Well, for better or worse, here's my attempt to catch up. It's been a crazy year, both professionally and personally. Time passes by too quickly. Man, if I could only go back and convince my younger self of that fact! I thought time would never hurry up. Now, a year goes by in the flash of an instant.
So somehow, it has been almost a year since I captured any of my supremely wonderful musings on this here blog. Maybe I was busy? Yep, that's probably it. I have been very, very busy. Still, you would think I might have come across something important to say in all that time!
Well, for better or worse, here's my attempt to catch up. It's been a crazy year, both professionally and personally. Time passes by too quickly. Man, if I could only go back and convince my younger self of that fact! I thought time would never hurry up. Now, a year goes by in the flash of an instant. It occurred to me today that my life has just reached a major milestone. It can be argued that we all pass one of those every day we're still alive, but this is one of those major ones. Like when you finally land the career you want, when you finally save up enough to buy that boat you've always wanted, or when your last kid finally moves out of the house (I suppose), this is one of those signposts in life where I feel like I will be able to look back and measure time that occurred before and time that has come after it. My greatest fear is that I will somehow screw up my kids in some irreversible way that causes them great harm and me great guilt for their entire lives. My wife has this fear ever more deeply rooted than me, often breaking down into tears wondering whether or not we're doing this parenting thing right, or at least well enough to get by. The real fear for me is not how they behave or think or feel while they are under my roof. I think my wife zones in more on that aspect of it. For me, the real dilemma is dealing with how they act when I can't get to them, when I can't directly direct them, when they are on their own.
So I have this beautiful face. Everyone is familiar with it. Sometimes hair grows on it, and sometimes I get it tamed. Other times I let it grow freely, like a little self-contained hippie commune on my face. My lovely wife likes to be (purposefully) ambiguous over her feelings for the face monster, but she only seems really concerned when I shave it off into her clean sinks. Therefore, I generally shave outside. (Gotta keep the peace if you want food to eat.)
I was up until 2AM this morning. I would like to say I was being a productive member of society, growing the U.S. economy, and providing important things for my family. I would like to say it, but honestly, I can't. I was playing a computer game. Deal with it. Anyway, I slept well, but woke up to the cruel reminder that (1) I had to take Harper to school, and (2) I had to record video at work today. All that would have been fine if I hadn't woken up at 7:25AM - just a few minutes from when I want to be leaving in the morning. I looked at the creature on my face, we said our goodbyes, and I retrieved the trimmer. Alarmingly, the battery was dead, and I have the one trimmer ever created by infernal man that won't let you just use it on AC power. I knew what needed to be done. I feared it, but I knew. I took up my trusty manual razor, I changed the blade, and I lathered my face Santa-Claus-thick in shaving cream. I knew this was going to be terrible, but I was not prepared for the true awful reality. First pass - grabbed a chunk of fur, yanked it and attached face flesh into razor, razor devoured all it came in contact with. I made a noise. It was quite - if you're deaf. I developed a new plan. Revised plan, first pass - like hot knife through butter. Amazingly, you can actually shave in both directions using a simple back and forth motion. Who knew? Like an emaciated zombie cow my Mach 3 trimmed, cut, and, in fact, shaved my face like a boss. Freshly made smooth like the baby bottom, I surveyed the damage in the sink below. It was bad, no lie. I commenced to rinsing, herding, and forcibly removing at gunpoint any little hair people that otherwise refused to leave the sink bowl for that water reclamation plant in the sky. I shaved, I overcame, and I cleaned up. Fresh off of this victory, I hurriedly completed the remainder of my morning tasks before leaving the house. I even remembered to take Harper with me so I could drop her off at school. Win. Other than having "ouch-I-hurt-face" all day today, it's gone swell. Did a great video filming, ate good food, and now, it's time for some R&R, sans face forest, of course. My wife says that one of the things she likes most about me is how easily impressed I am by almost anything. I must admit that this is true, to a point. You know that guy who just likes being sad, depressed, and terrible to be around? Well, I'm not that guy. I'm the other guy - the guy who really likes being happy. Because I like happiness so much, I sometimes get a little over excited about things that most people would find