Double digits!

Our baby boy turns 10 today! I can't even remember what our days were like before he came into the world. It has been so amazing to watch him as he goes through each phase, from being a cuddly baby to being a tween. A tween! It's crazy!

Reed's interests have expanded over the last year, he's now really into football. He still pores over the newspaper every morning, but now instead of sticking to the comics, he also studies the sports page. He's into stats like you wouldn't believe. He also loves playing Madden on Xbox – and when he disappears into the basement for hours, it turns out that he likes making his own lineups and doing drafts as much as he likes playing the actual game, if not more.

Reed still reads as if his life depends on it. Today, for example, he was excited about having gotten new books yesterday so he was up sometime around 5 a.m. to read a few of them. We still haven't had the greatest success with getting him to read non-fiction books, but hopefully that will come in time.

Ten years old. The time has breezed by. When the typical household noisiness that goes along with two elementary-school age kids sometimes drives us crazy, I try to remind myself that happy noise won't be around forever. It's not going to be long before they're grown. So we'll try to keep our sanity amid the chaotic noise and enjoy every minute!

Farewell, Ddaddy

On October 27, my grandfather Lee Allder passed away, a little over two weeks after receiving the news that he had cancer in his liver, kidneys and lungs.

During the few years that my Mom was a single parent working two jobs (NALC and the Grand Union grocery store), we were frequent visitors at my grandparents house. We'd have fried chicken or spaghetti, then watch the Andy Griffith Show, the Carol Burnett Show, or M*A*S*H. We'd pull the hair on Granddaddy's legs when he'd fall asleep in his recliner. These are good memories.

The photo above is from our only recent trip to my grandparents' "farm" - not really a farm, but more of a place in the country. It's in the Stanley, near Luray in the Shenandoah Mountains. It's 90 acres of quiet and solitude. We also spent quite a few weekends there growing up, bored to tears, just as my Mom and Wanda had been when they were dragged there as kids. It was a place that made him happy, and the place where his ashes will be spread this spring, just as he asked.

Historic

I believe we can keep the promise of our founders, the idea that if you’re willing to work hard, it doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from or what you look like or where you love. It doesn’t matter whether you’re black or white or Hispanic or Asian or Native American or young or old or rich or poor, able, disabled, gay or straight, you can make it here in America if you’re willing to try. - from President Obama's 2012 victory speech

I am so very happy that our kids are going to grow up in a United States where having a black President is not the least bit out of the ordinary. They are never going to think it's something that's impossible, or at the very least unlikely, as I had. If you'd told me 10 years ago that we would have a black President, I doubt I would have believed it. But here we are, with Obama winning a second term. Incredible. I am proud to have voted for him in 2008 and again this year.

This is not to say there is no racism in America, or that minorities have an easy path. But the mere fact that it's a reality that a minority has won the White House not once, but twice - wow. 

And it was also a historic day for women. There will be at least 19 women senators in the next Congress, which is a record. It's still not enough, but it's progress. 

We are getting there!