Insights

Here is an insight into my brilliant mind:

 I will often take short notes when I think of something that I want to write about. That way, I will have a few things in the pot to put to share and I can remember what it is that I wanted to say. The more obscure of a thought or the longer I think it will be until I write it, the longer of a note I make to myself on my notes ap.

While I was on our recent family vacation, I decided not to post anything on here so I could focus a little more on doing stuff with the family. I did write down a few notes that I am sure you will reap the benefit of in the coming days.

One note was a little different. 

It says, simply, "White fences on Friday".

I have no idea what it means.

Expeditionary Titles

Just got back from a family trip, which included a stop at the Calaveras Big Trees State Park (Did I send you a postcard?).  Here are some titles I looked into while we were away. This list is purely for your edification and possible interest. Maybe you will find something you like.

Was it worth the tears?

"Life without liberty is like a body without spirit"

- Khalil Gibran 

About 25,000  Americans gave their lives to death and disease defending our liberty in the revolutionary war.

We lost around 600,000 soldiers during the American Civil War, confronting our shame of depriving liberty from so many.

Our nation has fought more wars that any other and has given the lives of many of our best. Some 400, 000 in WWII, at least 7,000 in the current war on terror, and many more in many other conflicts and wars.

 As they lay sick and hurt, bleeding and dying, did they wonder, "Was worth the pain?"

As their mothers and wives and brothers and sisters and children mourned their loss, did they wonder "Was it worth the tears?" 

What is the liberty and independence that we celebrate on this day? What is the price we are prepared to pay for it today? And what about the price that those that have gone before us have paid?

Was it worth the tears? 

I like this

I recently shared briefly at the Tucson Ministry Alliance's monthly luncheon on behalf of the Tucson Refugee Ministry. They asked me to come and tell about the experiences that a small group of us, including my family and I, had while befriending a family that came to Tucson as refugees from the Congo. I shared a couple of stories about that experience, but here is one story I did not share.

One night, we went to visit our friends apartment with our family and another young lady and her children. Another lady and her daughter, who had also come here as refugees, were also visiting when we arrived. After we talked for a little bit, the other lady looked at us skeptically and began to question us.

"Who are you?"

"Why are you here?"

"How do you know these people?"

It became clear to me that she was very suspicious of us and she did not seem to want us there at all. Then she said something that surprised me.

She said, "I like this. People. Will you come to my house too?"

Sadly, we never did. In fact, the majority of the over 1,000 refugees that will be coming to Tucson this year will have no-one to come visit them and be their friend. But they are asking, "will you come to my house too?"

Suspended

I have noticed that when children travel or are having fun, they tend to believe that natural laws are suspended.

For instance, they seem to think that no matter how far out they go in the water from the shore and no matter how strong the tides are, there is no way they could be swept out to sea.

They also think the Law of Gravity is suspended just for them. I am sure that they think that they can't possibly fall off the edge of the steep precipices they run up to, and if they do fall, they seem to believe they will just float back onto solid ground or something.

I used to ridicule children for being this dumb, but I just discovered that I have the same tendencies.

If I haven't shared, we have been trying to eat better and be a bit more healthy, trying to take in the kinds of foods that we were designed to eat, not the kinds that were designed to cheaply feed the masses and make someone somewhere their fortune(and no, I am not opposed to cheap food. Or even free food. And I am certainly not opposed to people getting rich from selling stuff. I just am trying to eat better.).

I have discovered that when I eat better, I feel better, have a better outlook, and more energy, etc., etc. All the cliche things you hear about why you should eat better.

Based on this last weekend, it seems that, when I travel, I think that the cause and effect of eating well goes out the window. Since I was out of town for the weekend, I loaded up on pizza, ice cream, soda and more. No, I didn't load up as much as have might have in days gone by, but it was still enough to make me feel absolutely awful most of yesterday morning.

It seems that my belief that certain natural laws were suspended were no more true for me than it is for all those thoughtless little children. I have another trip to California coming up soon. Someone make sure that I do better on that trip.

I saw Stu Grant

I seem to have an uncanny ability to do two things. The first is to win drawings. This might sound exciting, and it can be, but it gets annoying for my friends and family.

When they called to let us to know that we won a big American Girls jewelry box in a drawing, the caller was sure to let my wife know that it was my one entry, not hers or the girls numerous entries, that won the grand prize. When I won a trip to India in a drawing, my wife (the same one) let me know that I was not to enter the drawing to Columbia the following year.

Our youngest son is constantly irritated when he does not win drawings. I think he figures he should have inherited that trait. Perhaps he has to wait until my death and then argue with the others about who gets that.

The second super power I have is to see people I know in random places. A couple of examples: When we were driving through Idaho, we stopped for sandwiches and ran into some friends from Sacramento. In Saudi Arabia, I happened across my recruiter. He looked like it was his worst nightmare to see one of the troops he recruited in a full combat kit. Maybe I shouldn't have called him out as my recruiter in front of everyone.

I have numerous other examples of these, my only super powers, in action. But I am far too modest. Plus, the title of this post is, "I saw Stu Grant". So I will stick to that.

Last summer, I was hanging out on Coronado Island with the kids. After a brief pit stop in the bathroom, I looked over and saw Stu Grant with his boys looking just like Stu Grant.

This is unusual because I hadn't seen Stu Grant since the day we graduated High School in 1988. That makes for a 24 year gap. And, since neither one of us live anywhere near there, it seemed uncannily random, although hardly surprising, since that sort of thing happens to me fairly regular. That and winning drawings.

In any case, tomorrow is Stu's Birthday, and I am in the San Diego area for the day, so I thought of him and his family. If you get a chance, tell him Happy Birthday.

And here's one from me: Happy Birthday Stu! Glad I got to see you and I really do hope you had a good one!

Something to do.

As some of you may know, I grew up in the quaint little town of McCook in Nebraska.  As others of you may know, the word quaint, when you are too young to drive, often means having nothing to do.

As ingenious as I was, I was often able to come up with remedies for this condition.

Tonight, since it was Father's Day, I thought it would be appropriate to inflict some memories of my younger days in this quaint little town on my children.

I told them how I used to ride my brother's motorcycle around town from time to time, during this pre-car, pre-drivers license stage and how I was threatened by the 20's plus year old boy friend of a girl I knew when I was maybe 13 or 14. Yes, he was a loser. But at least he had his own motorcycle and motorcycle license.

And, I told them about when Russ' Dad lived in the second floor apartment across the street from the Ben Franklin store. The Ben Franklin side of the street also had a phone booth with a pay phone. Remember those things!

I think one of the best forms of entertainment we found in that town was to go find the number to that phone, then wait for unsuspecting locals to walk by and call them up. I really don't think anyone ever figured out we were right across the street from them.

Yes, this counted as entertainment for 13 year old boys in a small town.

And yes, if you are lucky I will tell you about the haunted mansion that ended up causing two consecutive owners to kill themselves. It is currently for sale, if you are interested. Over 5,000 square feet, and all of them guaranteed to be haunted.

Happy Fathers Day!