We’ve had an unsettling thing happen this past week. We received a call during the week that some rather unusual charges were being put on one of our credit cards. We found that one of the two cards we had been issued was missing. We thought that we may have inadvertently lost it the prior weekend at a store. Obvously, we closed that account and are having a new card issued to us. The thief got away with almost two hundred dollars.

Today we were looking at our checking account and found added unauthorized charges. We discovered that one of our debit cards was missing. We know that we had the card Thursday afternoon, so suspect that both cards were stolen by someone rifling through a desk while we were at work. We also have some checks missing…checks at the bottom of the stack so we wouldn’t miss them right away.

We put a stop payment on the checks, closed the debit card, and Monday will go in to the bank and have a new checking account issued to us. That sounds good and it is, but just imagine what we now will have to do with that new number.

We’ll have to order checks. We’ll have to get new debit cards. We’ll have to change the payment method on all of our automatic and on-line payments. It’s a mess.

We put a fraud alert on both of our credit accounts and are thinking about having new credit cards issued to us from other issuers in the off chance that the thief copied down numbers, but didn’t take the card. We also filed a police report. I don’t quite know where to go from here.

This isn’t identity theft per se. However, the consequences are much the same. We suspect an employee at the place where we work (not a specific employee…we don’t know that much). I feel sorry for them on the one hand, and on the other, I hope they get caught so they can get help, perhaps.

I’ll be working tonight on some of our other accounts. I’ll let you know if we have further problems. Life is complicated, sometimes.

Normal Weekends

I thought I’d say a few words before beginning the day. Yes, I know it’s 10am, but it’s on a Saturday and it’s been a hard week.

I look forward to the weekends for the change of pace and letdown that they provide. For example, today I got up at 9am, which I admit is late for me. Usually, I arouse around between 7:30 and 8am. Today, though, it just seemed like a good day to be lazy. I got dressed, went out and retrieved the paper, then read it while eating whole-grain cereal (Grape-Nuts).

I’m getting ready to load up the mower and take it to our other house and mow the yard that has been sadly neglected for the last month. I imagine the grass and weeds will be rather overgrown, and will probably take down the weed whacker as well.

This afternoon I’ll help with some housework and prepare my Sunday School lesson for tomorrow. The topic for the quarter is the names for Jesus. Each week we discuss a different name for Jesus, such as Son of Man, Good Shepherd, etc. Tomorrow we will discuss Jesus saying of Himself that He is The Way.

The yard here at home needs some work and I’ll probably do some of that this evening. Then tomorrow is church, which is always the highlight of the week (yes, that is really true). Tomorrow evening our small group will meet, which also is a great time.

Most of my weekends go something like the above. They can be punctuated with some shopping, visits by relatives or others, trips somewhere for the day or part of a day, or perhaps being called in to work for something. I never know.

So, time to get some coffee around, load up the mower, and head out. I should be back in about four hours or so. Hi-ho, Silver!!

The List

This has been, I think, an unusual spring and summer for the Wichita area. We’ve had plenty of rain and rather cool weather up until now. Our rainfall for the first six months of this year is about what we would receive in a normal year, so we are plenty damp. And, as usually happens with wet weather, the temperature has stayed cooler than normal.

So, what is it about the weather that seems to be a good conversation starter or a convenient way to segue from one topic to another? You’ll notice that I began this blog with the weather. I did so because I couldn’t think of anything else about which to blog and decided, as I often do, to just start writing and see what comes out. What has come is a question out of a long line of questions about why we do what we do.

Weather is something we feel we have a right to cuss and discuss, yet is something about which we can do nothing. It transcends even the federal government in being unreachable and unyielding. It will be what it will be, and nothing on earth can change it.

I suppose our propensity to discuss the weather as a conversation piece may have something to do with that notion. It’s a safe topic, yet one that everyone knows (or thinks they know) something about.

There are other topics like that in our conversation. The traffic on city streets, nameless bureaucrats that make decisions on our behalf, large corporations that seem to have a life of their own, taxes, and death. You can name your own and probably greatly expand the list.

For those who were at the reunion a few days ago, I suppose the quote that would most aptly describe what to put in a list such as the above would be the one heard from one of the grandkids (about 4 years old) during the birthday party for another. She was desperately trying to make sure the party went according to how she wanted it to go, and wasn’t having a lot of luck due to the presence of so many adults. She was heard in frustration to say, “I can’t control this!”

