To lead others, embody their ideals!
Leonid S. Sukhorukov
On being A Great Uncle
One of my favorite websites is the Art of Manliness and I want to pay tribute to a great practical post: "How to Be an Awesome Uncle". Any familiar reader knows I'm the proud uncle of a dozen nephews and 9 nieces and almost a dozen grand-nephews and -nieces ; what does have to do with a political blog? Simply put, as a never-married bachelor without dependent, they represent the future of America, and I think my generation has a responsibility to leave the country and world a better place
I didn't have a lot of role models for my role as bachelor uncle. I wasn't a bachelor by conviction. After college, I never met anyone. In the workplace with sexual harassment or nepotism policies, you can find yourself out of a job just for asking out the wrong girl. Meeting women though church (my mom's preference) didn't work out very well.. Then there were circumstances: there will be time for socialize after I defend the dissertation, after I win tenure, once I'm no longer a road warrior {traveling consultant)... But who knows? Maybe the women I liked thought my idea of a good time was reciting passages from my dissertation... (Not true.)
I did have my mom's sibling, a priest, and my dad's sister, my Aunt Grace, a former religious sister/nun. But they rarely visited from Massachusetts. As an Air Force brat, I don't think we stayed anywhere longer than 3 years once I was in school. I occasionally visited them as a young adult.
My second sister, who the family considers my favorite, was the first to marry and start a family. I visited my sister on a few occasions, especially after my first nephew was born. I remember babysitting while they went out one evening. He nearly continually cried after they left; he wasn't hungry, not a diaper problem. . I invented a Native-American style dance gently bobbing him up and down -but if I stopped, he started crying again. My sister called in to check on him--and at one point said something like "Well, it sounds like you've got everything under control..." but they did come home shortly thereafter. I think she later told me he was starting to teethe. He soon had a little sister. I did another babysitting gig; my nephew was in a playpen area; I was feeding the baby her bottle; I think my nephew was jealous of the attention his sister was getting and started acting up, just as my sister got home. She was angry, accusing me of playing favorites with my niece.
My niece loved me until the teenage years. My sister told me she used to count the days until my next visit. . I remember one time the family saw me leave on an outgoing flight (things have changed since then). She kept kissing my cheeks. But I also remember one occasion I was drilling her on spelling, she got a word wrong and she didn't take it well (I wasn't teasing her about it), slapping my face hard; my sister instantly rebuking her.
I once took my nephew out for the day; I think we went bowling and ate at an upscale burger place. I was going to do a similar thing with my niece--I think there was a cartoon movie in the theaters, but I think my sister was watching too much Oprah Winfrey and insisted I would have have to take her along, too; I decided that was the end of that initiative.
My nephew had a breathing condition that almost killed him one day; he was in the hospital for days and I went to see him. He still remembers. Then I remember I went to a rollerskating party, probably one of my other nephews (my third sister's family lived in the area); I had not even rollerskated as a kid so it must have seemed almost comical.. But my niece barely greeted me in passing. I think parents see it happening every day: but to an uncle we have snapshots over time.:one day you're the coolest dude in the wold; the next day you're just another know-nothing adult: did I do or say something? Is it my cologne?
One of my goddaughters called me her favorite person in the world. Another niece solemnly wrote I was the best uncle in the whole world (she signed it with her middle initial.) I'll never forget my sister-in-law warned me before my visit not to expect anything because my 1-year-old niece, my youngest godchild, was a Momma's girl, Near the end of my one-week visit I was sitting on the couch. My godchild suddenly appeared in front of me. I didn't know what she was up to. She climbed up onto my lap facing me. wrapped her arms around my body trunk, and hugged me with an audible grunt, one of the sweetest memories ever. (My sister-in-law wrote she did the same thing to her big (second-grade) sister the next week.)
My youngest nephews put my siblings on the spot inviting me to stay overnight and insisting I be invited to their birthday parties... The siblings knew that I loved the kids; I remember after my third sister's fourth son was born, my brother-in-law came out to my car (as I parked in front of the house) carrying his newborn son so I could hold him right away.
My third nephew (from the same family) was a class-clown type whose nickname for me was "Uncle Bonehead"; I knew whenever I entered my sister's home I would get hit with a barrage of toy arrows, plastic bazooka shells , etc. I remember once teasing him if he wasn't a good boy, Santa might give him underwear for Christmas; a look of pure horror came over his face: his uncle must be truly perverse to have conceptualized such a twisted thing! (Actually my folks have done it to me).
At least in the earlier years I would send them birthday cards with money inside, special-occasion, Christmas and Valentine's Day cards; I also bought individual Christmas gifts. For budgetary reasons during lean economic times I've cut back, focusing on my folks and goddaughters.
My Greatest Hits: November 2012
My five most popular posts Over the past month in descending order:
- A Day in the Life
- Miscellany: 11/06/12 Election Day Early Edition
- Miscellany: 9/10/12
- Miscellany: 9/26/12
- Miscellany:10/20/12
HT CafeHayek
Taking It to the Streets
Let's be clear:: GPS tracking, proximity restrictions etc, in Chicago are intended to intimidate food trucks and hence restrict competition. Unless, perhaps, they sell dead fish.
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
The Carpenters, "Only Yesterday". Another Richard original song , the last Top 10 and another adult contemporary #1.
