Simcha turns five!

Tomorrow is Simcha’s fifth birthday! We celebrated this evening with a special birthday dinner, presents, and ice cream cake. It all started this afternoon. We spent the morning cleaning and vacuuming, then I fired up the internet radio with some kind of techno lounge music with a good beat. Then I called Simcha into the living room and did a silly dance. Then I sang. I improvised. It went something like this: “Go Sim-cha! It’s your birth-day! Go Sim-cha! It’s your birthday! We love you! We adore you! It’s your birth-day! Be hap-py!” She was delighted and we all laughed out loud for a long time while we acted silly.

Among her presents were several rubber bath duckies. It may seem strange, but she has always had a fascination for them. Michelle found some that light up with little dancing disco lights when they are touched or placed in the water. Simcha also received a firefighter duckie that changes color with the water temperature. She also got a Sleeping Beauty doll.

Saadia is already two-and-a-half months old. She is extraordinarily happy. She is alert, loves to ‘talk’, and hardly cries at all.


Whereas Havilah and Simcha both slept in a bassinette when they were her age, Saadia sleeps in our bed because we are short on space in this little apartment. I sleep lightly because I help feed her at night and because her favorite pastime is making cooing noises and kicking me in the back all night long.

Havilah is doing great in the 1st grade. I read to her, and Simcha too, every night, and Havilah is making great strides in her reading.

We are still not making enough money, although we have done everything we can think of to cut expenses, short of trading in our car for something smaller that would have a lower monthly payment. Michelle has an appointment tomorrow to sign up for WIC and food stamps. That should help a lot. We are a couple of months behind now on some of our bills. We are getting closer though, and I still have confidence that eventually we will be all right. My credit rating may get shot to hell, but at least we are not in immediate danger of being out on the street.

Reflecting on the past few years, I am astounded (appalled?) at everything this family has been through. My sense of self-worth has been nearly non-existent these past few months, but I believe I am rebounding. I am steadily becoming more comfortable with being an atheist in a world that is downright hostile toward atheism. I no longer feel a need to announce it, to explain or justify it. I don’t feel a need to denounce religion. I have learned that it’s unsafe to say much about it to anyone.

I don’t discuss my beliefs unless I am asked. Even my father, who is an educated and compassionate man, can not sit still and discuss it with me in a calm manner. Most of our discussions on the topic have been initiated by his attacks on philosophy, as a discipline. These usually take me by surprise and must admit I resent them. I sympathize with my father and I have no desire to challenge him or deprive him – or anyone else – of something that gives them a sense of meaning and comfort.

The last time, he asked me if I knew that I was a philosophical “throwback”. I don’t have any clear idea in what way he meant by it. He made a definite point that logic doesn’t produce any ideas in and of itself, and that it can be most misleading. He seemed to be questioning the usefulness of reasoning at all. I was, quite frankly, dumbfounded and I couldn’t understand his point at all. I just agreed with him that logic is not creative and that the conclusions of logic depend on the quality of the information, evidence, and assumptions that are being worked with. I thought it was just a really strange conversation to have with my dad, since I have always considered him to be smarter than I am. It’s taken me a long time to get over my competitiveness with him, and now every once in a while he wants to get competitive with me.

I haven’t been very good company for a long time now because of our financial difficulties and the depression that has come along with them. I think my dad has misdiagnosed that depression and thinks that it is related to my atheism. I think that theists imagine how they would feel if they didn’t have a belief in God to give their lives meaning, and then they project those feelings on atheists and assume that atheists are just a miserable lot.

Anyway, that’s all for the moment. This posting has been a long time coming and it may be another long wait for the next. I will read and appreciate all comments, but I may not be able to respond in a timely manner (and I may not have internet access – that was actually turned off for a while and it may be turned off again later this month)!

In the meantime, best wishes to all!