The World is back at it again.
Brexit is a “Mess-ix.” Iran is in the head-lines for nefarious purposes as President Trump declares the “Revolutionary Guard” a terrorist organization (he is correct), and two popular Hollywood families are skewered in the press for helping their progeny get into prestigious schools by cheating. I have been meaning to work this into a column for years, and now the opportunity can’t be wasted: “You can put the kitty in the oven, but that don’t make him a biscuit.” Give people money and fame, but that doesn’t make them classy.
Rains are sweeping in daily, rivers are rising quickly. Everyone is clamoring for sun. 317 Democrats are announcing their candidacies for President, and no one has the guts to challenge on the other side. We are hammered with “urgent polls” that ask, “Do you support Candidate X.” That one question poll begets fund-raising with a sense of urgency akin to a Plains state tornado warning. They must have your $3 donation by tonight – an arbitrary deadline.
Instead, let’s switch from the “landfill” channel and look locally. Good things are happening.
The Silverton Rotary “Daddy-Daughter Dance” was a huge success as hundreds of young ladies had a night out, dancing with Disney princesses, popping frisbee-size cookies in their mouths, and making balloon animals with the pros.
My precious, precocious granddaughter, Lucy, 2, was my date for the evening and looked stunning on the red carpet in her Cookie and Banana rainbow designer dress. I was the lucky winner of filling Lucy’s dance card while her firefighter/paramedic dad, Ethan and her pediatric nurse mom, Briana, attended a fire department dinner and awards ceremony
The pint-sized petunia, as typical of two-year-olds, waited patiently for the formal picture with me, but had absolutely no interest in face-painting, balloon animals, or charades. She took seven minutes to pick out a cupcake, wisely choosing the chocolate sprinkle one, and promptly took one mouse-sized bite. Of course, I had to finish it. Nice snacks. Little Lucy acted like she had never seen a Goldfish, so she took out the whole school. And though we did dance (for about two minutes), she spent most of her time sitting in the middle of the floor while others danced around her.
Most engaging, however, was not the games, but a long hallway where she and her buddy, Juniper, raced up and down while their Triceratops dad and Papa chased them making “RRRrrr…” noises. Disneyland produces no greater joy than a long school hallway with virtually no stimuli except for a young dad and a galloping geezer making dinosaur sounds.
The Coup de Grace, which caught Rotarian Brent Satern and his remarkable helpers off guard, was the draw that bicycle racks and fresh-cut, dry grass in late March have for budding princesses. Lucy discovered that “snow angels” on grass after a lovely spring day are every bit as exciting as the real deal at Mt. Hood Meadows. She is also pushing for a new Olympic event, “The Bicycle Rack Crawl”. She crawled under the long, inverted “U” racks nine times, setting a speed record for an event that few mortals can conquer. To think, it only took 20 minutes to make the journey from the gym door to my truck, nearly 100 yards away.
There is good in the world.
I see it every day when someone needs food and blankets for a family in hardship, and ten people respond, “Where can I deliver it?” I see it in a young mom who doesn’t hesitate to have another family’s toddler come over late at night because the dad had a sudden and serious medical condition. I see it in Rotary, as polio nears extinction.
I look for good everywhere, but find it most consistently in a tiny little girl who is more entertaining than a dancing pelican. #ILoveLucy #PapaRocks #Gramp’sGotGame.
