Tag: Life

Posted on

Brushing Teeth

I think it pays to have a perspective shift in your life every once in a while. This friday, after my usual shift of working at the coffee shop downtown, and a quick bubble tea with a friend, I hopped on a bus and headed over to my relatives house to baby sit for them while they went to watch a hockey game. I had planned to do a bit of homework that night, but I figured I probably wouldn’t have done it anyway, and baby sitting sounded like a much better idea.

When I got there I wolfed down my Vietnamese sub sandwich (which I had gotten along with the bubble tea downtown) and soon after a bit of briefing and the bustle of parents leaving, I was left with the three kids watching a tv show in the living room. It was fairly late as it was, and because Josiah, the four-year-old was sick, bedtime was very soon in coming. Before long it was time to shut off the tv and tromp our way upstairs. Josiah picked out a story to read, which happened to be Monsters Inc. 3D. I wasn’t quite sure if it was helpful pre-bedtime reading, since he had to wear these silly 3D glasses while I read the fastest and most anticlimactic synopsis of Monsters Inc. – ten pages of character development, one page of conflict and a page to wrap it all off with a nice ending.

After this, I had been told that I would have to brush Josiah’s teeth before he went to bed. I had never brushed any teeth before, so I have to say I was a little unsure about how it was going to go. Josiah walked into the bathroom, and after perching himself on a stool, facing the sink, simply looked at me in the mirror. “So, I guess its time to brush your teeth.” I opened up the drawer to find a toothbrush, and soon received the run down on the teeth brushing. I was shown the hourglass (or two minute glass), used to make sure that we brushed the teeth long enough, and was told who’s toothbrush was who’s and which toothpaste to use for little Julia, as well as which to use for Josiah.

Then it was time to start brushing. The last memories I have of parents brushing their children’s teeth was from my own parents. I can remember my dad scratching away at my teeth so hard that I was worried I wouldn’t have anything left but nice shiny clean bones by the time he was done! So with this torture in mind, I began very slowly, trying to peer into Josiah’s mouth to see the tiny rows of teeth I was supposed to clean. The two minutes seemed to drag on forever, and at times I thought maybe the sand had just gotten stuck in the glass, and that I would be standing there brushing forever. However, it did finally end, and after some spitting and rinsing, I soon had Josiah in bed, but not before he reminded me that he was supposed to go to the bathroom before he went to sleep. I’m glad the kids know what they’re doing!

Next was Julia, the smiling little one year old, just beginning to say a few words. Jenna, the oldest made sure that I had gotten everything done with Josiah before I took Julia upstairs as well. “You brushed his teeth?”
“Yep.”
“And he went to the bathroom?”
Thanks to him. “Yep.”
“Good.”

And so I had the approval of six-year-old Jenna, and could move on to putting Julia to bed. Again thanks to Josiah I knew which toothpaste was Julia’s, and I guessed the smallest white toothbrush was probably hers too. This time I was even more careful. At first I could hardly tell if I was brushing teeth at all! But soon I found her little teeth, which seemed to have a habit of biting down on the toothbrush and slowing down the process. However, we soon got them all brushed, and after a short bedtime story, I laid her in the crib with all her things, and left her to sing to herself.

Jenna and I watched another ten minutes of tv before she went up as well, thankfully to brush her own teeth. And after some Earth Day education from Clifford, her lights were turned off as well, and with all three doors shut, the rituals of putting the kids to bed were finished. I was surprised at how I was, especially since it was only 8 pm. I only wished that it was me getting tucked into my bed.

And so ended my first real baby sitting experience. I was just glad that I didn’t have to change a diaper, thanks to the fact that Julia filled it just before her parents left. The girl has an excellent sense of timing! The whole evening was extremely refreshing in a way; such a good break from the life of a young college student. It made me excited for being a Dad someday. I know I dread that at the same time – but it really was such a nice time. Thank God for all the Dads and all their hard work.

Posted on

Winter Back Again

Just when I thought winter was gone, it comes again. I had so enjoyed the last few days of sun, with temperatures hovering around zero. I even heard birds singing in the trees outside my room. I had almost forgotten that there were birds at all, or that their songs sounded so beautiful in the warm mid day breeze. Slowly the days begin to grow longer, and I start to consider taking the path outside to class, just to get a few moments of lovely sunshine. Puddles form all over the streets, promising an end to this reign of white and cold.

And then, the other night, the flakes begin to fall. Huge thick snowflakes covering the ground like a huge blanket. And winter is back, like a cold that just won’t leave. In fact, I almost got a cold again! I’ve already had my yearly cold that comes somewhere at the start of winter, and I’m afraid the warmth of a pseudo-spring, followed by the sudden snow almost fooled my body into thinking it was time to get sick again. Thankfully after popping vitamin C with the frequency of someone with a heart condition, I survived through and lived to continue breathing through an empty nose.

Today I decided to pack my backpack with some work and head downtown for lunch at Quenched International Coffee House. I work every Friday at this little coffee shop, right in the center of the downtown area. So often, while I’m working I see people come in for a while to get some work done, settle down with a coffee and soak in the lovely atmosphere of the place. I guess it never occurred to me that I could actually do the same. I’ve seen these people in movies, frequenting cute coffee shops, squeezed into some colourful street downtown. It seems so picturesque. And why not? Why couldn’t that be me? So here I am. It’s not New York, and the bustle of life is fairly subdued, being just an average city in Alberta. But all the same, after a lovely soup and a piece of banana bread, facing the windows and watching people go by, life is peaceful.

