I'm writing this again from the position of realizing it's been over a month since I last wrote, and even last month was more or the less the first time I'd written in at least a month. So there you have it. This doctoral program is either keeping me too busy to blog consistently, or when I'm not busy studying, reading, researching, or writing, my brain is in a state of mush. That being the case, I am taking a moment to write, to put down some thoughts that have been flying around me lately.
Election. Now, if you know me, know what I'm doing, you might think I'm speaking in the theological and Reformed sense of this term. Though I do believe in divine election, I'm writing concerning last week's political elections, where we voted for a new el presidente. And we are doing what no Western nation has yet to do, we've elected a man who is not entirely of Western European descent to the highest political office our country has to bestow upon any one. I almost said that we elected the first African-American to the presidency, but that is not entirely true. Now you might be wondering how I can make such a claim. Hold on ... I'm not being picayune in pointing out that President-elect Obama is not African-American, at least not in the popular sense of the term. His mother was caucasian, born in the U.S., but his father was born in Kenya. So in the truest sense, we have indeed elected the first African-American. Congrats Mr.-Senator-President-elect Obama! One of my many gripes with Mr. Obama, however, is that he didn't seek to be centrist and work for racial reconciliation. After all, with a "white" mother and a "black" father, I think he's the perfect spokesperson for reconciling ethnicities in our country. I'm just concerned that so many African-Americans voted for him just because he was seen as "one of them". I'm equally concerned that so many Euro-Americans voted for him to work off some generational guilt in the false hope that now things will truly, honestly get better.
I'm not hopeful.
But equally incredible, and happening just two days after the historic election, I turned '40'. How did this happen? The last thing I remember before waking up older was that I was in my mid-twenties. All of a sudden, I'm married, have three kids, a mortgage, and I'm enrolled in a doctoral program a thousand miles away from a home I didn't realize I co-owned with a woman, a very beautiful woman, mind you, I'm now married to. How did this happen? Somebody tell me!
Okay, I exaggerate, and do so greatly. Okay, none of that is true ... except for the turning '40', and all of the sudden feeling kind of weirded out about it. 39 didn't seem so strange. But '40' seems kind of weird. But it was a nice day. Classmates like Lance brought in a cake, while others sang along. I got a gozillian cards in my campus mailbox. I got even more happy birthday wishes on my facebook wall. Kind of crazy - the postmodern birthday.
But then the surprise.
Oh she warned me about it. She was very up front about that. She told me to expect a phone call the day after my birthday. She would give me directions on what to do for breakfast that morning. She lulled me into a false sense of security. I came to campus, went through emails, and was just starting to gather sources for upcoming papers when she called.
My wife called me at roughly 9 am, CT, and asked me if I was ready for my directions. After pausing to consider the wisdom of saying, "yes", I said, "yes". She then proceeded to tell me that my "mission, should you choose to accept it, is to come and pick us up at the airport." Admittedly, '40' must've taken a heavy toll on me. It took me a few minutes to wrap my mind around what she just told me. Suddenly, I realized she was at O'Hare airport with our three kids. They had flown in from Philly on the first flight out to Chicago. They had come into town to surprise me for my birthday. Wow. Did she ever.
And we had a good time. I was blown away by this beautiful woman who swore to love me in sickness and in health, in the good and the bad, yada yada yada (which, since taking Hebrew actually means something, hehehe). But I didn't remember it meaning that she would fly a thousand miles to wish me a happy birthday to my face, and then kiss me with lovey, happy smiles!!! But she did.
And we lived happily ever after.
For the most part.
ses.
ses.
