completely different note, my boss resigned.  It was not unexpected, we lost our General Manger a few weeks ago, and I have been surprised everyday that our DCS (Director of Clinical Services) was still there.  It is sad, though. This man was the 8th DCS I have worked for at this company in 3 1/2 years, and the first one that I liked instantly. He may very well be one of the best bosses I have ever had - straightforward, caring, firm, clear headed; never petty, personal, or caught up in the crazy.  I like our acting Director, and we had a conversation yesterday about some changes she would like to see happen - all of them sound good, but none of them are new ideas - we'll see if she can pull it off.

Groundless Rant

The one thing I love about blogging is the total freedom to rant on and on about things that I have little to no point of reference on.  I can make whatever point I want based purely on conjecture, with no interruptions by annoying little facts, or research, or the opinions of others.

And be completely aware that most opinions are based on emotion, and experience, not fact.  And, our experience seem to be factual to us, when they are often misinterpretations of events, based on previously misinterpreted events. It is a vicious cycle.  On to the Rant:

WHY are environmental issues divided along party lines?  What about conservation could possibly be anti-Republican?  How is preserving your resources not a conservative value?  I grew up in a staunchly republican home.  "Waste not, Want not," was a rule, almost written in blood, except that writing in blood would be wasteful.  Living on a farm in the middle of nowhere requires a certain amount of conservation, organic farming, crop rotation, allowing fields to rest, etc. Made fiscal and long term use sense.  It wasn't cool, it just was.  We have known for my entire life that there isn't a bunch of available oil, that coal resources, and oil reserves will run out.  We also know how damaging drilling can be to the environment - not just from a natural beauty sense, but from a ruining our potential food source perspective.  We sink billions of dollars into the industry, sometimes completely wasted trying to get more of this stuff out of the ground.  We give a lot of lip-service to the possibility of alternative sources, always followed with, "these are great but you can't run an airplane or locomotive on it."   Why the hell not?

I am not an expert, and I do not have a multibillion dollar oil company backing me up, but if the same money was available to research and develop renewable sources, we would have them.  Money talks, and the power minds of our great nations could probably have us completely running on pig-farts in 10 years if the money was there.  Hell - my phone could probably handle all the data NASA needed for our first moon-walk. - Why? because somebody figured out early on that the money was in computers.

So back to my rant.  The democrats (love them - they are sort of my adopted family) have zero muscle on this sort of thing, especially when dealing with big oil.  The republicans - the party that I grew up in, that confounds me on every turn, pretty much has their head up the proverbial arse on this. So that sort of leaves us.  We get what we demand, right? Except the laws of supply and demand don't really apply here.  We need to get from point "A" to point "B" and if fossil fuels are what get us there, that's what we use.
and oh - yeah, there is our plastics addiction.  Remember glass drawers in refrigerators? Glass thermos bottles? bulk foods in grocery stores? paper wrapped sandwhiches?  I'm really not that old, and I remember this stuff.

Something has to be done, but first we have to acknowledge that it is an issue, and not a party issue.  I miss Charlie Crist!