Saturday Morning Cartoon
By Brad on Sep 13, 2008 in Sights and Sounds | comments(0)
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By Brad on Jul 13, 2008 in Cherished Moments, Family, Gadget Junkie | comments(1)
Well… I didn’t have to wait too long after yesterday’s post for gratification. I couldn’t help myself. There were two irresistibly strong urges pulling me — one was a father’s love for his daughter and deep desire to bring them joy; the other was a gadget junkie’s lust for the next cool thing. Typically, I can resist one or the other on their own; but both forces acting upon me at the same time is hard to resist for very long. The more difficult of the two for me to resist would have to be wanting to make my daughters happy.
You see, if you haven’t been following along, my daughters are getting their very own iPhones, albeit the hand-me-downs from Karla and me. They were beyond excitement when I made the announcement a few weeks back. They were just as excited about the iPhone 3G launch date as Karla and I were because they knew it meant they were going to finally get iPhones, which they’ve been envying ever since I got my first one over a year ago. As a father, I truly love to give my daughters surprises and gifts and generally bring joy into their lives. It was that love for them that compelled me to do something I hate (hate, hate, hate) to do — wait in long lines.
Yesterday after lunch, we headed to Penn Square Mall to buy Sarah new prescription eyeglasses. After we were done there, we decided to see what the line was like at the Apple Store. It was long… again… but not nearly as bad as on Friday. We heard some people walking by say that it was taking about two hours to get through the line. I wasn’t excited about waiting in line for that long. But I looked at the pleading eyes of my two daughters and felt the prodding of my inside, gadget-junkie voice and relented. (Plus it meant I wouldn’t have to brave that insane Penn Square Mall parking lot again for a while!)
We joined the queue and begin our wait. The girls’ excitement made the wait much more tolerable. While we waited, Apple Store employees passed out bottled water as well as some candy treats, which was a pleasant surprise and quite nice. The line moved pretty quickly for a time and then seemingly stalled for a period of time. The closer we got, the slower the line seemed to move, until all of a sudden it seemed to move pretty quickly again.
One hour and 35 minutes after getting into line, we were entering the Apple Store. The employees were very nice and attentive. (One of the employees helping us turned out to be one of Ashley’s teachers next year! He teaches the Yearbook class that Ashley was so excited to get into for this coming year.) The process was fairly painless and 20 minutes later we were out with two new iPhone 3G’s. Phew! Finally!
We returned home and began the process of getting the two new iPhones set up, erasing our old iPhones and then getting them set up for the girls. By bedtime several hours later, everyone had working iPhones. And to see the joy on their faces made every second standing in line and every penny spent well worth it to me.
I’m sure you’ll be hearing more about our new iPhones in the coming days, but I have to cut this post off here so that I can get ready to go to my new office to get it set up so I can hit the ground running tomorrow morning. Busy, busy, busy!
By Brad on May 10, 2008 in Amazing Stuff, Family | comments(5)
Sixteen wonderful and amazing years. In some ways, it seems like only yesterday. In other ways, it seems like forever.
Yesterday, Karla and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary. Now, I have to admit that our celebration wasn’t quite as spectacular as one might expect for a “Sweet Sixteen” milestone. Before she left for work yesterday, Karla left me a gift and anniversary card where she knew I would find it — the bathroom. I had a plant with a “Happy Anniversary” mylar balloon to her workplace so she would hopefully feel a little extra special. In the evening, we went to a nice, upper-scale restaurant, Redrock Canyon Grill, that sits on the shore of Lake Hefner. We shared our date with our two pride-and-joys, Sarah and Ashley. (More about our dinner date, with more photos, in a later post.)
I heard it said once — and I can’t remember from whom — that marriage can either be heaven on earth or hell on earth. Well, I’ve seen both. Some of my friends and family have seen marriage be more like hell on earth. Other friends and family have marriages that are more like heaven on earth. And many seem to be stuck in a stale, dispassionate, obligatory relationship that’s not really hell on earth, but certainly doesn’t seem to be heaven on earth.
I can state unequivocally that my marriage with Karla has been and continues to be heaven on earth. I love her more now than when we first got married, and I loved her a lot then. Marriage has been more than I ever thought it could be. Yes, there have been tough times, but they only made our marriage and love for each other stronger. We each have seen the worst in each other and our commitment never wavered; in fact, the other’s unfailing love often helped us triumph over our weaknesses and overcome our “worst.”
Do we have a perfect marriage. Hardly. But we have a marriage I wouldn’t give up for the world. We are not only husband and wife, we are very best friends. I can’t imagine my life without her. I hope I never have to live it without her (although I know that in all likelihood, one of us will eventually face that inevitability). I cherish each day I’m with her. The sight of her — the mere thought of her — still brings a smile to my face and makes me all atwitter inside.
I love you, Karla, mon amour. Thank you for sixteen wonderful, amazing and memories-filled years. I look forward to each and every year ahead. Happy anniversary!
By Brad on Mar 24, 2008 in Cool Stuff, Faith, Sights and Sounds | comments(1)
The following story comes from a pastor’s blog and it was touching enough that even Andrew Sullivan picked it up on his blog.
By Brad on Feb 14, 2008 in Family | comments(3)
Sixteen years ago, you were my very special Valentine and it was my best Valentine’s Day ever! I’m very grateful, honored and blessed that you’ve been my Valentine ever since — for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, in fatness and in even fatter fatness. You’ve always been my very special Valentine! And I couldn’t have dreamed of a more wonderful Valentine.
I love you, mon amour!
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And a special Valentine’s Day shout out to mis hijas! Waddup! 143!
