Holy crap, you guys. My great nephew Kane (yeah, you heard me right, great nephew. shuddup) is growing like a weed. And man, is he gonna be a heartbreaker when he finally develops an interest in the ladies. Check him out.Kane is the oldest son of my niece Jesse. Jessie, god bless her, is the most picture happy mother on the planet, and has a mighty fine digital camera, so I get scads of pictures of her kids every time they grow ½ an inch.
I really need to be better about staying in touch with the far-flung Schulz Clan. I've got six siblings, sixteen nieces and nephews, and I can't tell you how many great nieces and nephews.
And, yes, the thought of actually having great nieces and nephews is an appalling thing for a guy like me. I have a hard enough time accepting the fact that I'm growing up, let alone the idea that the babies of my youth are having babies!
It's kinda exciting, though, isn't it?
I'm a little amazed how normal most of my nieces and nephews have turned out. For the most part, they seem to be recoiling from the unmitigated fucked-uppedness that is my generation in my family. Stable families, relatively well-adjusted-seeming children, good jobs. Nice family life. All the things that my brothers and sisters and I aren't. Well, not all of us, granted, but you know what I mean.
As always, he's a great person to talk to about life and what I'm going through. Last night, though, the tables were mostly turned, since yesterday he was the victim of an attempted identity theft. Someone stole his coat and wallet from the locker at his gym, and he'd spent the whole day frantically trying to cancel credit cards and rescue his bank accounts.
He's fine now -- in fact he handled the whole thing with a lot more grace and calm than I could hope to -- and even managed to cancel his cards in time to foil the thief's attempt to get cellular service with his credit card at a place in Staten Island.
Anyway, as the night wore on and we were talking more and more, he said some things that, while I won't repeat them, only managed to reinforce for me that spending too much time contemplating our existence as it compares to others' is just plain stupid. Topher is a perfect example of a person who, to the outside world appears to have everything going for him (and I should point out that he'd be the first person to say the same thing), but our discussion last night just reminded me that everyone has some sort of pain that they carry around with them, and outward appearances really mean absolutely nothing -- so covetousness of someone else's situation is every bit as pointless as too much self-recrimination.
Maybe we have the friends we have to teach us the lessons we need to learn. Or to reflect back on us the things about ourselves of which we most need to be aware?
As always, he's a great person to talk to about life and what I'm going through. Last night, though, the tables were mostly turned, since yesterday he was the victim of an attempted identity theft. Someone stole his coat and wallet from the locker at his gym, and he'd spent the whole day frantically trying to cancel credit cards and rescue his bank accounts.
He's fine now -- in fact he handled the whole thing with a lot more grace and calm than I could hope to -- and even managed to cancel his cards in time to foil the thief's attempt to get cellular service with his credit card at a place in Staten Island.
Anyway, as the night wore on and we were talking more and more, he said some things that, while I won't repeat them, only managed to reinforce for me that spending too much time contemplating our existence as it compares to others' is just plain stupid. Topher is a perfect example of a person who, to the outside world appears to have everything going for him (and I should point out that he'd be the first person to say the same thing), but our discussion last night just reminded me that everyone has some sort of pain that they carry around with them, and outward appearances really mean absolutely nothing -- so covetousness of someone else's situation is every bit as pointless as too much self-recrimination.
Maybe we have the friends we have to teach us the lessons we need to learn. Or to reflect back on us the things about ourselves of which we most need to be aware?
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