I am on the last day of paternity leave, and it doesn't really feel like I have taken any time off. I was with the famed older brother and family all of last week and Monday was spent trying to sort out servicing my car, getting a haircut, taking Naomi for a walk, and some other things. I was able to sort out getting the car serviced for this morning, so I have dropped it off and taken my bicycle across town to the neighborhood McDonalds where I have had a salad, a quarter pounder, some Sprite Zero and some WiFi.
I have a lot to write about.
My brother and his family were here last week and we had a good time. It's funny when you are with your family how normal all the things you do feel. Having spent three weeks with my mother-in-law and wife, avoiding doing the wrong thing and trying to be the least American I could be, it was nice to let it all hang out, if you'll excuse the phrase. I ate too much and felt quite fat all week for some reason, but upon getting on the scale today, I discovered that I had not gained any weight, and remain about 3.5 kilo above where I want to be. Hopefully the bike riding and self-control at McDonald's will pay off.
Otherwise adjusting to life without anyone around has been difficult, but I am leaving about this time tomorrow, so I won't have to deal with it anymore. Adding someone to the family takes work, and suddenly time is split again. It's funny how you slowly become something you never envisioned for yourself: walking to the park with two daughters. When did this happen?
The shooting of this abortion doctor has got me thinking a lot too, given my rather ardent pro-life stance. I have this question for the pro-choice crowd: if Dr Miller had tried to abort a baby, and the baby was born still alive, is he justified in killing it once it is out of the womb? Every time I get into an argument about this, the pro-choice crowd always gets right onto the rights of the mother, but I never get a good answer to: when does life begin? In my mind, where I am interested in moments when things change, I think the only defensible positions are conception or birth. As far as I'm concerned, everything else is arbitrary. And if you are okay killing a baby that is in the process of being born, I'm not sure what else I can say.
Well, I guess I do, as I've been thinking about it, accept the Roe decision and using viability as a cut-off point. Fine. But you have to make it so that the baby is assumed viable unless the doctor can prove otherwise, in my mind. I'm fine with late-term abortion if the baby is going to die anyway.
I think the pro-life movement needs to distance itself from the Christian crowd, shut the hell up about Jesus and run away from assholes holding an 'Abortion is murder' sign in one hand and a 'Stop gay marriage' sign in the other, and make a philosophical argument and some concessions. I'm not happy with either side of the issue.
Riding my bike was nice. The bike paths near the center of the city are much better than out near where we live. You can actually sort of figure out where you are using the signs.