So it is Friday night at 8:51pm and C.J. and I are home alone relaxing. She is eating and I am holding the bottle for her. In the background, you guessed it, Football! Nevada vs. Missouri, we think Mizzou will win.
Anyway, Mommy took some much needed me time tonight and she better come home bearing gifts for all. Anyway that left Daddy to have his first attempt at bath time. Since Mommy created a system for this I usually write during that given time, however, I had to come off the bench and step up tonight. I will say I did rather well. No soap in her eyes. I did not drop her and she did not cry too much. I was paranoid at whether the water was too hot or too cold but when I put her in she was relaxed.
I washed her face, changed washcloths, then her body. Last was the hair with the washcloth I used for her face. No booty-face washcloth for her. I'm on top of things just so you all know.
In trying to keep with Shatema's system I read to C.J. tonight as well. I chose a different type of text and read to her Martin Luther King Jr's sermon/speech "Where Do We Go From Here?" As I read this almost 40 year old text, it was sad to come to the conclusion that my daughter was born into a similar world mentioned. I know the words are complicated and the tone is a bit grim but I hope that all of this is seeping into her inner most being and beginning to shape and mold her into the powerful black woman she will be. I have added an excerpt for you to ponder. "The Negro will only be free when he reaches down to the inner depths of his own being and signs with the pen and ink of assertive manhood his own Emancipation Proclamation. And, with a spirit straining toward true self-esteem, the Negro must boldly throw off the manacles of self-abnegation and say to himself and to the world, "I am somebody. I am a person. I am a man with dignity and honor. I have a rich and noble history. How painful and exploited that history has been. Yes, I was a slave through my foreparents and I am not ashamed of that. I'm ashamed of the people who were so sinful to make me a slave." Yes, we must stand up and say, "I'm black and I'm beautiful," and this self-affirmation is the black man's need, made compelling by the white man's crimes against him."
C.J., Daddy wants you to stand up for what is right. He wants you to not be ashamed of who you are and where you come from. He wants you to be bold. He wants you to be a leader and not compromise your beliefs. He wants you to be YOU!" I say this because as I realized earlier we are still in search of where to go and I want C.J. to be a part of the calvary headed upward and onward.
So it is, another night comes to an end. The bond between father and daughter grows stronger and all is good in the Johnson household. As always remember to pray because prayer changes things.
