Our Town

OK..so I'm driving around today in downtown in an area where I have been before, but not for some time and I looked down a street that I hadn't been on for a very long time, if ever, and I was struck by the feeling that I would love to just turn the wheel..point the truck down that road and see what there is to see. I have always enjoyed exploring parts of this town that are unfamiliar. I started thinking, "Boy, wouldn't it be fun to get in the car with the family on a Sunday afternoon and just drive around different parts of town and see what this place called Fresno is made up of." Then I think again. It may be fun for me, but I'm sure the kids would be bored stiff. I know that I've made the suggestion to Meegan in the past and it didn't go over so well. But someday I'm going to do it. I'm just going to load everyone up without saying anything and drive. I want the kids to realise that this town is much bigger and WAY more diverse than the street that they live on and the school or church that they go to. There are some pretty cool places out there...interesting old neighborhoods, places that were the very life of this city long ago that are now all but forgotten.

Does this sound crazy? Or dull? Lame? For some reason, I'm drawn to these things and these ideas. I love to see and experience places that were the building blocks of our community. Downtown is an amazing place and I could spend a whole day and more just driving around and looking at the people, the buildings, the homes, even the run down slums that were once shiny and new. Better yet, get out and walk. I was walking down the Fulton the other day and had a chat with an old homeless lady at a bus stop shelter who wanted me to join her under a blanket and keep her warm. Naturally I took a raincheck. But it's good not to shy away from interaction with the downtown "inhabitants". This attraction to exploring even holds true for other places. Like Sunnyside, or the west side. I even enjoy seeing the stuff popping up all over the north side (even though the wildfire growth rate of commercial development out there is astonishing and sometimes dismaying). But I always, always come back to the old. I don't know why. I'm just so intrigued by things that were made in another time that are still standing here today, even if barely. Pop Laval's photos of Old Fresno simply thrill me. Is that weird? Oh well. If it is, I don't care.

Sleepless in Fresno

I'm so tired I can't even think of what I was going to write in this post. I should go to bed right now. Not that it would do much good. Sam is now almost three and a half months old and he is stuck in this horrible glitch in which he is wide awake every 2 hours during the night and thrashing wildly and fitfully most of the time between. He sleeps in our bed with us, which is great. But he won't last in his crib. He doesn't even sleep for more than half an hour to 45 minutes for naps during the day. And getting him to do that is sometimes a struggle that may take an hour of messing with him. An hour of frustration for half an hour of peace?!?!? We have been trying to figure out what his problem is, why he is doing this, without any luck and then some friends offer some perspective and clarity. Sam is not in need of a solution. There is no why. Sam just IS. This is the season that we are in and Samuel is his own person and with each growth spurt and developmental milestone comes another side effect that may cost us something...like sleep. But look at him. What are you going to do? How can you get all upset about it when he is this cute?