Ordinary Life

    I let my full weight fall against Burger King's heavy glass door and pushed against it. By nature a fairly passive person, I knew the door would absorb my unusually forceful shove with no loss of dignity. I even imagined it welcomed me a little. Better doors than people. (or...doors are better than people?)    We were en route to the bedside of a very sick relative and I knew we may not make it in time to say good bye.    Over the course of the morning, I had morphed into a tiny black rain cloud, prone to outbursts like thunder claps and sudden showers that washed away any semblance of "strength".     Once inside the ladies room,  I wiped away what streaked mascara could be budged and sighed a prayer of "please".    I wasn't praying for extra time. I wasn't praying to get there. I was praying for peace and that all would be well with my uncle...soul wise...you know..." It is well...it is well...with my soul ." And I wa...

There's just something special about Walt Disney's Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow. It is my favorite park for several reasons, and it seems to me one of the most fitting monuments to the man behind Mickey Mouse. At its inception, Walt said of EPCOT:  "EPCOT will be an experimental prototype community of tomorrow that will take its cue from the new ideas and new technologies that are now emerging from the creative centers of American industry. It will be a community of tomorrow that will never be completed, but will always be introducing and testing and demonstrating new materials and systems. And EPCOT will always be a showcase to the world for the ingenuity and imagination of American free enterprise." Ingenuity. Imagination. America.  I think that's all of it in a nutshell.  Walking through the park makes me nostalgic. Not only for past visits and childhood adventures, but also for the strong broth of a certain philosophy, spooned to me steadily f...

The real problem with a hard-hitting, right-on-the-money-Sunday-morning-sermon is my propensity to quote parts of it against my fellow man (and myself) for the rest of the week.  I don't think that's how they're supposed to work. Leave Space For Grace, Kelly .  (Ah yes...I've heard she was quite the dancer.) 

I'm peeking at you peeking at me .  .  .

PaPa and Grandkids @ Waycross 2013 This is one of those days that leave me tongue tied. Not for a lack of good things to say. Rather for trying to find a new way to say what is good and true and known and noteworthy about the man that is my father. And then to repeat that quest for the man whose Adventures in Fatherhood I get to watch in 'real time' as he plays dad & hero to my crew of 4. Words just fail me, that is all. Lots of people, in assorted tributes today,  have pointed out  what makes a man a good man- qualities that carry over into their fatherhood, making them, by default, good dads. Then there are folks who talk about what was missing- either because Time robbed them or because certain qualities or values escaped their fathers (like sobriety.) These people too, are affirming that a good man makes for a good father. Also that those of us blessed to have our father still living here amongst us are truly blessed. I think that what makes a list about any give...

We have been doing a version of catechism with the children for the past few years. It started with reading through " Training Hearts, Teaching Minds " and the desire to give our children a solid foundation of biblical truths. Now, b efore you dismiss catechizing as an archaic practice or too quickly equate it with a Catholic-only practice, let me say that I have found it a wonderful way to ensure I'm 'covering all the bases' as I attempt to train  my children in Biblical doctrine. Someone else likened it to teaching the times tables and I have to say, I believe that is a more than adequate analogy.  We've gotten off track in our home with teaching through the questions more often than we've sailed right through. Even so, it is nice to have a schedule of sorts- a checklist of fundamentals to make sure we've covered as we go; to pick up where we left off.  It was while looking for varied schedules that I came across this blog post:   'Cheerios with ...

Our hearts are in Beaufort today. We stand in Spirit and in Prayer with the Cushman Family as they say "Good-Bye-For-Now" to their sweet little Ellie.