Thursday, November 13, 2008

Girls

A combination of a several events have had me really cherishing my girls lately.

My wife has been reading a historical fiction book set in 19th century China. I havent read it but from what she has relayed to me the story is told from the perspective of a young girl. In China girls were pretty much expendable and they were quite literally just a target for torture. Her descriptions of the Chinese practice of foot-binding really disturbed me. The fact that 1 in 10 girls dies from infection of lost their feet just adds to the horror of this practice.

Without going into too much detail, this week has been report card and parent teacher conference week. My girls accomplishments have given me particular reason to be proud.

Last night when I got home from work Eve was being uncharacteristically mellow. She crawled up onto the couch and sat next to me. Soon she had fallen asleep. I could tell by how warm she was that she wasnt feeling good. So I let her sleep on my lap for a few hours. When it cam time for bed I took her upstairs and stayed with her for a while once Id put her to bed. Victoria came in a remarked that I was doing womens work and that the men should not be burdened with having to help sick girls. I should send her away and let other women take care of her and if she dies she dies and thats one less mouth for me to feed. Of course she was not serious. She was just parroting the views of the book shes reading. Nevertheless her comments really made me focus on how precious my girls are.

Eve stayed home from school today and I just got a call that her fever is back up. I sure hope that its not too serious. Im just so glad that I didnt grow up in China.

2 comments:

  1. Eve is foot binding age, too. Thanks for helping me take care of Eveybug. You haven't slapped me since we got married, or before for that matter, so I appreciate that too. That and you help with cooking and laundry. Different circumstances and cultures, indeed.

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  2. We are all very happy not to have those traditions that do not uplift our children. We are indeed blessed with wonderful sweet children and more family friendly traditions. My feet are strange enough naturally without any help from binding.

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