Nov. 5th, 2006

That is the day Oliver was born. Four years ago already. I can hardly believe it. My baby is four years old. Four! I will still carry him around if he asks me, although he asks less and less these days, and, really, I can't carry him very far. He's kinda' heavy. Also, he doesn't really ask to get carried. He walks ahead of you, gets right in front of you, stops walking and turns around with his arms up, so you either have to walk around him, over the top of him, or give in and pick him up.

Oliver is the comedian in our family. He has an uncanny sense of timing, it's pretty amazing. He loves to make us laugh, and he loves to be a ham. IF he's in the mood. He can also refuse to have his picture taken, randomly. It makes no sense to me, really. If he makes up his mind about something, THAT IS IT. There is no changing it.

I could go on and on about what an amazing kid Oliver is. He is sweet and loving, always takes his sister's side in an argument, even if I'm trying to advocate FOR him, tells me he loves me-umprompted-all of the time, and will eat just about anything you put in front of him. Except for scrambled eggs and avocados. Oliver hates bandages. HATES, with a deep, burning passion the likes of which I don't think I've seen before. He finally started going down slides by the end of this summer, before that he really had no use for them. I have no idea why. He is stubborn, yes, but so lovable. He is loved universally, wherever we go--Alison's school, my job, the grocery store, the coffee shop, it doesn't matter. People take one look at those big brown eyes and melt. Unless they are made of stone.

Alison is the person who made us parents, but Oliver is the person who completed our family, and in the most awesome way imaginable. Happy Birthday, O-Mac, you adorable, hilarious, lovable, awesome little man.

Rant

Oh, yes, a rant. It's going to feel SO good. I mean, if facebook is any indication, complaining about politics in a way that is kind of general, but lets everyone know where you stand must feel good. Otherwise, why would everyone be doing it? Not that it's not annoying. Oh, wait, IT IS.

I avoid the subjects of religion and politics, at least in some social situations, almost, well, religiously. Work especially. As far as I'm concerned, everyone is entitled to their beliefs, no matter how wrong I think they may be. I don't see any good coming out of a heated discussion regarding politics at work. Or, really, anywhere I'm trying to have a good time (wait, that sounds like I'm trying to have a good time at work...OK, I am.). There is a time and a place for it, and I'm pretty sure facebook isn't that place.

Here are the two things that will happen if you decide you just have to type a polarizing political opinion as your facebook status. Everyone that shares your view will heartily agree with you. Everyone who is on the other side of the issue will get pissed off. The end. You aren't going to change anyone's mind via a one or two sentence status update. If you do, then I guess the person whose mind you changed didn't have very strong convictions anyway.

So, go ahead and complain that your state is red or blue or say everyone who voted opposite of you is stupid. Better yet, don't say, just insinuate it. That is the Minnesota way, is it not? Be passive aggressive. That gets a lot accomplished. Frankly, I do not care which way my friends lean politically. I do care if they demean me in a round about way via facebook because I disagree with them, though. Just make sweeping generalizations, that's always a good idea.

OK, deep breaths.

I just have one more thing, and this has always aggravated me. People saying they are going to move because the elections in their area didn't go the way they wanted. I mean, really? Because if you say that, my fingers itch to type a reply that goes something like this: "Don't let the door hit you in your derriere on the way out". I'm still waiting for all of those celebrities who said they were going to move out of the country if W got elected to actually leave. Well, I guess they don't have to leave now that we have Obama. Whew, good thing they waited that out. Close one. Listen, if you're going to say something that stupid, you'd better be ready to back it up.

I have a very tenuous grasp on my self control right now. One of these nights I'm going to log onto facebook or twitter to see if anyone posted new pics of their kids or get the latest one liner from Conan O'Brien, read a status update or tweet, and finally type all of the replies that have been building up over the last few days. I've had time to tweak them in my imagination, they're pretty good.

More deep breaths. I'm trying to rise above, is all. It's hard, I see why lots of people don't take the high road. I just don't think anything will ever change when there are two groups of people standing on opposite sides of a fence slinging insults at each other. I thought we could be done with that now that the political adds have ended, but apparently not.