Posted on

Don’t Slam the Toilet Seat!

Coming into this year of living in residence, I had very few worries about how I would get along with my flat-mates and the problems associated with four young men living in close proximity. Being that I had spent time with almost twenty boys in dorms, for a great portion of my school life, I figured there wasn’t much that I hadn’t faced before and worked through. However, this has not always been the case.

The guys and I get along fine. We have no reason’s for getting angry at each other or anything of the sort, which is such a blessing. But I find that often it’s the little things in life that seem to pain me most. I’ve never had a plank or anything of the sort get under my fingernails, yet the tiniest sliver seems able to make its way in at times dig deep at a nerve. It makes me worried about marriage in a way. That perhaps it will be these same little things that get under my skin and drive me crazy.

Do you really have to let the toilet seat slam when you put it back down? Why can’t you let it down gently? And why do you leave the dishcloth sitting in the sink after you’ve done the dishes? It never dries that way and pretty soon it will get smelly if you keep doing that. And do you have to make such a racket taking out the dishes in the morning when some others are sleeping? And why is it you have to stomp so loud on your way around the house and back from the bathroom in the morning? Why, why, why?

Thankfully, these little annoyances in life are just that: very little. They are certainly not something I would ever explode over. I’m sure someday, when I’m married, it will be these little things that will drive me crazy, if I don’t drive my wife crazy first. But it’s comforting to know that these are just small frictions that come hand in hand with sharing space. They aren’t an excuse for the outbreak of World War III.

There are parts of life that you just have to get used to. You learn love, forgive, and to live through these differences and make for the best. I suppose that’s what family is all about.

Posted on

The journey is more important than the destination

My four-year-old cousin and I play quite a few games together when I visit from college. He is really quite a smart little guy, so most of the time I try hard to beat him at his games – and usually do. He’s quite a sore loser, so I’ve taken it upon myself to give him lots of practice.

Yesterday we were playing Rummikub, by his own rules, of course. It was very much like Calvinball in many ways, for those who know how Calvinball is played. Ben would dump all the tiles out on the floor and tell me we could choose whatever tiles we liked. Then, once our racks were full, we began to play out our tiles a few at a time – the only real rule being that the tiles had to connect numerically with others in runs. But if one of us wasn’t able to play, he could easily pull a tile from the large pile, clearly visible to all.

In many ways, it was a very relaxing experience. Without any rules, clear objectives, or competition, the focus took a complete change. Instead of worrying about what we were trying to do or a point we were trying to reach, the entire enjoyment of the game came simply from the experience – just from playing. I think there’s something that needs to be learned from this kind of attitude – one where the journey is more important than the destination.

I have seen that phrase quoted often, but have never really understood it. Of course the destination is more important than the journey! Why bother going somewhere if you don’t care to get there? All that I could think of was the long trips in the mountains of Pakistan, where your bottom would ache for hours on end, and where the destination was pure relief – a chance to lie on your front and give your sore bottom a much-needed rest.

I think a great deal of our North American, or perhaps human, culture moves away from this kind of thinking. We focus so much on objectives and gain, that sometimes we forget to enjoy the moment. We get lost in the effort to go somewhere that we forget to enjoy here and now. We will strain so hard towards the peak that we forget to enjoy the climb and smell the flowers.

Posted on

Flying Cars and John Locke

When you are a child, there are some rules and facts that you are simply born with, which make complete logical sense to everyone at the time. I helped out with children’s church today, teaching some of the short story of the first part of Christmas, as well as playing cars with the kids after. I was reminded today of a simple fact of childhood: that if you open both a car’s doors at the same time, it is capable of airborne flight. No one questions it, in fact, I can hardly believe I had forgotten it at all.

However, we did have some problems with a little girl who, despite the fact that her monster truck could not open its doors, somehow thought it could fly and hunt down a similarly airborne police car. Foolish little girl. Maybe someday she’ll have some sense knocked into her – car’s only fly with their doors open!

One learns all sorts of things around children, the very first of which is that there is very little different between them and adults. It baffles me to think that someone would even consider John Locke’s ideas of children being ‘blank slates’. Which world did he live on? Perhaps very few would accept the philosophy if the realized the man never had any children himself! Only  imagine if he did. We would read instead of tabula stinky poopy anarchy. 

I mean, when it comes to children, I really think that, in many ways, William Golding’s Lord of the Flies has a great deal more to offer us. At least he had a wife and children. But seriously, who wouldn’t argue that people are born good. They only learn to be selfish, brutal, greedy liars by the time they are four because…. well, because of society – it’s their society of selfish greedy little four-year-olds that turns them evil really. And those other four year olds… they learned it from… well, it just wouldn’t be philosophy if it had any answers, would it?

As a side note, I just want to say that I am really looking forward to heaven. If every bad thing comes as a result of sin, I would put the need to use the toilet as a result of sin. Think about it, no poo poo means no potty, and no potty with the poo poo means no cleaning the poo poo potty! So, there’s one more thing to look forward to in heaven. Take comfort in that thought, for all those blessed enough to be reminded constantly that toilet hygiene comes at a price.