Yep. That list will be MUCH longer than I thought it might, now that I think about that short sentence and apply it to the things to go on the list.

Back

Well, we’re back. We got back home about 5pm and got the rental van back on time. We’re tired and don’t wish to do it again any time soon, but are thrilled we had the chance to go and take our son and his family with us.

I’ll not write much today, except to say that we’re all fine and had a great time in Michigan, seeing all the relatives. There is a lot to write about, probably more than I’ll have the time or inclination to do over the next several days.

Work is tomorrow. From the tone of a couple of emails I’ve received while on vacation, I think there may be a little different work “climate” now than when I left. It should be interesting, and for me is a little disconcerting…nothing bad, but I like my ruts.

Thanks to all who had a part in making the reunion a success, especially the Michiganders who hosted us and fed us and entertained us. You’re terrific!!

We're Off

Well, this should prove to be quite the adventure. We're in Emporia as I write this and it's 6am. We're at our son's home and we're all up and getting ready to take off for our family reunion in Michigan.
The grandkids are up and around and we're getting last-minute things in the van we've rented. Coffee is done and we're looking forward to the next several days together. It's been awhile since we've traveled with babies, and the laws have changed since then regarding car seats, etc. So it will be a sort of a re-learning experience for us grandparents.
We'll be back here a week from today dropping off the kids, then back to Wichita. In the intervening time, we will have renewed ties with many in the family, had a lot of fun, reminisced, taken pictures, and whatever else families do when together (like eat??).

Past and Future

In today’s Sunday School class that I taught, we were talking about the importance of ancestry and where we came from. The topic was timely because we are studying some of the names for Jesus of Nazareth and today we were talking about Jesus the Son of David and what that meant.

The Jewish people spent a lot of time and energy making sure they knew first that they were descendents of Abraham, and second, which of Jacob’s sons they came from. They also were interested in whether or not they were descended from Royalty (the lineage of David the King, or some other person in their history.

One of the people in the class, during the initial minutes of the class when I was introducing the topic of ancestry, talked of her grandmother, who lived to age 109 and never liked to talk about the past, but look forward to the future. That is a noble thing, to be sure, but I wonder if there was something lost there.

No, we can’t live in the past, but we can learn from the past. To know what happened years ago…how people lived, the conditions of society, etc…is to be able to better understand the world today and how to survive and navigate within it. To hear of the struggles and trials of those in the Great Depression, one of the Great Wars, or some other major time is to better appreciate what we have now and to determine that we will not repeat the mistakes of the past.

I told the class that I marvel even now at my grandfather, who died when I was 16 years old. He was 96. Born in the mid to late 1800’s, he was witness to Reconstruction following the Civil War, the addition of all of the states from Colorado on, the founding of the WCTU (Womens Christian Temperance Union) and the Suffrage amendment to the US Constitution, five wars, the defeat of Custer, the Kodak camera, alternating current (forerunner of modern electrical systems) the light bulb, the machine gun, the x ray, the airplane, the vacuum tube, Prohibition, the Cyclotron, the Roaring 20’s, the Great Depression, the advent of plastics, Social Security (he was already eligible for Social Security when it went into effect), radio, television, the transistor, UNIVAC, nuclear submarines, the integrated circuit, Bob Dylan, the computer mouse, and space flight (Gemini XII).

He especially marveled at television and how those pictures and sounds could be transmitted through thin air, picked up by aluminum tubes (antennas), and converted by a box in his living room to picture and sound. I really think that if he thought he could have done it at his age, he would have gone to school to learn how television worked.

I had the privilege, three years after he died, to go to school and learn how television works (the new digital television is a whole ‘nuther animal). I marveled then at how it works and still am amazed that anyone could have thought up all of the intricate interplay and delicate balancing acts that have to occur in the circuitry and the concept for television to be reality.

Had he not experienced the coming of the light bulb, would he have marveled so at television? Had he not witnessed reconstruction, would the nuclear submarine have meant anything to him? Do you get my point? The past helps to drive who and what we are today and who and what we will be in the future. The past isn’t our roadmap to the future, but the past helps us choose the path we will take.

The Unwashed

At our Wednesday Bible class this evening, the leader was talking about the time in Matthew when Jesus ate “with the tax collectors and sinners.” The leader was saying that we are much more comfortable in our own circle of church people than we are when outside that circle. He also said that some people have great difficulty naming even one friend that is not a church friend or someone outside of our comfort circle.

