3... 2... 1... Contacts

I have had to do many things as a single father. Especially in regards to the education I have undergone when it comes to my daughter. Now being male, I tend to think I understand my son a lot better than I understand my daughter. I know that this thought is just an illusion, but I like to think I do anyway.

So the school did a routine check of my daughter's eyes and sent home a note that she needs to have her eyes checked. Well it could have been worse, it could have said she needs to have her head examined. Of course, I think I need my head examined now after just a few months at the helm of this single dad family. But back to the point.

I took my daughter to the place America goes for everything from motor oil to tooth picks and shotgun shells, Walmart. We were directed to an outside door I had never noticed before even though it was on the front of the building. I guess, since it was not one of the two main entrances, I just never noticed it. But here we were in a room in Walmart I never knew existed.

So the optometrist began to check her eyes. And she had to go further and further up the chart. Yep, it was amazing she could focus on the board at school at all. She definitely needed glasses. But she was insistent that she get contacts. That may be a problem.

My daughter has her mom's vision, but she has my eyes. Squinty. Neither of us can open our eyes very far and I know what is involved in contacts. So I suggested extended wear lenses so the amount of frustration would be kept to a minimum.

So we get her contacts and a starter pack of solution and drops. And we dutifuly go back into Walmart to the vision center for a free instruction on how to put the contacts in. This is where life takes a turn for the really frustrating.

Two hours. It took two hours for my teenage daughter to get these contacts in her eyes. She would try to hold her eyes open and as the contact came close, she would nearly spasm and blink until they would not go in. Over and over we tried. Again and again. Ad nauseum.

So finally we got the contacts in after I was finally frustrated and she had resorted to frustration and tears. It was either a growing experience for us both, or a shared bit of pain. Either fits :-)

So now she has contacts and she can see. It was worth if if my little girl can see. But oh the pain. And that does not even account for the cost. Oh the things we must do for our kids. She is worth it. But the next time she has to change those contacts, she will be on her own :-)


Copyright 2005, Kevin Farley (a.k.a. sixdrift, a.k.a. neuronstatic)

Things You Never Expect...

Or you ever want to see!

Well, I flew to NC over a week ago to see my dear future wife, Amy. It was awesome. We spent 48 hours together and it was not nearly enough time to be with her. We drove around the area. I met her parents. We had an easy, relaxing, and wonderful weekend together.

On Saturday we drove to a little town in SC. We stopped at a tack and feed store just to look around. That is the kind of shopping a horse addict does :-) And I think its wonderful and cannot wait to be married to this beautiful, loving, understanding, and crazy woman. She is crazy because she said "yes" to me,

While at this store, I bought a small bottle of Coke. One of the glass kind. The kind that needs a bottle opener. Now where I am from, we call those openers "church keys". I don't why, but that is just what they were called. So I asked the girl at the register if she had a "church key". She said "a what?" So I said "something to open this bottle with". She said "oh. I don't think so, let me ask".

She then turned to another teenage girl clerk behind her and asked "do you have something to open this bottle with?" The girl looked at us and said "prepare to be amazed."

Now when someone says "prepare to be amazed", you tend to think it is just bravado and they are just being silly. Oh, but now we come to the title of this post. This young girl was about to amaze us. She could not have been much more than 16. But she was about to prove her worth.

She takes the bottle from me and holds it up to her mouth. Then using nothing but her teeth she begins to remove the bottle cap. To counter the force and continue the removal, she then used her tongue to press against the bottle cap as she lifted it with her teeth.

Yes, we were amazed. Shocked actually. Slightly disgusted. But amazed none the less.

The first girl, who was thoroughly grossed out, said "they are not going to want to drink it now that you rolled your tongue on it." So this impressive bottle opener wipes down the open end of the bottle with the underside of her sleeve. Yes, basically her arm pit. I am not making this up.

So what do you do when things you never expect happen?

I did the most gallant thing a man could do. I said "Well I am amazed and impressed. I want to shake your hand." And I did shake her hand. The first clerk said "you're not going to drink that are you?" I responded in my manliest means possible, so as to not be shown up by a little girl, "if she is going to open it like that, then yes I am going to drink it."

So I did, I took the first big swig. I then handed the bottle to Amy. Who looked at me as if to say "I cannot believe I am doing this" but what she said was "well, you got most of the germs off of it anyway" and she tipped it up and took a swig.

Now how could you beat that?

Well I didn't want to try to beat that. But we did finish the botlle of Coke together. I think Amy did take the last drink, getting all my backwash anyway. So there it is. Things you never expect, and never really wanted to see.

I hope this is just a small sample of the fun, adventures, and good spirits that Amy and I will share together. I can handle all things with her by my side. I love you Amy.


Copyright 2005, Kevin Farley (a.k.a. sixdrift, a.k.a. neuronstatic)

It is not good for the man to be alone...

Genesis 2:18-24

¹⁸ The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."
¹⁹ Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. ²¹ So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs ^{[ i]} and closed up the place with flesh. ²² Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
    ²³ The man said,
       "This is now bone of my bones
       and flesh of my flesh;
       she shall be called 'woman, '
       for she was taken out of man."
²⁴ For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

I think that is one of the most beautiful examples of God showing mercy and compassion for His children. God is the creator of everything and His ways are infinite. But He took the time to care for Adam and He individually crafted a helper for Him. And thus Adam had Eve.

Well if anyone has read my previous blog entries, you would realize that I am divorced with two teenagers at home full time. The more astute among you would also have picked up that it was not good for THIS man to be alone either. This past year has been difficult to say the least. But here we are surviving it. Yet we are not just surviving, we are in fact thriving.

God has taken compassion and shown mercy to this man. At a time when I was not looking for love, love found me all the same. And this love, was not found in worldly romance or traditional means. Instead, God used the Internet to bring us together. Yes, that vile object of hate and rejection, the Internet, can itself be used for God's purposes.

It was from posting on a Christian forum site in a thread on divorce that God gave a woman, herself hurting and raising kids alone, the gentle nudge to send me a simple email to say "thanks for your post". And God opened our hearts and our minds to each other. God allowed us to look past hurt, rejection, broken trust, and painful memories to allow ourselves to see love brought by God Himself. A precious gift to His children.

That is how I met Amy.

It is with shouts of praise to God and hallelujahs that I now have joy in telling you that what was once broken and undone, has by God been healed and made new.

After talking for quite a while, I flew to see Amy. I asked Amy to marry me. She said "yes" without hesitation. So I can happily say that we are officially engaged.

While I know the manner and timing of our wonderful news of our engagement will certainly cause some to pause and wonder, I ask that you look beyond what the world sees and says. Look with your hearts and take joy with us in this wonderful and awesome work of God in our lives.

It is to God's glory I want to sing hallelujah from the tops of mountains with all of my breath and all of my strength in adoration for God has been most merciful to me and my children.

Amy, I love you.


Copyright 2005, Kevin Farley (a.k.a. sixdrift, a.k.a. neuronstatic)