A packed midweek. It started last night, when I took three of my older kids to Pirates of the Caribbean 2. It wasn't good. The plot didn't hold together nearly as well as the first one (which had an excellent plot and story lines that hung together tightly). Very few things in 2 made sense. The script no doubt was poorly written, but on top of that, the actors used such heavy pirate accents in some of the (I'm guessing) crucial plot scenes, I couldn't understand what they were saying. The only good part: The movie got out at 9:00, which was a pleasant surprise. I didn't have my watch on, and I was guessing it was at least 10:30. It felt like I'd been in there four hours.
Today is my father's birthday, which he shares with Mary's parents, Joachim & Anne (a feast day even the Anglicans recognize). Melvin (brother of Eldon and Vernon--my grandmother had a unique taste for names) is a first-generation immigrant. His parents came over from a German colony in Russia (pre-1917), His father was a tool-and-die maker with little respect for books. My father was a bookworm, who joined the Marines during the Korean War, went to college on the GI Bill, became a CPA, then a CFO with a NYSE company here in my hometown, where both of us still live. He's old-line German in the best ways, but without the harshness associated with the old country (though the belt threat was never far away, I caught it only once). He taught me the meaning of respect, honesty, duty, and learning. When I think about the crumbling family in America and how many children grow up without fathers, then compare it with my situation, I feel nauseous and grateful at the same time. I can't begin to count the blessings I enjoy because of my father. On the flip-side, we can't begin to count the deprivations children suffer because of absent fathers.
