Pictures of Eleanor!

Didn’t I say she was adorable? That’s my sister Suzanne, Eleanor, and my brother-in-law Benjamin. See more pictures at Ben’s site.

At 9:33 this morning in Washington, D.C., Eleanor Park Smedberg was born, much to the relief of her mom Suzanne and her dad Benjamin. She weighs 6 lbs., 6 oz. and is 19 1/4 inches tall. At 9:40 AM, Grandma went out to the waiting room and told Pappy and Uncle Matt, who were having a lively and likely sleep-deprivation-induced political debate. They put aside the relatively unimportant issue of who should be president and greeted their new granddaughter / niece. There was a general, completely objective consensus that little Eleanor is absolutely adorable, with her mom and grandma’s nose and her dad’s chin (and perhaps feet). Many pictures were taken, some of which you, dear reader, may get to see. Eleanor will be going home with Mom and Dad later this week, and will no doubt be making her family’s life much more exciting from now on.

So my sister is about to have a baby any day now! The official due date is June 22nd (or so), but Suzanne says that the baby’s about as big as she’s gonna get and so we shouldn’t be too surprised if she comes Real Soon Now[TM]. She’ll be the first grandchild for Mom and Dad and my first niece (or nephew), so it’s very exciting. I’m keeping my cellphone charged and a full tank of gas in the car, ready to zoom up to Washington on short notice.

It’s strange how time can seem to pass so slowly– it seems like I’ve been struggling through graduate school for about 900,000 years– and then one day realize how much has gone in a heartbeat. My memories with my sister when we children are so vivid, they could have been yesterday…. that day we accidentally got locked in the attic and we had to go out the skylight to get out… that time when Bee McCall accidentally hit her with his bike, and I took her back home in tears… playing on Pappy’s boat up in Canada… and now she’s a responsible adult and teacher and wife and mother and everything. It’s remarkable.

While reading the recently published list of the 50 worst songs ever, I repeatedly found myself thinking, “Hey, I like that song!” (I won’t even tell you how many, or which, of those albums I own.) Alas, some people are born with an innate sense of which songs suck and which don’t, and some people just aren’t. I have no discernable musical taste. Big portions of High Fidelity passed over my head in blank incomprehension. I’m a complete sucker for any song with a catchy hook; without cultural pressure or the intervention of thoughtful friends I’d probably cheerfully buy any Britney Spears or Backstreet Boys or John Mayer or Avril Lavigne album that came out.

Thankfully, my friends have fed me a healthy diet of classic rock, geeky alternative, bluegrass and Celtic music: Led Zepplin, Bruce Springsteen, the Grateful Dead, Ben Folds, Barenaked Ladies, XTC, Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch, the Chieftains… I discovered the sheer joy of NickeI Creek all by myself. I’m learning to be more critical of songs that are just too catchy for their own good (for example, I think the members of Outkast should be apprehended and brought to justice for the crimes they have committed against our airwaves). Yes, I think I may be on the road to recovery.

But if you ever come to visit, don’t look at my CD shelf, okay?

Only 36 hours until I get to go to on vacation!