January 27, 2005

The Miracle of Boringness

After 45 long minutes of juggling technical jargon around the left side of my brain, it is sore. Inflamed, trying to determine when ‘relay box DC buss 3’ is powered by ‘relay box DC buss 2’ and when it is powered by the auxilliary DC bus. The airplane I fly is built in Brazil, by people who like tangled wires. It is built in the Jungle and the schematics explaining it look like the jungle. Though the lines and figures are angular, and meant to clarify something complex, they are of little help. At first glance they appear to help, then they start to wiggle, when you trace one line to another box, to another triangle, to a circle, they start to move, like a houndstooth coat under fluorescent light, vibrating. Soon you have to go back to find the line you started with. I turned to the text for relief. Airplane manuals are rife with FAA legalese which I am sure is intentionally placed for the express purpose of eliminating the weak. I have grown used to it, but our manual has another problem. It was written in Portuguese. A romantic language for a decidedly unromantic subject. Of course it has been translated for us. Sort of. I imagine that they asked around the factory floor to find someone who took English as their foreign language requirement in high school. Or perhaps they hired a staff of Amazon Pygmies who had been evangelized by English speaking missionaries from Oklahoma. I prefer that scenario. It explains far more about how the end product turned out.

Oh am I supposed to be writing about our two cute little boys?

The high drama days here at McCartertwins.blogspot.com have evaporated. I am not sure if readership has decreased accordingly. I would have no way of knowing. Hits to the site are as unknown as they ever were, it still has not registered on anyone’s buzz index (whatever that is), and advertising revenue has held steady at zero… A wonderful success, with every boring post from here out securing the miracle of boringness.

We are like alcoholics at AA. We are building “dry days.” The drama never truly evaporates from the twins’ history, but it does become less relevant with every passing day of normal twin operations. It does not dissolve but it is absorbed into their increasingly long history, becoming a smaller percentage of what is important by the day. The main difference being that we are not having any dramaholic cravings.

While I sit here typing, letting the other side of my brain fight back, Megan is involved in her own form of minimizing the importance of traumatic parts of her past. August 25th she left her office at the County after lunch for an ultrasound appointment. She left the papers on the desk and the computer on, expecting to finish up in an hour or so. Yesterday she returned for the first time. This time not as a Human Resources Analyst, but as a Mother. What became of those years of gainful employment? I mean, what did she gain? Surely we both appreciated all that money. We are not certain, however, that it was a net gain. Hours of occupying an office, doing what people do in offices, traded for dollars to use in the other hours. Is that a trade up? Of course her new occupation is not as lucrative in that way. Every hour yields benefits that last, and while they are sometimes repetitive they are always invested toward our own agenda. And every day away reinforces that any brilliant person can plan the County’s hiring agenda but only she can love and take care our boys the way she can.

6 Comments:

At 5:20 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm still checking and loving each update! Glad things are settling in to a new normal!
Becca Koo

 
At 9:32 PM, Blogger Andy White said...

thanks for another great update Brad. glad things seem more boring...wait til they start climbing!

 
At 8:58 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

How about some pictures!!

 
At 11:08 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Brad and Megan, Just want to send some love from those of us who don't get to experience your day to days and who live far away. You remain in our prayers for all the new life changes and that brain-breaking stuff you have to study. II Peter 1:3 says "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness." You are greatly loved. Hugs and kisses to your boys. Laura S.

 
At 5:45 PM, Blogger Brad said...

There is a link to some pretty current pictures at the bottom of the "assingments" post. I decided to use a link rather than posting them directly because the quality of pics in the post is pretty bad. Just keep looking for little "click here"s. We'll try to keep fresh one coming.

 
At 6:53 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Brad & Megan, your family in Missouri checks here frequently and always enjoy the updates. Thanks for keeping us connected, even though we don't 'know' each other well. I can assure you that the joys and struggles of being a stay-at-home Mom instead of a working Mom are incredible. We made that same decision many years ago and have never regretted it, even though we knew we would have to give up some financial dreams. Give those precious babies a hug from all of us who are too far away to enjoy such.
Jenita

 

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