A discovery

Booker found his feet today. Whether he knows they are his is debatable.

1..2..3..FOUR! Cheers for The Action Sampler!

These are the photos our new camera takes. It may not look like much, but this shiny chrome box of plastic is a dream!

"Where did you get that name from...?"

At least two ladies in church asked me that question today. In one form or another we've been asked that since his birth. My favorite variant by far has been, "C'mon now, what did you really name him?" He doesn't have a namesake per se, but if he ever tires of answering that question we'll let him choose from a diverse yet solid short list:

Booker T. Washington: Known philanthropist, educator, and social activist.

Booker T: Six-time world champion: five-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion (four times in WCW and once in WWE), one-time World Heavyweight Champion, native Houstonian, and known anabolic steroid user.

Booker T. Jones (second from left): Grammy-winning musician, producer, frontman of the M.G.'s, and one of a select few able to work the velour without an undershirt. I highly recommend the Melting Pot and Green Onions albums.

In answering the query of the dear ladies I went the well-traveled route with something like "Oh we just liked it," which is, incidentally, the truth. But the better question that they--along with past, present, and eventual inquisitors--should be asking themselves is not why our son's name is Booker, but why theirs isn't.

Blessed.

Booker was blessed today by his father. That's Josh's new title: one he is growing into, while I try to fit the corresponding title of "mother." We are lucky. And Booker is funny. And still very bald. We love him.

The boy.

Booker is much bigger. I suppose that is what happens over a few weeks. Six weeks. Have a look.

Llego.

Booker David Downs
Born: November 11, 2010 at 4:23 pm
Heavy and long. 8 pounds, 13 ounces; 21 inches.
Big eyes, spider monkey hands, boats for feet.
Absolutely the most perfect thing either of us have ever done.

Frodo saved more than just Middle Earth

Since our early days of courtship my wife has a habit of falling asleep during movies at home. Initially I was disappointed at finishing movies all by myself, especially when the movie in question was suggested by the sleeper in question. It didn't seem fair that if we were going to watch a period drama about the Trujillo dictatorship (In the Time of Butterflies), I end up the only witness to the traumatic murder of Salma Hayek's character. Marc Anthony's Lio? By all means. Rewind and rewind once more.

These experiences, and others like them made movie-watching seem like a bizarro version of sleepover where the last one awake was actually the loser.

With time, however, I have learned to suggest that a given movie would be cool for the both of us to see, knowing all along that it was a movie I wanted (next up: Tron). The disappointment is all but gone.
But now deception is unnecessary. In response to Jessica's persistence (which will likely aid in her childbirth), we began watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy on a nightly basis. The EXTENDED version at that. And does she sleep? Negative. She even asks questions:

-"Now who did the dwarves awake in the mines of Moria?"

- "Who are the Urukai?"

-"Did Arwyn just give up her immortality to Aragorn?"

I think it is also helping Jess overcome her fear of Gollum, which means I will be able to impersonate him freely by the end of the trilogy, an ability which up until this point has left me laughing but without affection from my wife.
I wouldn't have guessed that J.R.R. Tolkien would bring us closer as a couple.

But I am grateful.

And for his helping convert C.S. Lewis back to Christianity.