Frith O’Steen

My poor dad. This summer his primary occupation (aside from his regular job) has been re-doing the roof on my folks’ house. This means climbing up steep inclines protected basically with only a rope harness around his ankle, and working in the blazing hot sun. Still, he was undeterred… a man with a mission. The only times he would come down off the roof was when it got so hot that the tar was melting under his feet! He’s been trying to get everything done as fast as he can, so that it would be complete before the rainy season began. Since in our area that usually doesn’t start till October, I figured he’d finish no problem with no inclement weather to deal with. And then this morning? It started raining hard core at about 6 am! I guess dad, mom and Tully ran around the house trying to catch all the leaks and dripping water and that things got so ridiculous that they started to laugh - as in, “well, what the hell else can we do? hurricane ivan has hit our house!”. I know things will get cleaned up eventually, and that the damage could have been worse. But the fact remains that it rained in several parts of the house this morning! Dad still has the roof to finish…I wonder if he starts to feel like Job sometimes…

Unaware of what was in store for him this morning, last night Dad and Tully and I had a really fun time at the movies. We went to see “Hero”, and I actually liked it better than “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon”. I thought there were more redeeming characters and the plot was better. I liked the ending better too. And the visual effects were amazing. It was like one continuous gorgeous moving painting. Add in some popcorn and some Mike and Ikes, and you’re set!

It’s been really fun to watch Decker this week as he becomes more and more sure of himself and his abilities. I realized in observing him playing with his train today that he is definitely a little boy now! He doesn’t just bat at things anymore indiscriminately, but instead has ideas for how he wants to play with them and what different buttons on his toys mean, etc. He’s still very young, but it’s neat to see his brain developing into a toddler and not just a baby. He’s so interactive with his surrounding world! Hard to imagine that so much can happen in the space of 13 months.