mediocre to just down right dull. Luckily for you, this post is not actually about my happiness OCD problem. Last weekend I made the arduous drive - some eight teeth-pulling hours - to my hometown in Alabama. I took the wife, the little child, and the boxer dog. (The elder child was already there on sabbatical.) The occasion of my journey was the college graduation of my little sister, Bethany. Why, you ask? Bethany impresses me. Bethany had this childhood dream of becoming fluent in German and working for the U.N. For a kid in middle school, that's fairly ambitious and quite detailed. She stuck with this dream, went to a college with a program that would perfectly fit her plan, and worked as hard as she could to make her plan work out. But just like me, when Bethany got to college she realized her dream wasn't exactly what she had envisioned. She could have given up, got a "husband degree," and moved on, but she didn't. Bethany decided she wanted to be a teacher. She transferred to the University of Alabama, and she got accepted into its elite Multiple Abilities Program (MAP). She applied herself; she did well; she helped others succeed. She studied abroad in South Africa for a semester; she applied for a job in our hometown school system; she got it. Her first class of students arrives in two days. Last weekend, Bethany graduated summa cum laude, or for the English speakers, "with the highest honors." We've competed with each other for years in terms of who got a better grade or a better ACT score, but quite honestly, in this case, she bested her brother. I'm proud of her and for her. She will make an excellent teacher, and she will make a difference in the lives of the kids she comes in contact with everyday. I'm excited to see what all she can accomplish. Congrats, Bethany. A good friend informed me of an important fact the other day - a fact I had failed to perceive on my own. It's surprising that I didn't notice it myself. It's just the sort of thing I would normally notice and perhaps even point out to others.
The title of this wonderful site is based on the "See Spot Run" early reading books for kids. I love simplicity. There is something incredibly attractive to me about serenity in design and concepts that make obvious but insightful references to other concepts that create an impactful experience for those that interact with them. Basically, I love things completely unlike that last sentence. So, back to the original point. My friend pointed out that, in the mind of the marginally disturbed, my site title could easily be mistaken as some extremely inappropriate, overtly sexually-themed material. I was immediately caught off guard because this simple notion hadn't occurred to me before. As soon as it sank in though, I had to contribute a chuckle. Let me say though, if you came here hoping to "see Eric go" in that sense, you are going to be sadly disappointed. This is a family site. My kids will (maybe, actually, no, not at all likely) read this some day. Do you think they want to see that? Man, I hope not. If they do, I've seriously screwed them up even more than I thought. I love my site title. It is exactly what I want it to be, and it perfectly captures my intentions for what this site is and will be. Therefore, I will not be changing the title. Hopefully you'll still be just as interested in "seeing me go" in an above-board fashion. Enjoy watching, but please, don't stare. Well, there has to be a first post for every blog. This one is no exception to the rule. In fact, if you are reading this post you are likely one of the first visitors to this page. Hi! Welcome! Pull up a chair and enjoy your trip into the troubled yet always entertaining recesses of my psyche. I feel the need to say something insightful now…. Oh well, maybe later.
I feel compelled to give you some background on both myself and this blog in case you would like to follow it and/or check in on it later. Additionally, listing my objectives will aid me in remembering what I’m supposed to be writing about. Yay for smarts! I’m a husband and a father of two little girls. I’m the aviation content manager for a major publishing company. I also co-own and manage a business development company and a non-profit org. Needless to say, I stay busy. But I also like to keep things simple. All of that led me to use my favorite Latin phrase as the title of this blog - “Si vales bene est. Ego valeo.” This was a greeting used in early Roman letters. It meant “I hope you’re well; I am well.” That seemed like a great way to summarize what this blog is about. For the web address, I decided Latin might be a little hard for the average reader to remember. Keeping with the “keep it simple” mindset, I decided on “SeeEricGo” - based, of course, on the “See Spot Run” early reading books. I’m into a lot of things, and this blog is as much a file folder for me as it is a window into my life for those of you interested (read: demented) enough to want to read and follow it. Yours truly, -ELC |
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