Kodak Moment

          Sometimes Hollywood gets something right.  Actually, it might be more appropriate to allude to Kodak in this instance.  For the past two days, I have been taking The Boy sledding.  I’ll tell you, it’s a lot of fun.  He’s very shy and not often very sure of himself in front of people he doesn’t know.  But the fact that he’s facing a snowy drop whose bottom he cannot see while traveling at high speed on a thin sheet of moulded plastic does not daunt him for a moment.  He did a face plant today that looked so bad I was sure I’d hear crying when the cloud settled.  But he got up laughing and trudged, slipping often, back up to the top of the hill.  Hann er svo duglegur (sorry, there’s no good translation for that word)!  For me, it was what people used to call a Kodak moment.  When I was a kid Kodak’s primary add campaign was aimed at parents who should not commit the sin of letting precious moments slip by without a camera in hand.  I love photography and I’ve always enjoyed taking photographs.  But I never really got into taking pictures of people until recently.  Having kids will do that to you; so will moving 1000 miles from everyone you’ve known all your life.  I’m going to post some new photos today.  They are mostly from my Christmas vacation.  These are the long-awaited photos of my family and Júlía’s family and Sigga and Addi’s kids.  Actually, if you’re lucky and I can publish them without being sued, I may even post some pictures I got of Þórunn and Binni.  I don’t know, though.  You see Þórunn has a lot of friends at the newspaper mentioned recently on my site.  I don’t know how many of my secrets will end up being discussed on Silfur Egils (an evening talk show about issues of the day here in Iceland) if she decides that the photographs were not her best side or something!  

         So, this image that kids can provide a man with a reason to give up all of the other “freedoms” of life can actually be true.  This is one of the things that The Wife does not always approve of in movies.  I mean, the idea that a career woman gives up her dreams to be a housewife to save a relationship with a man she loves.  I have to agree on this point.  It is pretty sad that in movies it’s almost always the woman who gives up here blossoming (or successful) career in order to save a boyfriend-girlfriend relationshipo with the guy she’s been with for the whole movie.  It’s never even mentioned that the man would give up the transfer to some city 3000 miles away.  I, for one, would love to be offered the opportunity to be a househusband if it mean that my wife could go out and earn enough to support us.  Then she gets to deal with the stress of commuting and working and pleasing people who are trying to beat her at the success game.  Meanwhile, Mr. Eric is sitting home cleaning and enjoying watching the children grow and only having to please people who love him very much and are not looking to destroy him for their own benefit.  What a gig!  I know taking care of the house and kids is a lot of work.  but it’s not thankless work in which one is constantly having to fight with others.  Out in the real world (though I guess it’s not in all fields of employment) one has to always push onesself to excel, not for one’s own sake, but to impress others.  One has to eat a lot of crap from a boss (often a boss who deserves no respect) in order to get recogition for the effort put into a job. Working at home, one can at least relax knowing that he/she is not in direct competition with millions of other people who have the same qualifications.  of course, I am speaking from the point of view of a man who lives in a marriage built on trust and respect.  I know that a lot of people don’t have that advantage.  Many people live in the fear of being replaced at a moment’s notise no matter what they are doing for a living.   But just once I’d like to see a man in a movie pack up and move with his lover somewhere or, even better, a couple who make a compromise of some sort.  How did I get here again?

     I know this is somewhat of a tangent.  But hey, didn’t you know that my brain wanders around in my head?  That’s why I started by calling this iste Wandering Thoughts Journal.  I recently changed the name mostly because I don’t like the word journal.  It sounds too official or uppity.  This is much more like hte useless scratchings of a chicken in a sandy barnyard.  But it’s sometimes pretty entertaining, ain’t it?!  I think the Scottish comedian Billy Connelly summed it up best:
     My thoughts are just flying round and I just sit back and watch them.  Every now
     and again, one say, “Talk about me! Talk about me, or I’ll f****in’ go away!”, and
     if I don’t it’s gone.