Dad Entry #131

Megan is a slow eater. She dawdles and chirps and smiles. Even if she's starving and presented with something she REALLY loves - like a scoop of ice cream - she might take hours to eat it unless reminded there are other events - like bedtimes, and birthdays! - we'll miss if she doesn't eat a little faster.

I make the best PB & J for Michael's school lunches. We go with peanut butter and jelly when the turkey is slimy and smells bad. Just kidding, that never happens, although I do run out of Michael's favorite lunch meat sometimes. Anyway, I use good sturdy bread, but not too thick. A nice split-top whole wheat with honey and flax works, since you're dyin' to know. And here's the big secret: I score the bread. Score it before spreading the peanut butter on one half, and the jelly on the other. Then it kinda soaks in; it's almost a filling inside the bread, not just in between it. Yeah, I know, I'm a genius! Emeril, Martha, Jamie-what's-his-head who reinvented school lunches... they haven't called yet but they will.

The kids and I played with magnets the other day. It's the surest way to feel telekinetic. I tell Megan, "Just wait, Honey, don't touch the paperclip, I learned how to do something really amazing today, but I need to concentrate, if I really focus, if I really, really concentrate, I can actually move this paperclip without touching it...." Of course I have a magnet hidden under the paper or between my fingers. Meg-Pie's my favorite audience for simple tricks.

A favorite band of mine - called 'Live' - has a great song chorus that's apropos here. People like me who went to college in the mid-90's probably know Live's album "Throwing Copper" with songs like "Selling the Drama", "I Alone", and "Lightning Crashes". We overplayed this CD - while overconsuming cheap beer - for hours on end in bars and in my fraternity house. I remember abusing stuff by Blind Melon, Stone Temple Pilots, and Pearl Jam in much the same way. So I guess Live grew up like the rest of us. Someone in the band must have a daughter now because they have a song called "Heaven" with a refrain that goes like this: "I don't need no one to tell me about heaven, I look at my daughter, and I believe." Well... I agree.