As anyone who has turned on the television or radio today can probably recite, America has lost a very round number of soldiers as of this morning to the Iraq war. And while I am not an avid anti-war leaguer, nor am I an active war supporter, my reaction confused me a bit. I listened to family and friends give recaps of their lost loved ones, and I heard all sides. There was anger; there was peace. There was confusion; there was certainty. Some days are harder than others; all days are miserable.
I was drawn to each and every one of the stories. I could connect with a piece here, a snippet there. I could hear what my voice might sound like if I had the flag of a current lost soldier hanging in my home.
I am thankful for Talk of the Nation today, though I will admit that my main thought (other than thankfulness that I have not lost a son, a husband, a sister, a friend) was why is this number so newsworthy?
Why is the news today filled with talk of the lost soldiers, of the survivors? Was this done with the first loss? When the loss and the president’s days in office matched? When the war toll reached the number lost in the towers, Pentagon and fields? Why is this not done every day there is another loss? Not that it would be as powerful day after day, but it might make the far off war more real to some of us. What do the shows sound like across the ocean, where the numbers are more massive?
What did the shows sound like for the other wars, some of which were more justified in the masses’ eyes, some of which were not?
Too late last night: just a couple more songs on Rock Band.
This morning, 8:30: “Sorry, wrong number…”
Mutter mutter mutter… damn, and my kids were sleeping in.
9:00: Showered and dressed, eggs found, jelly beans started.
Breakfast of champions, cereal and pineapple… (at least it was a fresh pineapple… we even had to cut it.)
10:00: Search internet. Ikea is only closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas days. Let’s go.
10:45: Buzzer goes off that Hayden’s time is done in the play room. We pick him up, and continue to roam the store. Decide that it will be a godsend store when we get a new house.
11:30: Lunch at Ikea. We didn’t do the real cafeteria, just the snack bar by the exit door.
1:00: Due to the sugar, nap isn’t happening for any of us. Deviled eggs made with tie-dyed Easter eggs have stained my fingers. Indefinitely?
2:30: Give up on nap time. Watch Cars. It’s Easter… treats come in more than one variety, right?
5:30: Dinner of lamb, roasted veggies, garlic bread and wine. Drool…. Lunch tomorrow will be lamb sandwiches and peanut butter eggs.
6:30: No nap today? Bathtime!
7:15: Bedtime begins…
7:28: Gabe’s first round of sleep ends. Kris is playing Pac-man… I’m going to go spend time with two of my three favorite boys.
Hayden has decided that it is a good night to sleep in Gabe’s room.
He is wrapped up in a blanket on Gabe’s floor, with a pillow from the spare bed. As I finished reading The High King’s first chapter, I asked Hayden if he really wanted to stay there tonight.
I have a few very distinct memories that are strongly associated with scents. Most of these have to do with my grandparents and my early childhood.
The smell of fish food is the kindness and patience of my grandpa. He would let me sprinkle fish food into the tank every time I came to visit. I loved climbing on the small step stool, reaching my pinchers into the food he would open, and sprinkling the food over the water. Climbing down, I would receive a most perfect hug for my job well done.
The smell of laundry is learning to read with my grandma, as the early readers and small gifts for learning letters were stored in the play area in their basement, right next to the laundry room.
Hayden has had a sore throat for the past couple of days (or rather, he said he had one the first day, and I think he likes the solution I came up with to heal him). A smell that was once a mystery to me has begun to fill our home, taking me back to my grandparents, once again.
Grandma always had a jar in her kitchen with a very distinct scent coming from it. As a child, I never asked what it was nor if I could have a taste, because honestly, I thought it smelled “ewww.” I knew she would take a spoonful out of the jar and mix it into a drink for herself or grandpa, but it was never when I could tell they were sick. (Another smell would have had to be present for me to know my grandparents were sick, that of the stomach bug. As a child, I had a sense - that I have since lost - of being able to smell when someone’s stomach was upset.)
Today, I love the smell, both for its personal history and the simple scent itself. Honey and apple cider vinegar. I love the mixture, too, since Hayden accepts it as medicine… and as parental readers of my blog will attest, if a child thinks he’s getting medicine, the day goes much more smoothly.
I wonder how the scent will pervade his memories, or if it will.
The story of Bobby Dunbar is complicated. In short, in 1912 four year old Bobby Dunbar went missing in the swamps of Louisiana. There was a massive search involved and it was presumed that Bobby was kidnapped and named the crime of the century (There was even a song!). After 8 months police reported that they had found him in the possession of a man named William Walters. Walters claimed that the boy was actually Bruce Anderson, the illegitimate son of his brother.
The issue went to trial and the court found that the boy was Bobby Dunbar and awarded him to the Dunbar family. My grandfather passed away in 1966 well before I was born. The issue was mostly family legend from there on out until a Y Chromosome DNA test in 2004. The test compared Bobby Dunbar’s eldest son, Bobby Dunbar Jr., and Bobby Dunbar Sr.’s brother Alonzo Dunbar. The test showed that the nephew and uncle Bobby Dunbar, Jr. and Alonzo Dunbar did not share a male ancestor.
Unfortunately many people make the leap from here to assume that this means the boy that was found was in fact Bruce Anderson, which it most certainly does not prove. The Bobby Dunbar case is a great example as to how the media presents ridiculously bad science.
There’s plenty more hearsay and complications in the history of the trial, but if that’s what you want you can hit up Google.
When asked about his identity as an adult my grandfather stated that he knew what he was, and that that was all that mattered.
The death of Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, last week has brought out more geek love on the internet than I’ve ever seen. I commented elsewhere that it seemed that we had lost our geek-Elvis.
Gary created systems and worlds that inspired people outside of the mainstream and gave us something that was ours. The impressive number of tributes, articles, comics and memorials (My two favorite are Wil Wheaton’s blog post and xkcd’s webcomic) have made me consider my geek roots.
The paths that Gary laid down were clearly an influence on my childhood as well as many of the things that I have grown to love over the years, touching almost all of my subscribed pillars of geekery.
For the record these are my personal pillars of geekery in no particular order.
Computer knowledge (i.e. the use and knowledge of inner workings)
Star Wars/Lord of the Rings. (Yes they get their own pillar)
Zombies/Robots/etc… (There may be ninjas on this pillar as well, but I can’t see them because they’re ninjas)
The New York Times has been kind enough to create a hilarious chart mapping how D&D is the gateway drug to most of the geek pillars. (as well as the anti-drug for girls)
I’ve been ruminating over the past few days about the people and events that shaped me into the person that I am today. This is something that I don’t do terribly often; talk about myself. My many interests and loves, yes, but rarely myself.
Going back and thinking about those geek influences has brought back a lot of good memories and I feel like I have to share them.
So, look forward to a short series of self-reflective posts that I hear this blogging thing is all about!
Just Tell Me What to Say was my early reviewer win for February. Since I was able to finish up Like Water for Chocolate tonight, and my freebie arrived today, I get to start on a new one!
I don’t tend to read non-fiction nearly as quickly as fiction, so I hope this doesn’t slow down my progress too much. I really have a goal to be be done with the 50 book challenge by November 1st. I want to start a new challenge, then.
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