I have had the opportunity over the years to make friends with several people outside of my circle of church friends and family. I don’t feel that uncomfortable around people like that; I used to be one of them. However, I’m not sure that my witness of the Good News has been at all stellar during the times I've been with my “unwashed” friends. Oh, I don’t get in the mud with them, necessarily; I just may not always be as overt in the teaching part of it as I could be.

I could tell you some stories here, but I prefer that most of the details stay with me for the time being. Some of you may have heard me talk of my friendship with local media personality Kevin Craig, who tragically took his life a couple of years ago here in Wichita, and how I had intended to contact him again after moving here…but didn’t.

Some of you may have heard of some other story, such as the time the CEO of Maude Carpenter Children’s Home and I went to a nightclub in Old Town over a Christmas holiday because they were doing a fundraiser for the home and we needed to be there. I was chosen to go because I was the only one on staff who was not uncomfortable with the smoke, booze, loud music, and drunks. Shellee went because she had to. The live music was pretty good. I rather enjoyed the night. I don’t think she did.

I'm not necessarily proud of my prior "unwashed" life. I'm not particularly thrilled that I once picked up a girl in a bar in St. Paul, Minnesota, or that I frequented the 13th and North Hydraulic area in Wichita with friends (and a girl friend), or that I walked the streets and alleys of downtown Wichita at night back in the late '60's, or that I had a four year relationship with a woman that, to put it delicately, was not in my best interests.

However, that is who I am and that is my history. I believe that even in all of that, my God can take those times and circumstances and make something good come of them. If that something good happens to be a level of comfort with the unwashed and their culture, so be it.

I don’t know that it’s just “eating with the tax collectors and sinners” that’s required. I think it’s having some of who I am wash off on those I eat with. That can be a horse of another color. There can be a fine line between enjoying the company of such people and immersing oneself into the culture as one of them. Not all of us may be capable of discerning the difference, but for those who can, perhaps is also given a responsibility to use it wisely.

Gritty Living

I am from the Anabaptist tradition. Both sides of my family were (are) firmly set in that tradition both by heritage as well as practice. One component of that tradition is that of being “a people of peace”. The practical effect of that is that those who subscribe to the Anabaptist philosophy do not serve as police officers, military, or other vocations of that kind and type. They also affirmatively champion the cause of peace (not just absence of war, but real, lasting peace) and work toward that end.

One thing I never heard much about when I was growing up was the effect that WWII had on those who were Anabaptist. My uncle, in his blog, gave some insight into that time recently. He did a series of blogs on the topic and admirably provided a good apologetic for his belief. His blog can be found at http://kings-continuingthejourney.blogspot.com/

The church we attend has no position on serving in the military or in law enforcement. That is left up to the individual to make that choice. It has been an effort, at times, for me to meld my Anabaptist upbringing with (for example) the sight of a uniformed police officer on duty on Sunday mornings (member of the church) stopping by for services. That happened regularly in Oakley, KS where we lived for several years, as Chuck and his family would meet for worship with the congregation. Sometimes he would have to leave during services to go to a call. Other times, he could be there the whole time.

I must admit I'm in the great gray middle on this issue. I like to hear both sides of any issue, and certainly appreciate and honor my uncle’s series of blogs as well as him for writing them.

The older I get, the more I have concluded that life isn't always the black and white that we sometimes have thought. The ideal is not always the reality, nor can it be in a fallen world. That doesn’t mean, however, that we should discard the ideal in favor of wallowing around in the reality without hope of something better. It does mean that sometimes we find ourselves in a position we’d rather not be in, but have no practical way to escape.

Jesus Christ and His example to us is the ideal. Just because we will never meet that ideal doesn’t mean we don’t continue to scratch and claw (that phrase doesn’t sound very peace-like, does it), giving all we have, pursuing it with every fiber of who we are.

On the contrary, as Christians we are called to do just that, while at the same time living, working, coping, and dealing with the imperfect and the effects of it. Loving one’s neighbor and doing unto others sometimes means being gritty and grimy. It sometimes means getting out of our comfort zone. It sometimes means sacrificial giving. It sometimes means disrespect and contempt. And it sometimes means giving the ultimate gift…life itself.

Not Me, Man

The last several days have been days of emotional ups and downs for me. I know I don’t often display emotions as some do, but I can certainly feel them inside. One such time happened today as I heard some beautiful music.

