Thursday, January 11, 2007

So my daughter called this afternoon,

while I was waiting to board my plane at the airport in Spokane. In her typical, demanding tone, she explained she had an assignment due and needed me to pick her up at that moment so she could come over to use my computer (hers went belly-up the other day). She was quite unimpressed by the undeniable limits of geography.

I agreed to pick her up on the way to the airport, however. She came over, said hello to her brother (he’s been ill), and completed her assignment. We had dinner together (my son eating very little).

On the way home, she told be about a school assignment – she’d been told to write a letter to an adult she feels close to. Rather than choosing her mother, or me, she chose her brother – explaining, when she saw my puzzled look, that he’s 18 now, and 18 is an adult. Quite right. She asked me to give this to him, and I did – but I diverted it here for a minute first, and here it is.

Dear XXXX,

I couldn’t be happier to have you as a big brother. When I get trouble from people at school or from home, I know I can call you and you’d make it all seem alright. You make it alright. You make me laugh and occasionally bug me, but its all worth it. You’re important to me and I wish we could have more time together. I remember every single time we did something together. I remember, on my birthday last year, you took me shopping and spent almost all you money on me. I still sleep with that stuffed Snoopie! Hehe! When you moved out, things didn’t feel right. When things go wrong, I know I can talk to you because I know you’ll help me. I love you!! Youre the best big brother anyone could even ask for! I know we can get on each others nerves sometimes, but its our jobs, haha! Wherever you end up and whatever happens, you’ll still be my big brother and I’ll be your little sister, who is awesome, I might add!!! I love you!!!!!

Sincerely,
XXXXXX X. ((your awesome little sister))


She's the one I was visiting the andrology lab about.

11 comments:

TenaciousK said...

I know, nauseatingly cute, right?

Live with it - she's my daughter.

rundeep said...

That's sweet. Not cute. It suggests that she can see past their differences to genuine affection. Obviously, you've done a great job.

Dawn Coyote said...

You know how it is that we remember the bad experiences with people more easily than the good? Well, not in this case. This is one that can slip through the veils that time hangs over memory, and remain clear in both their minds for their whole lives. Lovely.

Keifus said...

Don't sweat it. It was utterly charming.

Anonymous said...

all your ever-changing entertaining avatars are desaparecidos! wrong! it's wrong! i tell ya. nothing but empty boxes with little red x's in them now. sooo ... bleak.

i know, i know, the photos are still there. and frankly it's a good thing some of them are under wraps. i was browsing your previously-unclassified album when someone walked into my office. it's a good thing my colleagues already think i'm odd.

you're daughter sounds like a real pistol. i like her.

topazz said...

What everyone else said.

However did you get your profile picture to switch back and forth from Hitler to Bush like that? I'd like to get mine to switch back and forth too, from me to ...?

TenaciousK said...

Thanks, everybody. I get a little self-conscious about that whole "proud parent" show-off thing.

She's objectively remarkable - I just can't do her justice trying to convey it.

Dawn: I hope so. I think positive memories end up contributing most to implicit impressions of self, and the world, but I'd like to hope my kids get to have a few of the good ones, to counterbalance the bad ones.

Anon: Is that better? You should know better than to look at people's picture folders at work, anyway. God knows what you might find!

Topazz: there was a time in my life I was actually working in graphics, some (on a Mac IIci, if that gives anybody an idea about how outdated my expertise is). What you're seeing is a relatively simple morph between two photos - you pick corresponding anchor points on each, and the rest is magic. Back in the day, I had a little piece of shareware that did it for free. What you're left with is an animated file of some kind (with mine, way back then, it was just quicktime files. Then they came up with animated GIF, and now others, so you can use them in places like this - without launching an animation player).

If you want one done, I'd look around a little for a shareware program, or you could buy one, I suppose. It's quite likely the off-the-shelf photo manipulation programs have this feature built-in, now, or as an add-on plugin, or something (I feel really, really dated).

As for how I did it: why, I shamelessly ripped it off from somebody else, just like I do with every single avatar pic I've ever put up. In fact, I sometimes go searching far and wide, with varying degrees
of success.

Anonymous said...

[ecstatic sigh...] yes, much better, thank you. i was feeling particularly bereft at the loss of blinky.

that twitchy guy makes me seasick to look at. has he got fleas? his heart is on the wrong side.

actually, i was studying this one rather closely, analyzing the technique. lighting? photoshop? infrared?

i backed out of that page in a hurry, and up popped the fielding swimsuit series. holy hot dogs, batman!

ah well, so long as nobody else figures out how to make the large-format printer spit out 6' banners, i'm irreplaceable. hmmm, i wonder what would happen if i made it print out this one?

TenaciousK said...

About lighting - ya got me.

You're welcome to link pics in my folder. If you'd link them by right clicking and copying the source file, or by double-clicking the image and copying it out of that address bar, I'd appreciate it. I deleted your comment and reposted it, as anonymous, with that fixed.

Anyhoo, gotta go get on a plane. I'll be back when I'm able.

Anonymous said...

[sigh]

i knew i should have gone with the original source on that one as well.

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