Darkness On The Edge of Town

Besides being a 1978 Bruce Springsteen album and episode titles for the 2003 version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, One Tree Hill, and Arrow -- I ran across the Wikipedia disambiguation page on the way here -- it's also the title of Sunday's episode of the midseason premiere of Once Upon A Time, one of the small handful of shows that makes television worth watching. In my humble opinion ...

Due to our not having cable, we have to watch the show Monday nights on Hulu Plus, and it did not disappoint. The fairy tale characters who've had their memories restored are now finding themselves joined in Storybrooke by the series' version (ABC that the show is on is owned by the Walt Disney Company, so the characters mostly adhere to their versions) of Ursula the Sea Witch, Cruella De Vil, and Rumpelstiltskin, the last of whom nobody knows is there because he got kicked out of town in the previous episode BY HIS WIFE! Happy endings are so overrated.

It's as much fun for us to watch Once Upon A Time -- also known as OUAT, pronounced ooh-AHT, to the "true fans" -- cuddled together on the couch (Martha and I on either end so we have armrests with the same-gender kid to the side of us) as to watch the kids proverbially on the edge of their seats as it's going on. Jeffrey our son who is flopping on the floor as much to keep himself awake as tensing up when he sees the action on-screen -- it's just comic.

And when the night's episode came to the end and I heard a very baleful "NOOOOOOO!" from both Jeffrey and Sarah... I could understand, a week is forever when you're a kid. For Martha and I, it's just a change in shifts; right now we're trying to work our how to budget over the next few months so we not only get caught up on our finances but also be able to drop one or two extra jobs in the process. Sleep and rest are not problems, it's just that so often they're spaced out through the day and night.

This week at school has been Dr. Seuss week, commemorating the author of such classics as Green Eggs and Ham (first book Jeffrey read by himself) and The Cat In The Hat, and kids have been allowed to dress up with mismatched socks -- like that's unusual -- and otherwise look wacky.
Today's pajama day for them, and this past Sunday I brought the kids to Minot Public Library for their annual collection of Dr. Seuss-themed activities.

(His birthday is March 2, and I recall asking Sarah why when I was growing up we didn't have a Dr. Seuss week; I guess because then he was still very much alive ...) What can I say, there's a lot of children's books and programming that reminds us what it's like to be a child. When you're an adult, it's a job to transcend that programming. To be like a child to enter the kingdom of God, yet not be childish.

I got to church for our midweek Lenten service last night just as church was ending, darn it! But I can accept that; Pastor Gerald told me this morning as I dropped off the Sunday school materials for next week that there were about 130 people there, and it's certainly a blessing that I can keep up. I came in to Thursday morning coffee and the smell of Archie's freshly baking bread (for the Lenten suppers, which due to my work schedule I can't get to either), and I go out to find greater things.

And I will find them, even in the darkness.

David