Sis came by the home today and serenaded the residents and staff with some selections on the baby grand we have there. As soon as she started playing, I was struck with emotions that I cannot describe several hours after the fact.

The music was beautiful, but that wasn’t the reason for my feeling. Instead, there was something about the relationship I have with the one doing the playing that made the whole afternoon. I looked forward so to her coming so my friends at the home could meet her, and look forward to her coming back. I was proud of her and her accomplishments in life and wanted others to know about her. And I was grateful and proud for her service and willingness to volunteer an hour or so doing what she does so well.

I also had a good evening at our Wednesday Bible classes. Our class is viewing a video on the life of Jesus. We are watching the book of Matthew portrayed as it is translated in the New International Version. I can’t think of the video series right now…some of you would know about it if I could remember it.

In this video, Jesus is portrayed as a man who has a sense of humor, shows emotion, and seems to sincerely enjoy his ministry and being with people. I understand the producers of the video have taken some license with it in order to produce something that has some attraction to those who would watch.

However, I cannot abide by the old notions that Jesus went around with a frown on his face all the time, used “thee” and “thou”, and had not a bit of fun in his life. He was fully human, according to the Scriptures, and that means he ran the full gamut of emotion including humor, sarcasm, wit, and others.

The Bible says that “the life” was in him. The Bible also says that Jesus came to earth to give us all life, and to give it abundantly. Jesus is The Life. To me, that means that He embodies all that is good about life and living, including humor and emotion.

I am grateful that I am receiving another perspective on the life of this God-Man, the Eternal Son. I am humbled and awed by the possibility that Jesus may well have lived and worked much as he is portrayed in this video. Why else would the crowds respond to him as they did? Would you want to follow someone who frowned, had no fun, and spoke in the king’s English (so to speak) all day? Not me, man. Jesus came to give me life…the abundant life…eternal life. And that means (at least to me) that I have some abundant living to do.

We had some friends over this evening for a hamburger cookout on the back patio. We were talking about some of the wildlife we could see behind our home when Eric brought up the fact that an owl had made an appearance at their place (which backs up to the Little Arkansas River).

I immediately thought of times past and gone when I would hear a hoot owl (great horned owl) in the hackberry tree just outside my bedroom at home where we grew up. I was a teenager then, and the sound of the owl in the middle of the night brought shivers to me as well as a comfort in knowing that I was safe and warm. I usually went right to sleep again for the rest of the night.

Later in life, when I moved our family to that same place, owls once again would roost in the hackberry tree and hoot during the night. I felt that same strange combination of spine-tingles and comfort that carried me through those teen years. And in Oakley when we lived in our first house there, an owl would sometimes hoot during the night in the large tree out front. I’m not sure what it is about the sound of the horned owl that brings those powerful feelings to me. However, as I live and work in the Wichita area, I long for that sound to manifest and bring back the flood of memories and simpler times and lives.

As I write this, I am reminded of several sounds in that old house where I grew up. The great horned owl was one. Trains passing through town at night are another. We lived about ¾ mile away from the BNSF main line from Chicago to Los Angeles. Over 80 trains a day go through there at 70 miles an hour. The sounds carried far and wide. We could easily hear the trains.

Back when there was a switching yard at the railroad, sometimes locomotives would rumble as they started and stopped while switching at night. That low frequency rumble was sufficient to rattle a spring inside one of the windows in my bedroom. I got to where I listened specifically for that sound whenever I heard a loco in the distance. I loved that sound.

Our furnace made a peculiar sound just a few seconds after the blower came on. I could count on it and that sound, again, was comforting to me as I lay in bed.

Finally, probably the sound I miss most is the sound of our large black Labrador as she would come onto the front porch and plop down against the screen door in the middle of the night. I always knew when Dynamite (my son named her) was back from her nightly rounds of the neighborhood, and there was a certain comfort there, too, as I knew she kept a watchful eye out for unusual things. There is still, 15 years later, a worn place on the screen door where she lay.

The saddest sound of all was that same sound of Dynamite plopping up against the screen door one Sunday evening some 15 years ago. I knew it would be the last time I heard that sound, because the next day I knew I would put her down as she was full of cancer and was suffering too much. She’d already been to the vet. I already had made arrangements for him to come to the house and put her down rather than my hauling her there. Besides, I could bury her out back and come to the reconciliation that she was no longer with us much better that way.

