An exchange

Angela: That lightbulb in the ceiling is messed up.
Oli: Oh yeah, that was me.
Angela: Of course it was. What was it? Kicking a ball? Playing Star Wars dad with the broom stick? Swatting flies with the electric tennis racket?
Oli: I stood up abruptly.

10 years

At the weekend we celebrated 10 years of marriage in a group of 15 people for 3 days at a country house in the Montseny national park. Takeaways:

• We have made it. Weren't always sure we would. But foundation laid. Job done. Petty things mostly no longer matter. We can mostly get through day-to-day mood challenges (ours and kids) while avoiding major disaster. This means the next 10 years we can focus on becoming awesome individuals with the support of one another and said kids....and planning more fun stuff like this weekend.

• We have fantastic friends. A few different friend groups were brought together this weekend and on no less than 5 occasions, someone commented at length to me and/or Oli on what all-around easy-to-get along with, interesting to chat with, and fun people they had met.

• People - whether they have kids or not - need BBQs, games, the outdoors, music, dancing, and smiling faces.

 

 

Green

We went to a picnic and barbecue place at the weekend for a friend's birthday party. There's a little river and along the edge grows a plant that Oliver calls "green" but most other English people seem to called "sticky". If you throw pieces of this plant at clothing it sticks. Oli and the kids had fun throwing it at people who crossed the river's bridge so that it stuck to their backs. They taught a little boy how to do it and his family watched and laughed as they got each passerby. Oli was in stitches and said at one point, "I love green. It's like nature's sense of humor."

[Note the green stuck just under Oli's chin.]

For sale

The following movie was made for a short film competition. We had 24 hours to write, shoot and edit a 2 min movie that included the following: A kiss, a calculator and the word corruption.
En Venta from Oliver Seeley on Vimeo.

when I was younger

Scarecrow Patrol

Our family scarecrow keeps moving. Sometimes he's standing outside the front door where he belongs, greeting household visitors, but at other times we find him peeking longingly in at us through the back door as we eat dinner or watching television with us through the family room window. Oliver has taken this chance to teach my nephew Jacob a valuable lesson: scarecrows are not our friends; you must protect your family against them.

Jacob, as children do, has become obsessed with scarecrows and Oli's warnings, written on the children's easel chalkboard, "Scarecrows eat small children, especially Jacob," don't help him get them off his mind. But despite my concerns that the kid was going to develop a scarecrow complex, shrieking for the rest of his life every time he saw a bit of hay, much the opposite is true.

Last night, Jacob led me out of the house into the dark night to go with him on Scarecrow Patrol. We had to protect the family. Barefooted, the 4 year old led me down the dark subdivision steets where we shouted at all the scarecrows we saw, making friends. As Jacob explained, "We're friends at night, but the scarecrows are bad again in the day." Ah, the wise child has already learned to keep his enemies closer...

I don't know what it all means, but man, scarecrow patrol is fun.

Modern-day Dad Defends His Cubs in Urban Jungle

Modern times being what they are and we living the middle-class urban and suburban lives that we do, one might be tempted to feel that living is almost too easy, that it's no big thing to make it; we're supposed to make it. It's easy to feel wimpy in the light of romantic film scenes where pioneer dads, in times when men were not just executives but also men...with guns, fight off pillagers to protect their families. But I suppose not everyone can be a pioneer, nor unfortunate enough to encounter pillagers, nor brave enough to even touch a gun much less wield one. So in these times of comfort and good fortune, one must take up arms against the corporate and bureaucratic foes left to us and feel tough doing it.
Which brings me to my Oliver, who I daily admire more and more for his ferocious Modern Dad Skills.
It begins with negotiation, turns to bullshitting and no matter what, ends with Oli winning. From getting discounts by simply suggesting that cashiers at Old Navy give us the sale price when our item is clearly not on sale, to demanding that we not just counter offer but also counter counter offer when negotiating housing contracts, to telling Chicago British Consulate personnel that he has been summoned to them by the American Embassy in London in order to bypass the whole "must have an appointment to enter" rule, he is a man on a quest to save money, get a home, obtain a visa and ultimately, use that visa to legally spend more than 90 days in said home taking care of his baby and woman.
When not tearing Corporate America and bureaucratic institutions a new one, Oliver takes time to practice his bowling skills at the UIC lanes where he is known as Cosmic Oli. Today I met him for lunch there where we discussed his Consular victory and just as I left to return to work, he scored a strike for me and baby, adding another name to his list of conquered foe.
~ Angela