No work today…I took the day off. I think I will work right up until the Little Bean decides to come out…that’s the plan anyway. In the meantime, I will take a day off here and there to do stuff around the house and, of course, read, find quotes, and update my blog.
Here is a quote by William E. Blatz, found in my pregnancy journal:
List of parental requirements:
- Affection without sentiment
- Authority without cruelty
- Discipline without aggression
- Humor without ridicule
- Sacrifice without obligation
- Companionship without possessiveness
August 10 (about 32-33 weeks)
Sound like good goals even for non-parental relationships. That first one is a bit unclear to me…I am interpreting it as “affection without judgement” or “without opinion”. (Do you have another interpretation? Please comment…)
These are things I will strive for.
One Moore In The Oven 
Maybe what he’s getting at is a matter of authenticity. Sentimentality is, in its modern sense, a mainly pejorative term, describing a disproportionate emotional response–heightened emotion cultivated just for its own sake. (I think about myself at 13 or so, listening to tragic music, reading tragic poetry and sad stories–forcing huge emotions, just for the sake of experiencing them. Please tell me you were an emo kid, too, and you get what I’m saying.) I read this as an injunction to be authentic in your love, and not fancy it up with overblown, unnecessary, romantic notions–to love the person and not the *idea* of that person. Good advice.
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