Thanksgiving thoughts 2016

Today I will focus on being thankful for all of the great people and things in my life.

I'm thankful for my wife (I still haven't figured out why she's put up with me for 28 years), my children (including the wonderful young woman who has married into this crazy clan a year and a half ago) who make me exceedingly proud every day. 

I am thankful for my friends who support and challenge me, accept me and honor me by listening, laughing and sharing some of the important things in their worlds with me. 

I am thankful for my parents, brothers, sister, my in-laws, respective spouses, nieces and nephews.  I am thankful for the times I have gotten to see them and hope for more opportunities.  Cousins, aunts and uncles are included as well.

I'm thankful for my home, and my job, my neighbors and coworkers.  I'm thankful for the people who teach my children, those that taught me (a much more challenging task) and those who, in a less formal way, continue to teach me today.

I'm thankful for the cozy bed last night, the hot shower this morning, the good breakfast and the warm house.  Oh and coffee!  I'm thankful for coffee. :)

...and the list goes on and on.  I need only to look around and pay attention.

I am thankful for my health and for the health of those I love.  I am thankful for my church community and to my Lord who has bestowed these blessings upon me for reasons I cannot begin to understand.

I hope to maintain this posture of gratitude for at least the day and maybe it will leak into the rest of my year.

And So It Begins

My son really didn't date much in highschool.  My oldest daughter mostly hung out with groups of friends that included an eclectic mix of both boys and girls.  There was very little pairing before senior prom, and that was mostly a result of tradition than any strong feelings between the girls and boys.

So it is with some mix of emotions that I sat in the family room with my 16 year old daughter, her sisters and her new (first) boyfriend.  A couple of weeks ago they went on their first date to a basketball game over at BU.  I have to give the guy (Joe) props for a good choice of 1st date venues.

The two of them sit together on the couch.  I check occasionally to see if they are holding hands and, to my great relief, they are not.  Joe is well spoken and engaged in the family discussion.  He shows respect as others speak and certainly seems to respect what Jen has to say. 

I guess that makes me happy to get a small glimpse I to my daughter's taste in boys/men.  So far I'm impressed.  I hope that this process of learning about relationships is not painful, but if it turns out to be, I'll be there to help where I can.

Trip Angst

It's about 6:30 in the morning and I'm on the front porch trying to relax a little before the craziness of the day sinks it's sharp fangs into me and I transform into the road warrior for 3 days of "game on".

At the moment it is neither cool nor warm here on the porch, just comfortable.  There is an almost imperceptible breeze moving across from my left to my right at random intervals.  Its soft motion seems to lift away layers of anxiety and carry them away into the brilliant blue sky.  For now I am drinking in the calm before the figurative storm on the horizon.  

The sun is just peeking around the corner of the house and warming my neck and shoulders. The birds are chirping easily.  There is no urgency to their song this morning. I am doing my best to record this moment in my memory so I can replay it when I feel the stress of the next few days envelope me. Soon I'll leave for the airport and head to to the West Coast for meetings.  

Once there, I'll be expected to explain things that I don't fully understand to people who understand even less. I'll spend the time on the airplane trying to review the material so I am better prepared, but I won't have the command of the material I expect myself to have.  Others are counting on me to guide this process to the right place but I am not confident in where that place is or how to guide it.  I think people sometimes mistakenly associate my ability to speak confidently to a group of people with a depth of knowledge that, this time, I don't feel like I've achieved (yet).  I guess my goal is to make that a nonissue for now.

I will do my best.  I will prepare as best I can and trust that the Lord will give me the wisdom to see the path to follow.  I know others are joining their prayers with mine and that is a comfort.

Time to get moving, to get to the starting line.  I have a race to run.  It's time to put on the game face.