Posts Tagged ‘Kennedy’
November 27, 2008
I invited Kennedy to go see the Hopper exhibit at the SAM (Seattle Art Museum) today.
She got more excited over this than I imagined she would. In anticipation of our date this afternoon, she woke up at 2 AM. Holly had to send her back to bed at 5:30 AM. Needless to say, when we finally got to the SAM this afternoon, she was low energy. They only had a few Hoppers on display and Nighthawks–my favorite–was not among them.
Kennedy and I enjoyed what was there. We also enjoyed the lobby of the SAM, which has some crazy sculpture of cars flipping through the air.
We had a snack in the restaurant. I tried to imagine Kennedy as a girl in a Hopper painting.
Posted in kids | 2 Comments »
Tags: Edward Hopper, Kennedy, Seattle Art Museum
November 25, 2008
Here at Present Tense we’re mightly proud to present a memoir by Kennedy Elhajj.
Not only is this Kennedy’s first published work, it’s her first shot at writing memoir. This essay is the result of a fifth grade project done by her entire class. The press is claiming that she fabricated parts of this non-fiction essay, but don’t you believe it. As her father, I can vouch that every word of it is true. My little girl is the real deal.
My Favorite Water Polo Game
by Kennedy Elhajj
The swimmer was racing toward me while my teamies swam their hardest behind him. It was all up to me now, I was GOALIE! It seemed like slow-mo.
The ball came racing toward me! I WAS TERRIFIED! I tried to tread my hardest; it felt like my legs were going to EXPLODE! The player got ready to cheer. Then… SPLASH! I went underwater. A mysterious pain throbbed in my hands. When I bobbed to the surface my eyes were covered in water. When my eyes cleared the first thing I saw were my teamies cheering.
There was 1 second on the clock! I felt rushed; the score was 10-10. I looked behind me expecting to see the ball. But it wasn’t there; I looked in front of me. THERE IT WAS! The ball was sitting right in front of me!
I was proud and excited at the same time. I had saved the game, I felt good. The clock blared as loud as a siren.
The crowd stood up and cheered. I had saved the game, I felt very powerful at that moment. I got lots of hugs and kisses (even Aaron gave me a hug, when we got home of course, and that made me feel extra good).
But back to game! I got high 5’s from my teamies.
As it turned out my dad had taken a picture of me saving the goal, he took another picture of me and Aaron shouting at each other (after the goal) in a good natured, happy way. My dad made a joke about it and I laughed so hard, that when I was done laughing I was out of breath.
That was my favorite water polo game ever.
THE END
Posted in kids | 3 Comments »
Tags: athlete, guest blogger, hero, Kennedy, memoir, My Favorite Water Polo Game, water polo
November 10, 2008
Timmy’s first year in the Coast Guard he was stationed at Port Seattle.
Last week Kennedy called me at work to ask if I knew any veterans. I reminded her about Timmy and my own tour of duty some thirty years ago. How quickly they forget. The fifth grade class was doing a Veteran’s Day celebration and each child was to announce their relationship to a veteran at an assembly of the entire student body. Kennedy was unimpressed with my peace time enlistment. God only knows what she believes Timmy is up to in the Coast Guard.
She ended up annoucing her nanny, Tanya who served in the Gulf with (I believe) the National Guard. Tanya was a life saver who helped us care for the kids when they were toddlers.
Aaron decided to announce me, despite the peace during my tenure in the Navy. I was very proud. I am also proud of Timmy who continues to keep our coasts safe.
Here are more pictures of Port Seattle.
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Tags: Aaron, Kennedy, Port Seattle, Tanya, Timmy, USCG, Veteran's Day
November 5, 2008
The kids were obsessed with last night’s vote.
They started watching the election results after they got home from their after school activities. It was early evening and the results were just coming in. When they heard McCain was up somewhere on the East Coast, there was much wailing.
“Oh, no!” Kennedy cried.
“How can this be,” Aaron wanted to know.
Holly told them to relax. She explained how early it was and got them ready for what we thought would be a long night of returns. Pretty soon Kennedy was aping CNN, talking like a pundit. Aaron was doing delegate math. I got home from work around 8pm. No sooner had I walked in the door, Holly called out “Obama wins!”
And there was much celebration!
I enjoyed the McCain concession speech. I had to scold Aaron for shooting the TV with his nerf dart gun while McCain was speaking. The kids brushed teeth and we all watched Obama’s victory speech.
I like it that we all enjoyed such a momentous occasion together. We never did that sort of thing when I was a boy and that was during one of America’s most tumultuous decades: Nixon, Vietnam, Civil Rights, and Women’s liberation. Not to mention all the Arab/Israeli conflicts.
I remember watching the Olympics with my Dad and brothers and Jim McKay’s plaintive voice saying, “They’re all gone.”
I said, “Dad, the Arabs.” I knew we were Arab on his side.
I don’t remember what he said. I imagine he was trying to deal with the news himself. I just always seemed to want to know more than my parents were willing to tell me. Now I realize sometimes that’s no fault of the parents.
But last night was all kinds of great. All the political questions were easily answered by Dad and Mom. It’s always good when your man wins.
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Tags: Aaron, Barack Obama, election night, family, John McCain, Kennedy, vote
October 27, 2008
Kennedy got her braces off Friday. Just in time for Halloween treats!
