chicagodads

I found out why I can’t stay awake long enough to do a blog post anymore (well, without falling asleep several times, or pumping my body full of sugar and/or caffeine). But I’ll let my Facebook status updates tell the story.

JD Status: Going to the doctor’s soon for bloodwork results. Hopefully, she’ll tell me I have an unusually high midi-chlorian count.

RR: higher than Master Yoda’s? If so, you might be a sith

JD: Awesome!

RR:

JD: i mean, “Oh no, that’ll never happen!”

mu-haha-ha!

JD Status : Bloddwork results: Thyroid levels are off the chart. Simply, body’s constantly tired and sending signals to brain to pump stimulants. Even simpler: I am _biologically_ lazy.

MF: So what did your doc tell you to do about it?

JD:  she said i need friends and fam round-the-clock to feed me breakfast in bed.

no, she gave me a prescription at this point for about 1/2 dose. hopefully, i can get some more exercise if i don’t feel as weighed down in the mornings.

JD Status: Bloodwork results: Thyroid levels are off the chart. Simply, body’s constantly tired and sending signals to brain to pump stimulants. Even simpler: I am _biologically_ lazy.

JD: Saying “Bloddwork” makes me feel like a vampire, like Count Chocula or Edward or something…
Blaeh!

NWS: Hope they get you some good meds for that! If not, I vote for the count chocula persona.

JD: Not the Twilight guy?
got a prescription. just what i’ve always wanted, legal steroids. now i can get an even bigger head…

NWS: I have to admit I was thinking of your wife when I suggested count chocula - I mean who wouldn’t want to be married to a sweet guy who makes a living as a cereal box model? While Edward is dangerous and sexy, I’m not sure the situation is ideal. Glad you got some meds!!!

JD: she might try to eat me…

NWS: so long as you don’t try to eat her.

JD: I may vant to suck her blood.
Bleah!

CJK: Not diabetic, then? I’m glad you got results & meds. Hope it helps! (Maybe that’s what’s wrong with me!)

JD: common symptoms to watch for, CJ:
fatigue, muscle spasms (which i don’t have. guess i don’t have the muscles anymore…), constipation (also don’t have), dry skin, weight gain, slow heart rate, sensitivity to cold (that may just be the looong winter getting on my nerves though), or dry brittle hair that tends to fall out easily (not yet).

i wouldn’t be too surprised if i did come up w/ diabetes. but thank God not yet.

So, that’s about it. Thyroid problems. I try to go to bed at 10 now, and yet I still have problems getting up at 6:30 (meaning I don’t get out of bed til a bit later. This morning I slept until 7:10).

And now? I’m going to bed.

 And I would just like to suggest that I’m a very spiritual person and that the reason I haven’t blogged is because I’ve been fasting from such concerns this week. But really, I just got tired of it for a moment. And I’ve actually been busy when I haven’t been supertired.

But I thought I’d at least drop by and share a link. In light of all of the recent talk of designer parenting, I found this illuminating news analysis/interview rather… enlightening.

Status: Tonight being Maundy Thursday, I plan on eating a hefty meal — as if it were my last supper. And then probably be betrayed by one of my twelve twitter followers and handed over to the Romans. Busy night.

…In comparison to children-less couples. That is, according to at least this study-backed essay published in the British Psychologist Society’s The Psychologist. (h/t the Motherlode)

This may or may not be a shock. After all, we parents love our children. And we like to think that they bring us much joy. My daughter’s name means “Joyous.” But there is so much stress, worry and sadness associated with having children that the net result of happiness from having children (even in the long-run) is, at best, zero.

Yet, we continue to have children. And we continue to be overswept with joy for friends who announce their pregnancies. We have baby showers and lavish expectant parents with well-wishes and can’t wait to see (and maybe hold) the “little bundle of joy.”

As a further measure of paradox, we tend to wait til our “summer” seasons (our 30’s) - when we’ve passed our physical peaks - to have most of our children. We do this because we feel that our houses are not in order yet, that at the tender age of 20, 24, 28 we have not yet had our fill of the world, or certainly not filled into the world - our die has not yet been cast. And we wait until we are important people. Important and worldly enough to be able to hire nannies so that we can continue to work at our high-paying jobs so that we can continue to afford to buy the most lavish, happiness-providing toys that wealth can provide.

And I wonder if we’re not missing the point. I wonder if we think that we’re supposed to be pursuing happiness because that’s what’s in the DNA of our country, but not always the DNA of our DNA.

Does my daughter give me much happiness? Yes. Absolutely. I often grin from ear-to-ear just thinking about her, watching her hand reach out to stroke trees or laugh gleefully when I or Jennie somewhat surprise her in a riled-up game of peekaboo. Does she also cause stress, consternation, dread, worry, ear- and head-aches? I can barely hear out of my right ear now because she did a Spinal Tap-esque 11 in it yesterday for the simple reason that her playgroup was over.  The costs. The pangs of childbirth. The extra pounds. The extra time it takes to do simple tasks. Finding childcare. Destruction of property.

So why, besides self-destructive tendencies, have children?

It may not be about happiness in the first place. Rather, I believe that something deep within us calls us to spread, calls us to sacrifice, to give of ourselves, to expand our horizons and embrace that which could very well hurt us. It was love that caused my wife and I to look each other in the eye and say, I want to share life and meaning with you. It was love that caused us to say, let’s have a child together who will be a constant reminder of each other and our love for each other. I can’t help but be reminded of my love for my wife everytime I look into Jocelyn’s big eyes, or her thin curls, even her furrowed brow.

It’s love that calls us to be parents. And it’s love that gives us the strength to continue in this direction.

Say it isn’t so…

A new skate park to be opened shortly near our house was noted for vandalism by some concerned local citizens.

With no disrespect, tagging happens. At least it’s not a gang issue. Nor is it private or even business property being hit up by graffitti artists.

Here’s some history of graffitti art in Chicago.

“Just Don’t ” by garryknight via Flickr