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First of all, Happy Birthday Amanda! 26 years young. I hope you have a great day.

Identity issues are on my mind this week. There's a company out there that offers air travellers the opportunity to submit personal information to be held on file so they can receive automatic clearance through security at the airports that join this service. Unfortunately I forget what it is called but just as well I didn't waste brain cells on it because the company went under and so did this expedited service to airline passengers. These people paid some annual fee, submitted personal information for clearance so that they wouldn't have to stand in line and pretend that it's a pleasant social experience to board an airplane.

The company goes under. Now what happens to this information? In the name of preventing identity theft and threats to national security and safety, the public is being asked (required) to submit more and more personal information. And by "more and more" I mean more personal as well as more in quantity. That information is now available all collected up nicely together for someone smarter than I am to obtain in one fell swoop rather than really working hard to collect it up.

Newly posted signs in my doctor's office states they plan to take pictures of patients in order to protect against identity theft (!?). Additional and more highly personal information being sought in the name of protecting my identity. I promise I will not sue my doctor's office if my identity is stolen because my picture is not in the file in their offices.

Ryan got a 64 on his Chemistry Regents (our kingdom for one point) and the information required by July 1 for him to re-take this Regents on our very own campus in 6 weeks includes: date of birth, doctor's phone number; dentist's name and phone number; our family setup (foster, single parent, the ubiquitous "other"); mumps, psychiatric condition and ear infections; field trip and media release for pictures to the newspaper; (yes, I'm still registering him to take a single Regents exam in his own school) AND his social security number --which I refused to supply. Front and back of a form--there was more I can't really remember.

Jim can't find his social security card and BOCES needs it so he can teach summer enrichment. To get a replacement card, he fills out a single sided form and shows his drivers license. That's it. To replace his social security card.

Something is all backwards here. To "protect" against identity theft and terrorism we are required to submit increasingly personal pieces of information to a supposedly trustworthy authority invisible to us (BOCES for Regents retakes and summer enrichment--but not the airports---yet). Mounting evidence to prove our identity is held by someone else, which by its very nature makes it more vulnerable to theft or other nefarious purposes.

We are required to put ourselves (our very self identity) at risk in order to pass the Chemistry Regents. Seems a little bit like trying to "protect" against obesity by requiring you to purchase more Oreos so that I can put another lock on your pantry door so the Oreos are safe.

Go have an Oreo on me.

Meet Amy's new friends Flynn and Ryan

Ryan (at top) and Flynn (the brown one) are some of Amy's "Clients" at the Ross Park Zoo this summer. Can't help but think Weenie would really love this!!!

Emma Lynn O'Brien has arrived!

It is with great pleasure I would like to introduce Emma! She arrived at 10:10 a.m. on June 21, 2009 (Father's Day AND the summer solstice). She has dark hair and weighs in at 7lbs. 9oz. So far all is going well. Amanda says that this birth was easier than Emma's big sister Sophie (shown here with Dad). Amanda looks great!

Bill is a great Dad. He is always on the floor playing with Sophie and making her laugh. Sophie about jumps out of her skin when Daddy get home from work! I think that Little Miss Emma is going to have a great life. I wonder what Dioggee will think?

Special Father's Day

Welcome Emma O'Brien! We are happy to greet you into the world especially on Father's Day. My very favorite thing to do is to add to the family tree and this is my very favorite way to add to the family tree --into the future rather than from the past. Congratulations Bill and Amanda. I expect Paula will be adding a picture or two to this blog for all of us.

It's turning into a beautiful day. Father's Day is always a little dicey for me. I do not have warm fuzzy memories about Dad although I believe he did the very best he knew how to do. I believe he loved Mom through and through. In some of these home movies he seems genuinely happy but I have to admit I don't feel like this carried forward through the years of my memories of childhood.

But he always worked very hard to provide for us and tried the best he knew how. So much seemed to be based on how things were "supposed" to be -- it must have been very hard work to keep that up all those years with such a large family on such a small salary. In today's world, generally people give up and go on with their changed lives--it's too hard and too costly to personal lives.

But Dad's generation had different expectations. These probably came at the cost of personal goals and happiness. I can appreciate the price he must have paid to get us out into the world to be productive citizens. I don't know for sure if this is accurate to Dad's experience but it's what keeps me going on Father's Day.

Your perceptions are probably very different but somewhere along the way things must have been done very well as we all still get along, see each other and stay in touch. This speaks to the efforts Mom and Dad made raising their children. Happy Father's Day and Summer Solstice.

Summer Blockbusters and Life

Gotcha with that title, didn't I? But I can't really take credit for it. There's an article in the current Real Simple magazine called "10things summer blockbusters teach us about life" that I found kind of amusing, especially when thinking about Fambly.

I can't even remember the last time I went to a "summer blockbuster" nor the last time I went to a movie any time close to its opening (I'm pretty sure it was a Disney movie). It's just not something I do, but these 10 things also apply to life and to Fambly.

1. Heroes don't always know that they're heroes. Well, Disney characters always seem to know deep down inside that they are heroes, even if they deny it at the beginning of the movie. Paula and Mary Jane are my heroes that probably don't know it. I admire what they have done under very difficult circumstances. It doesn't feel to me as though I could have done the same.

2. There's always someone you can trust. With Disney, it's usually an animal with some kind of cute face. With Fambly, it's usually a sibling with some kind of smartass comment.

3. There is always a sequel. True enough. Either way.

So this is just a few of the "10 things". But for myself, summer blockbusters and fambly have some other things in common. They can be epic, like fambly weddings (Gloucester anyone?). Word spreads fast--looks like we've had a Facebook pandemic with the Ryans recently. They are a fun way to waste an afternoon (too obvious to elaborate). They can make a lot of money--OK, not all the analogies hit the mark.

Today was our last day of school. Perhaps the same for some of you. So now it feels like summer is really upon us. A new season for us and for Tim on his way to boot camp.

And one more from the article especially for Paula thinking about Tim: Everything will be OK in the end. Summers 1973 (The Exorcist) and 1993 (Jurassic Park) represented!!

June and New Beginnings

Two invitations arrvied in the mail recently. Apparently someone at this address is invited to a class reunion--35 years!!! That doesn't even sound right. Remember when it was your 5 year reunion and you looked at those 35 year participants and shook your head in wonderment?? How does this happen?

May and June seem to bring celebrations of new beginnings--especially graduations and wedding. Paula and Judy celebrate their 20 year anniversary of their colllege graduations! Imagine that. You'd hardly know this picture wasn't taken yesterday.......Aren't you surprised by the pictures I have?

Good luck Tim. We are very proud of you and wish you well. Stay in touch and stay safe.