Familia es muy importante.

Soooo.....no kid yet, but we have heard some news on the up coming kid front. Sarahs sister Amy is pregnant and will be due in September, and Sarahs bro John has a boy due in May plus some rumblings about some more population growth from various others. So my kid will be several months older than Johnny's boy and a good 6 months older than Amys 2nd child, making him/her the alpha dog of this new batch of children into the Platt fold. (I only say these because of the strict Mennonite and Military training I will raise the kid on, in reality there is 13 or so older cousins, so him/her is pretty much effed). I am sure Johnny and his wife will have more kids, the inevitable spawn of Rick and Bekah will eventually come and my sister may or may not have a kid, so I will tell my child, sit him/her on my knee and instruct him/her on the principles of discreetly buying alcohol for underage relatives. Oddly, as i think about that, I have purchased alcohol for minors maybe twice, once when me and my sister drank some beers after my dad passed away and once for Johhny, he wanted a 12 pack of Budweiser and some Ballatore champagne. I have never been asked at a gas station...since I turned 21. I remember on a couple occasions where guys obviously older than me would ask if i can get them some booze, in which I replied no, but can you guys get me some smokes (I was under 18). Huh.

This all kinda leads me to think about the morals we want to instill on our kid, you know golden rule kinda stuff, but really, how am I going to straight faced tell a kid to not smoke or drink. When I was in Nebraska in January for my G-mas funeral, we were at my Uncles house watching some distant farm boy relative run circles around the house (which was all Ikea stuff, which must have been ordered thru a catalog, which takes some balls, i have trouble buying half there crap in person. not that its all crap, its just the good stuff is good and the cheap is....cheap. reference my coffee table for further proof.) any way the kid was running around the house and my cousin started asking questions about when kids do things. When is the first cuss word? When do they start to settle down? When do they start to drink and smoke? The father replied, 16-18 but if your a Rial it is guaranteed 12. I glanced across the room and saw all my uncles, my sister, my Rial cousins (who are all in there late 30's save for two) all kinda blush and nervously laugh. I smoked my first cigarette at 12, and I think I swilled a mouth full of vodka around then also. So how did they tell there kids not to do that, I actually don't remember my parents telling me not to, I remember my dad constantly trying to get me to drink beers with him, and I was definitely the go for at party's for fresh cold ones. I remember my Mom once telling me not to smoke because it was too expensive, not because of health risks.

Any ways, I have no problem with buying alcohol for minors, if you use your judgement and be discreet. Yes it is not a victimless action, they could go drink and drive or get date raped or get alcohol poison, but they are going to get it some way some how, and if you size one up right, you could just be doing some kids a solid instead of guaranteeing some 15 year old girls pregnancy later that night. And pot....I think it should be legal, I see it as a less evil than booze, I applaud the president for his statement of "yes I have in haled, I did it a lot, isn't that the point" marijuana and the crack down on it is retarded. But it IS illegal, how to you get around the paradox? I don't know, and I have a good decade and a half...wait the kid will be a Rial, I have 12 years to figure it out.

Sarah has been busy making the room the kid won't use for several months nice and pretty. I am jealous. Jealous of the room with matching and "nice" furniture, jealous of Sarah's attention, but its cool I guess. This post is getting a little touchy feel-y and I don't think I have said one thing witty, I will end it before I get too deep.

-Later