Li'l Update

A while back I posted this email that my father wrote:

"I just wanted to take a moment to talk about today. Remember this day, what you did and were doing at noon. An event happened today that nobody from my generation and all the previous generations could have possibly imagined. This is a day that will be talked about in years to come about this man and how it happened in a land that not long ago, my youth, that blacks were not allowed in the same restaurant or to drink from the same water fountain or use the same restroom. In that this short time a black man has become our president, is a miracle. I'm not always nostalgic or put things in perspective but down the road this day will be talked and written about. I am truly proud this is happening to our country. I believe he is the right man, in the right time, for this country.
love you pumpkin
Forever, Dad"

I also posted it on Facebook, which experiences much higher traffic, and, therefore was the place everyone commented on it. I just wanted to post those on here now to share:

Mike Wiley: Awesome

Ania Mucha: HE IS RIGHT ABOUT EVERY WORD !!!
U R LUCKY 2 HAVE SMART FATHER

Dara DeChellis: Ummm... I like your dad... a lot. Thank him for me! (again!)

Jamie Moreland: awesome

Maisha Fields: So beautiful! You come from good peeps, No wonder I love your ass so freakin' much!

Janine Waters: this is gaw-gess . . . i'm right there with you both!

Becca James: Nice...gave me goose-bumps!!! :)

Cara Dailer: thanks for letting me read that. its beautiful.

Julie Domineck: oh rog:) i love your d-a-d dad

Justin Misenhelder: love you Mr. Shannon!

I also received this message today (also on Facebook) from a girl I don't know who friended me on there. She is likely friends with Ania, who I met when visiting Poland in October. Her name is Miriam and she writes:

"HI,MY NAME IS MIRIAMI'M FROM USA.FRIEND OF MINE TOLD ME ABOUT UR DADS NOTE.I'M HUDGE OBAMA SAPORTER,I HAD 2 HAVE U WITH MY FRIENDS,INCASE UR DAD WILL WRITE ANATHER NOTE LIKE IT TO SEE IT.YHX 4 ACCEPTING MY INVITE I HOPE YOU ARE DOING REALLY WELL.TAKE CARE.MIRIAM"

Just wanted to share. Thanks, Dad. Love you!

I am a very blessed daughter

An email my father sent to me today:

I just wanted to take a moment to talk about today. Remember this day, what you did and were doing at noon. An event happened today that nobody from my generation and all the previous generations could have possibly imagined. This is a day that will be talked about in years to come about this man and how it happened in a land that not long ago, my youth, that blacks were not allowed in the same restaurant or to drink from the same water fountain or use the same restroom. In that this short time a black man has become our president, is a miracle. I'm not always nostalgic or put things in perspective but down the road this day will be talked and written about. I am truly proud this is happening to our country. I believe he is the right man, in the right time, for this country.
love you pumpkin
Forever, Dad

Week in Review

I can't apologize enough. What a lame attempt at an online experiment. Whatever...I'll just try to pick up the pieces from here.

Some updates:

Saturday June 14th
Went to The Color Purple with my Dad. He and I have been going to 3 plays every summer for 12 years. I really can't say enough about the many privileges I have had.

Here is some music from the show. What an amazing performance. http://www.colorpurple.com/color_purple_sights_and_sounds.php


Friday June 13th

Happy Early Father's Day

Went golfing in Ohio with my dad. We did more of a Father's Weekend than day. I had a few kick ass shots, I must say., and the course was beautiful. Golf is pretty much my favorite thing. No one is very good at it, so, to me, there's no pressure to perform really well. It's a relaxing day in a beautiful place with people you love--a veritable microcosm of what life should be.


Thursday June 12th

Station Square

I've said it before (and, actually, I stole it from one of my favorite books, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh), but some people really know how to have a good time. My mom, dad, and I went to Station Square where we gazed at our picturesque city skyline, watched the dancing fountain show, chowed down on greasy Hard Rock appetizers, sipped slowly on chilled coffee and, later, bloody mary's, and breathed in the muggy Western Pennsylvania summer air.










It doesn't get any better. It just doesn't.

Life is precious

I went to the mall with my dad today. On the way home this song came on. It's a favorite of my father's and it moved him to tears.


"The Walk"
by Sawyer Brown

Down our long dusty driveway
I didn't want to go
But I set out with tears in my eyes wondering
Daddy took me by the hand
Looked out at the school bus and his little man and said
"Don't worry boy it will be all right"

Chorus

Cause I took this walk you're walking now
Boy, I've been in your shoes
You can't hold back the hands of time
It's just something you've got to do
So dry your eyes I understand just what you're going through
Cause I took this same walk with my old man
Boy, I've been in your shoes

Down our long dusty driveway
I set my mind to go
I was eighteen and wild and free and wondering
Daddy took me by the hand
Looked at the world and at his grown man and said,
"Don't worry boy it will be all right"

Down our long dusty driveway
This time we both would go
He had grown old and gray
And his mind was wandering
Daddy took me by the hand
Said, "I know where we're going and I understand
Don't worry boy it will be all right"

Chorus


I asked him what was wrong.

"Nothing," he choked through tears. "It just goes so fast. You're all grown up. Life is precious, that's all."

My grandmother always said what pretty hands I had. "So young," she said. "Look at my hands; they used to look like yours.

Golf!

Dad and I went golfing today, on a fabulous course. I will say that the photo above is posed...that's not my actual swing, because one would never cock one's foot like that when actually teeing off. =)

After we golfed we met my mom and Joe for wings at Rook's then all met back at Dad's for a rousing game (2 out of 3, of course) of Euchre, my family's favorite pastime. My mom and I are undefeated. Dad and Joe have one two games, but never a round of 2/3.

I am so appreciative of my family. Being able to sit down, the four of us, and play a game of cards, share coffee and conversation, and laugh together. It's nothing short of amazing. I'm no fool, of course. Things are not perfect. There's animosity there and irritants--things from long ago that will never totally fade away. But, for the most part, we are a merry bunch when together. I hope for many more of these times this summer, and am so satisfied with my decision to stay in Pittsburgh (well, use it as home base, more like ;D) for the next few months.

Family is something that I have always struggled with. Some are of the sort where the family unit takes precedence above all else. People stay together, there is tradition to uphold. It reminds me of patriotism in a way, the many over the individual. And others are about one member of the family. The child comes first, the head of the household, what have you. Some show affection, others do not, or cannot. Money is a means to pleasure for some, and the end all for others. My family falls into many of these categories. We've had our feuds, our fights, our woes. My mother and father are so different from one another and I am just about as close to a 50/50 split as one could imagine.

I am admittedly rambling now. I have a lot of feelings jumbled up inside that I am trying to work out. Sorry that it has to be on you. I'll aim for better in the future.

Euchre in the back yard.