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Tags: Kennedy, kids, million dollar grill, orthodontics, smile, worth it
August 27, 2008
Saying prayers with Kennedy earlier this week, I wanted to point out how grateful we are to have Holly. But I didn’t want to just say we should be grateful for Mom. I wanted to really drive the point home, so I said something like, “Imagine what it would be like if we didn’t have Mom.”
Kennedy thought for a split second and then she started to laugh. “Just you,” she said. “That would be so terrible.” The snickering went on a little too long for my liking. I started feeling a little defensive.
“I could do it,” I told her. If Aaron had been there, he would have had my back (We know you could do it, Dad!), but Kennedy just kept on giggling. We really do rely on Holly.
Not long after I got Kennedy queited down, she asked me if it was scary to be married. I told her about the day Holly and I got married. We had planned a small ceremony in our apartment: Harrell flew in from California and a pastor friend was going to do the service in our living room. Holly and I were out in the kitchen. The pastor suggeted we get started and suddenly my mouth got dry. I needed a glass of water. I told Holly I’d be along in a minute, but she grabbed me by the elbow and hissed, “You’re not going anywhere.” She might have been scared. I know I was nervous. But then you say a few words, kiss, and it’s all over.
“Do you have to kiss?” Kennedy wanted to know
“I think you do have to kiss,” I told her. ”It may be a rule.”
Posted in family | 1 Comment »
Tags: Holly, Kennedy, love, marriage, my wedding day
August 20, 2008
Aaron and Kennedy are playing water polo this year. Above is Aaron getting pulled as Kennedy guards the goal at the deep end.
Watch what happens.
The opposing team takes a shot and Kennedy propellers (this is what they call moving your feet to gain elevation in water polo) herself up to block. Aaron watches with mild concern.
The block is good. Aaron exults.
Kennedy acts like there was never any doubt, but I know she loves hearing her brother cheer for her.
Posted in kids | 2 Comments »
Tags: Aaron, drama, goalie, Kennedy, water polo
July 30, 2008
With an athlete like Aaron in the family, Kennedy is always getting the short shrift. It’s not that Kennedy isn’t an athlete. She just has a much different approach to sports than Aaron. But swim team is the right sport for her. With all the kids milling about, the meets feel more like afternoon picnics than sporting events, and Kennedy really thrives in this kind of environment. She’s also pretty fast in the water.
I was explaining all this to my in-laws last week at the reunion. Kennedy was within earshot. I said I remembered standing on the side of the pool and noticing an enormous rooster tail of water making its way from one end of the pool to the other.
Grandpa Jim raised his eyebrows and nodded his head.
I told them I couldn’t figure out what it was, but it looked like a motor boat and it was getting all the parents in front of us wet. The rest of the swimmers were cheering.
I asked Holly what it was and she said, ‘Silly man. That’s your daughter.’
All the in-laws smiled and politely shooed off my tall tale, but I didn’t care. I was watching Kennedy, who looked up at me with her googly eyes and a smile that just wouldn’t quit.
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Tags: athletics, Kennedy, swim team
May 12, 2008
For Mother’s day this year Kennedy and I made a dyn-O-rama. I am not even sure where I got that name, but that’s what we’ve been calling it.
Earlier in the week Kennedy told me she wanted to make Mom a little three dimensional scene like the nativity scene we put out at Christmas. Kennedy often makes off-beat suggestions like this and I have learned to go with the flow.
She suggested we work with wood. I suggested cardboard (sometimes you have to buck the flow). When Holly and Aaron went to the game Friday night, Kennedy and I got busy.
I let Kennedy pick out the materials at the craft store. When we got to my work, I asked her to draw some figures in action poses. She drew Holly reading a book and herself dunking a basketball. I created a picnic table for “Holly” to sit on and a backboard for Kennedy’s avatar. We used the office color printer to print family photos from my flicr page and then cut and pasted the heads on our avatars.
We finished up late and then came home to ended the night watching Oklahoma on an old VCR tape. I told her how much fun I had with her and she agreed.
“I thought it was going to suck,” she said, without the slightest bit of malice.
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Tags: crafts, dyn-o-rama, Kennedy, kids, Mother's Day
March 12, 2008
After hearing a lot about it on NPR, I just started watching HBO’s, The Wire, on DVD. If you haven’t had the chance, each season focuses on one aspect of life in Baltimore. Season one focused on the West Baltimore drug trade. D’Angelo Barksdale, a fictional lieutenant and the nephew of Baltimore’s drug kingpin, was one of the key players.
Earlier this month I was selling Girl Scout cookies with Kennedy. My role as parent in charge of the sales site was much the same as D’Angelo Barksdale’s role selling crack in the Baltimore projects. I brought a lawn chair and settled discreetly into the background, watching out for theft or any untoward behavior. I also held the cookie money.
I wasn’t really paying attention and when I reached close to $100 in sales I got scared. Wanting to make sure our count was right, I made furious calculations. At one point, it seemed as if we were off by as much as $50!
Probably a result of watching so much of The Wire, I felt certain one of those nice Safeway shoppers had hoodwinked my girls.
Turns out it’s just much harder to keep track of the money than I expected. As I remember, I was never any good at selling narcotics either.
Posted in tv | 3 Comments »
Tags: girl scout cookies, HBO, Kennedy, narcotics, The Wire, tv
