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Since my son and I had such a wonderful weekend it was nice when I was informed by my wife that there would not be any school Monday.  It was a good time in the old house that night.  Kellen and his big talk about staying up all night because there isn’t any school tomorrow because of the Columbus Day holiday.  I was looking forward to spending the morning with my son unpacking our pickup truck of the camping materials from the latest Webelos weekend.  It would have been fun to go slow and discuss what happen when we used the items that we took along. Besides,  I could really use the help!!! Who likes to work alone?

Once all the camping gear had been unpacked,  cleaned,  and repacked Kellen was going to experience the planning stages of his first over night as a Webelo .  In two weeks my young son gets to over night with a Webelos partner.  Parents are invited to attend but are not discourage to choose to sleep at home.  It will be a good experience for my young independent son.  He wants to break out so badly from the clutches of his parents yet his actions actually show a timidity that is normal and healthy yet hehas a reticent  protective approach to all that is new.

So the next the next campout I get to attend the festivities but I will be sleeping in my own bed.  Returning to camp to over see Kellen pack up his gear from his recent over night.  Then I get to listen to his tales of the animals that they heard at night. Hopefully,  he will have frightened them as much as he was frightened.  He is growing so fast.  Why it was only three years ago that we started all of this with the Boy Scouts.  Lots of items have gone over the damn by now.  Some of it is retained and practiced.  Most of the moments are remembered , and some will be remember when reminded.  No matter how the memory forms the best thing that can happen is to have positive memories.  I see Kellen proud of his abilities among the other children.  It breaks my heart as much when it fails to meet his own standards as it does when he thinks that he has failed to live up to my standard.  I keep telling him to do what a willing and reasonable man would do.  Kellen does not do well with reason of the mind.  His reason needs a cause and effect.  If it does not “cause” him any down time of any sort he will disregard all reason.  IF his freedoms seem to be more regulated with less outside time and more reading and study time it slowly sinks in that his actions have caused him to lose his freedom and that “effects” him immediately.  That is when he understands reason.  Only after the effect has affected him.

Ya, that story was a good thought in my mind’s eye.  When everyone in the family slept in today because we all thought the school would be closed because of Columbus Day.   Well,  I guess I can chalk up our almost embarrassing tardy moment to my quitting cigarettes.  Because I do not smoke any longer my wife volunteered to smoke out side the house and not in the car when traveling. As she was standing in the backyard this morning she happened to hear the children walking by and she realized that Kellen needed to be informed  of school was not closed and advised to get up from his bed.  Poor Kellen… he has never been one to move to quickly in the morning… but this morning it appeared as if he was frozen in time.  Even as I signed him into school he was still walking in a fog.  I will endeavor to not allow that to happen to him to many more times while under my watch.  I felt terrible as he walked out of sight down the hallway towards his classroom to the teacher that already thinks that Kellen’s father is not playing with a full deck.  Yet, there was not a thing that I could do.  My little man is growing up despite my failings.  I think he will make it.

Comments (0) Oct 11 2010

I know I had made a wish for a Happy New Year in my previous post but today is the first day of the year that we get to live that wish.  I am excited!!  I know…why is he in such a good mood?  Oh, I don’t know… maybe it is because I am lucky?   or maybe it is because I have been blessed?  or maybe … this is the way it is supposed to be?  You know what?  I think it is all three and I will tell you why through the course of this post.

Lucky…?  Ya, I would think so.  I lived through a farm accident involving a PTO, tractor, and loose clothing.  I lived through a traffic accident in which everyone went to the hospital by ambulance and I walked away unscathed.  There are to many construction accident stories to recount so I won’t even go into those but you get the idea.  I think these all had a commonality besides me being in them.  I think angels would be the common denominator.   Angels come in different forms.  My little brother Karl, was my angel the day of the farm accident.  What would prompt a little boy to shut off the PTO at exactly the right time to save his little brother?  I say an angel did.  I say an angel was with me when I was held upright while all around me was turning, toppling, or smashed in the traffic accident.  I say an angel was with me each day of my work keeping me safe as I go through the daily grind.  Oh sure…everyone tries to be safe.  No one tries to cause an accident.  There were those times when you have to wonder…. hmmm… that could have been me.  Yep, it has to be angels.

Blessed…?  Ya I would think so.  I am still here am I not?  Without regard to the aforementioned accidents there are other things to give thanks for as well.  First I was blessed to have been born to a loving family on a farm in Iowa.  another lucky?  Possibly, but this is more than lucky.  This is a blessed event that I will give thanks to God for the rest of my life.  I was given a life to learn and grow in a safe and loving environment.  I was shown how men act.  I was shown how friends are treated.  I was also shown how friends were made.  Ya I am lucky but I am blessed as well.

Yesterday,  I met with the Rockhill’s,  now from Virginia,  who were married almost 39 years ago in Kansas with me and several other high school friends in attendance.  Rex, my former classmate, and his wife, Pam,  came to town to visit with me and my wife.  We talked, laughed, and hugged.  Although we have never met in person since the wedding day I felt no change in the intensity of the friendship that once was.  Here was a friend who had reached out to say hello.  It was warm, refreshing, and the way it is supposed to be.

So yes,  I am lucky!  I have to many lucky stories to NOT know that I am.  Yes, I am blessed as well.  I thank God for that very thing each day!  But the way it is supposed to be,  is something that I am most appreciative of on this date.  It is another sign of what normal is becoming for me.  It is not the old normal.   That will never be again.  I am living a new normal. Meeting a friend of 40 plus years and having coffee with them for the soul purpose of saying hello, wishing each other well and being happy is a new normal that I relish.  This is the way it is supposed to be is it not?

Comments (0) Jan 01 2010

Well, we made it another year.  We fooled them all and I am not going to tell anyone.  I have a habit of scanning the pages of several newspapers that I receive on line as I set at the computer at our kitchen table.  It is my early morning ritual to garner information on my already formed opinion that somehow lean the way that I think,  rather than people I know that use the same sources to help make them come to an informed opinion by reading opposing views.  In other words at this point I know what I know.  (sounds a little like Popeye does it not?)  Admittedly,  one must take on new ideas to be fair but as I fought with my Father’s ideas when I was young I still am my Father’s son I must say that having been there I know what does and doesn’t work even if I didn’t do it correct the first, second, or even third time.  All that says is that I am stubborn…kinda…sorta….maybe a little bit…?  Can anyone spell denial?  LOL!!

So in the process of getting news sources I do happen upon the informative side of the Internet.  That would be my horoscope.  I never have been one to have any faith what so ever in astrology but I must admit that I read them all the time and laugh.  I would say to myself. “This stuff is so general in its meaning that it could apply to anyone.”  Then I would read it.  Think about it.  Then cast it off with a whim.  I gotta say that this little snippet of astrological information must be right!  This is no generalization of information but hits the nail right on the head.  This was written for me.

quoted text from an astrological reading found on the web while surfing the Internet today.

Your renowned intellect has been strained the last couple of years, as it’s been forced to find solutions to the many issues you’ve been dealt. In 2010, you’ll finally be gaining some traction on your biggest challenges, and solutions will flow to you with ease.

So armed with this knowledge from such a reputable source(the Internet) I submit to my readers this wish for a Happy New Year and rest my case.  It must be right.  It was on the internet.?!

Comments (0) Dec 31 2009