Father's Day

Sorry to the faithful out there, but life has been too busy to post anything. Yesterday was father's day. It was fun to be celebrated. Both kids showered me with hugs and kisses all day and we had a blast getting wet and sandy at the beach.

If you haven't gotten to know my children, Evelyn and Jenson, you're missing out on something special. As the picture testifies, they are beautiful just like their mommy. Personality wise they are off the charts. Evelyn is a loving daddy's dream, and Jenson is everything you'd want in a rough and tumble humorous little boy.

Nothing much more to write. I hope you all played with your dad yesterday like my kids played with me.

Boy O' Boy or Girl O' Girl?

Today was the big day. The ultrasound where we could find out the sex of our baby. Initially we didn't want to know, then I wanted to know and Jennifer didn't want to know, but as this morning rolled around we both were on the "want to know" bandwagon. Drum roll please. Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you the next Molebash baby...oh, you look at the picture and try to figure it out for yourself :-)

I think seeing the little critter on the big screen for the first time is just about as special as holding her (hint hint) for the first time. I think the weightiness of it all is just as big a deal now as it will be later. Your children give you far more joy than you can ever imagine, but there is also a huge element of fear that nobody ever told me about. Maybe it's just something some of us fathers have. It's a fear of screwing up and providing enough and I guess just being the studly father that you know your kids will need. I am convinced that the nurtuing of a mother is absolutely essential to children, especially during the first few years of life. But, there's a point in time when I think the father's role becomes the pivotal piece in a child's development. Maybe it's a sense of protection and security that a father provides? Maybe it's the God as Father mentality that most of us carry around, putting me in the position of having to demonstrate the love they hope God has for them. Overriding the fear, however, is knowing how my heart will grow even more. I'm looking foward to meeting you this November.

The Lost Finale

Sorry folks, but I have to venture back into pop culture and talk about the Lost season finale. In a nutshell here is my review...excellent! I especially like the theme of redemption, particularly between Jin and Sun. We are slowly coming to grips with the complexity of the characters--who they are on the outside isn't necessarily a reflection of who they are on the inside. Aren't we all like this?

Regarding the masculine appeal of the finale, we had a guy blowing up, a "monster" revealed, a kidnapping by the "others," and a mysterious hatch leading down into who knows where. I have heard complaints that nothing of significance was revealed, but come on people, isn't the point to a season finale to make you want to tune in this fall? Plus, the monster was more or less revealed--it's nearly invisible and therefore it is unknown and bordering on paranormal. And the ladder in the hatch was perfect. What were you expecting? A time machine? Let our imaginations run wild until next season. This is what television is supposed to be all about.

Instincting with Tommy J

No posts last week because I was in Virginia doing some research and other academic stuff that you non PhDers out there wouldn't understand...this is code for trying to sound smart when in actuality I’m a complete dufus.

If you haven't walked the grounds of the University of Virginia, then you haven't truly experienced a college campus before. It's actually sin to call UVA a campus. The "Grounds" is what Thomas Jefferson called it so that is the way it will always be. Graduation had just occurred so there wasn't a soul on campus when I went for my morning jog. It was just me and Thomas Jefferson hanging out on the Lawn. Something about the campus--oops I mean the Grounds--puts you in a reflective state of mind. For the next couple of hours I kept jogging while my mind did it's own little puppet dance. I was half thinking and half going on instincts. The word "instincting" isn't in the dictionary, but it does show up on a Google search 290 times. Only 18 of those aren't omitted by Google and of the 18 only about 10 use the word genuinely. I guess I can't claim it as my word, but I am approximately the 11th person to think of it. Not too bad when compared to 6 billion other people out there who could have beat me to the punch.

Instincting is that perfect place between letting our gut instinctual reactions getting the best of us and over analyzing a problem. Maybe when we mix our instincts with our thinking we end up making some of our better decisions? Some of the decisions I have made in life that have required instincting:
1. Getting married...good choice.
2. Going to graduate school...good choice.
3. Having kids…good choice.
4. Moving to San Diego...good choice.
5. Moving to Utah...yet to be determined.

If I'm a betting man I'll say moving to Utah is going to be a good thing. Both my instincts and my thinking tell me so.