Writing....last hurrahs...etc

My favorite museum in DC is the National Archives. One of the first times I went in there when I had moved to Maryland in 2004 I was completely overcome. There is something about seeing a memo penned by a Senator from the early 1800's. There is something about being so close to history, about being near a piece of paper and ink that was written by a person that has helped shape the course of history. I'm not even talking about the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, or the Magna Carta that were on display. It is the little things, the memos, the letters, and other bits. The grandiose pieces mentioned are amazing, but I feel more connected to the smaller things...the things that the people that wrote them probably never thought may be on display somewhere. It almost feels as if you could get to know these people that are long gone.

Can you imagine what it would be like to find personal writing from your grandparents, great grandparents, or beyond? I love talking to elderly people because they are so rich with the experience of living through history. There is so much about their past that will never be in a history book, but it is so pertinent to the times if you really want to understand them. Art can help to convey feelings and emotions, but to live their lives you really need to do it through reading their writing. That is how people live on, through their writing.

I had a surprise Friday morning in a blog I read. Oh the Joys put up a post Friday that was a memoir from her father, and thusly spawned this part of this post.

I had another surprise Friday as Rachel and Dr. Leah chose to feature me and several other single dads in their week long tribute to single fathers for Father's Day.

You should check out all these dads here, here, here, and here.

Also, the two blogs/forums Single Mom Seeking and Singlemommyhood.com are fantastic places for conversation, ideas, and help. If you are looking for inspiration, frank and open discussions about all kinds of things related to parenting and relationships, or you just need to know that you aren't the only one out there going through this these are two great places to go to. Rachel Sarah writes Single Mom Seeking and Rachel and Dr. Leah collaborate on singlemommyhood.com. While both of these women are amazing by themselves, each of the blogs are wonderfully enhanced by the comments of those that read. So go read and participate! You will not be sorry.

I'll also have to make some time today or this week to add the other single dad blogs they mention to my reader and my blog roll!

Friday my son and I went to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg. I was all set in my BUS ZEN mindset, expecting traffic, big crowds, long hot lines...but was going to enjoy every minutiae of every minute just because I was there with just my son. We were going to have fun no matter what. While there were two accidents on the way there and lots of traffic, when we got in the park we received a gift. It was essentially EMPTY. The first roller coaster we went to, Loch Ness Monster, we walked right up to a car and sat down, no line at all. The Griffon, the best roller coaster I have ever ridden, had the shortest line I had seen there to date. About 5-10 minute wait. Apollo's chariot was another we just walked up to and sat down. In two hours we had ridden all the rides and eaten lunch. :-) We left not too long after that to get back home so he could spend some time with his friends in the neighborhood before he left for the summer Saturday.

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Saturday we went to SGG's house for breakfast. I took my son and SGG's boys to see "Race to Witch Mountain" at Cinema Cafe. We ordered pizza, chicken fingers, sodas, and sundaes. They loved the moved and had a great time. Soon after I took Brandon to his mom and bid farewell for the summer. I will talk to him and email every couple of days to see how things are going. He is going to have a great summer!

SGG took her children to the airport where they flew to New York for six weeks with their dad. We are kid-free!!!

SGG hosted a dinner for her family for her mother's 75th birthday. Afterward we went to see world famous fiddle player Charlie Austin and a band he is currently playing with called Rock Star Parking. Unfortunately, the early twenty somethings in the club didn't really appreciate the band. :-) We did though.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Hope yours is a fantastic one!!

(GRRRRRR, thanks to a horrid MS Word 2007, it has taken me over an hour just get the formatting for this post correct. I often will cut and paste things in Word when blogger isn't exactly acting properly. I sometimes compose in Word and then paste into blogger. Now in 2007 and Vista, MS has made the piss-poor and unalterable assumption that I want all the formatting in HTML pasted with the text. Blogger chokes on this makes wild changes to font sizes and spacing...which would take me hours to sift through the HTML to weed out all the un-needed MS crud. I just need a simple word processor MS, not a wonderful wasteful way to wreck words. Sometimes more is less and it is obvious you haven't been listening to consumers or to governments around the world.)