Piano Music

Next week we go to Africa. We are preparing a time capsule to leave at the site of Joe's last hike.

Today I am going through his ipod, preparing a disc of Joseph's favorite pieces. I am putting the Bach organ pieces that Joseph played, and he had made a disc for us for Christmas 2006. Also, Beethoven Sonata No. 8, Glen Gould playing Bach: Well Tempered Clavier; Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1; The Goldberg Variations; all music that Joseph loved. I am putting George Winston's "Winter into Spring". During Joseph's first year we would play George Winston over and over, because it would soothe him. He always loved the piano!

Obama's Birth Certificate

Today, President Obama had to stand up before the press (and the country) and present the long form of his birth certificate. How ridiculous is that! It is outrageous that a bonafide citizen of the US has to provide to the world further proof of citizenship. His mom was American, he was raised by his mom; but that is not good enough because he looks like a black man and he was born in Hawaii (almost Indonesia to the ignorant among us.)

I would never of done what his mom did; marry a foreigner and move to Indonesia - but she ( Obama's mom) must have been very brave. And his grandparents were salt of the earth. They took over when it became apparant that their daughter was never going to return to the stable lifestyle of raising children. They made sure the children were raised with good family values, and an excellent education. I am sure his mom loved him, but the grandparents were a very stable world for him.

Joseph's great uncle, Sun Yat Sen, went to the same Haiwaiian school as Obama. I think many other members of the family went to the school (there was alot of movement between Hawaii and China at the turn of the 20th century). Joseph was born in NY to a Chinese immigrants' son and an "Irish-American" mom (event though the family can join the DAR). The whole race issue, and proof of how "American" you are is ridiculous. Obama's mom was obviously American, and raised her son with American values - or how else would he have aspired to be the president of the United States?

Easter

Yesterday, we had the family for a holiday celebration. The first holiday meal that we have cooked since September 2009. Only 14 people, some are sick, some are out of town, but the table was crowded, there was abundant food and the noise was constant. It was a good day, except the part where we had to visit Joe's grave. Daniel and Kyle were both here, and I do love having the boys here. Being a mom is different than any other role a human plays. It is the most basic role an animal plays; nurturer, protector, teacher and everything else. Mom's are all things to the child; until the child grows. But the child remains all things to the mom; that never changes.

I have just finished a book "The War that Killed Achilles: The True Story of Homer's Illiad." I have read and reread the Illiad, and did not understand it until now. It is an anti-war story, an anti-government story, a story of emotions and teams that do not always pull together. The humans tempt the fates and try to bribe the gods, and fate and the gods always win. The mom (Thetis), knows from before his conception that son (Achilles) is going to die young; yet she returns to Zeus and begs for his life, his easy death or anything else she can get out of the gods. In the end, the fates win and Achilles dies, as was foreordained. Mothers have no say in the matter, life goes on; children go to battle, go for adventures live there lives as they see fit. The mortals have to hope that they have taught their children in the childhood years all that needs to be known. The childhood years just seem to short for all that needs to be taught. Then again, maybe we did not know all that needed to be taught.