I can remember that sound like it happened five minutes ago….

Some things that seem at first somewhat incongruous, or at least a little different from what I would have always thought (these in no specific order):

• The young nurse aide this morning who said she will really miss Tim Russert because she watches mostly the news channels and his program.
• The City of Harper, KS charges a minimum of $33 per month water bill, even if no water is used during the entire month.
• Goldfish can be purchased at Wal Mart, dumped in an outdoor backyard pond, and will live for a good long time.
• Jesus makes the statement, “Before Abraham was, I am.”
• A plant can grow out of a rock.
• When I get a hair cut, the barber actually cuts many, many hairs.
• Circuit breakers for Federal Pacific brand circuit boxes cost upwards of $60 each while other breakers for other brands can be purchased for as little as $5.
• People drive fast, jump start, tailgate, weave in traffic, and use their brakes too much even though gasoline is $4.00 per gallon.
• At my age, I should be smelling the roses instead of plowing up weeds.

Saturday Morning TV

I was watching TV this morning (Saturday). I know, I know, that’s many times a waste of time, especially on Saturday. Nevertheless, I was taking in I Love Lucy and a commercial came on. Normally, I don’t watch them to a great extent as I have what I need, and if I don’t, I go down to the local store and get it. This commercial, however, caught my eye.

They were selling ped-eggs. Now, if you have never seen one, just think for a minute what these gadgets might be good for, knowing only the name of the product. OK, I’ll just tell you. These little marvels somehow scrape off the dead skin from the bottom of your feet in order to make them “smooth and silky”. Now, before you tell me that I’m “tetched in the head”, let me finish.

The commercial was a classic. One young woman raved on and on about these things and closed out by saying, “I’ve just got to have one!” One scene showed five people of various genders and ages all sitting in the same room shaving off the bottom of their feet, then opening up these egg gadgets and dumping out all the dead skin in piles, evidently showing the usefulness of the thing. And, of course, there was the proverbial “But Wait!! That’s not all!!” phrase following the announcement that one of these cost only $10. Turns out that you can obtain two at that price (one for each hand…foot...) and some kind of cream that is supposed to make your feet more attractive.

OK. I have a couple of questions. Why would anyone be that interested in dead skin on the soles of one’s feet? If there is a legitimate answer to that question, why would anyone want to engage in that kind of personal care in a room with four or five other people? And why, for heaven’s sake, would those people dump their dead skin in piles in order to compare success? Of course, the greatest question is why anyone would think that they just had to have something like this?

Am I wrong, or are there more important things in this world that we need to be thinking about, working on, and spending our money on? Am I being too serious here, or is there a case to be made that some folks are just so full of themselves that they have to have the silkiest foot soles in town?

This is making me more nauseated the more I think about it. What started off as being something funny and asinine has become, in my mind, something that has grown into a “This is what’s wrong with this world,” kind of thing. But that isn’t even right. What’s wrong with the world isn’t the fact that someone somewhere knows there are people gullible enough to send him $10 (plus shipping and handling) and their name and address for a plastic egg-like thingy that shaves off dead skin. (By the way, the names and addresses are sold on mailing lists many, many times over, making more money for the shysters than the profits from the sale of the product.)

No, what’s wrong with the world happened in a certain Garden over in the East many, many centuries ago. The human race has futilely trying to cope with that ever since. One of these days, we’ll all know that only One Man has ever successfully won that battle. And He won it for us all.

What God is Doing

I’m working on a theory. OK, I’m not a scientist, nor am I a learned scholar. Nevertheless, I have a theory. I think the writers of old who penned the works known collectively as the Bible knew what they were talking about when they wrote about God being involved in literally the routine and mundane things in our lives.

David wrote about it. Daniel did, too. Many of the writers of old talked glowingly and waxed eloquent regarding God’s provision for His creation in even those things that we might otherwise take for granted.

In today’s world we tend to dismiss such thoughts. We say that the writers of old didn’t know about scientific theory, the solar system or the water cycle. We say that they attributed to God things that they could not otherwise explain, and that because we are an advanced people, we have explanations for such things that do not involve the intervention of a deity.

I’m not so sure. I was prompted to think, following yesterday’s evening lesson at church, that perhaps there are a couple of reasons why we tend to poo poo such ideas. One, perhaps we like to think of ourselves as intelligent and advanced…too “smart” to fall for such explanations. Two, could it be possible that God’s work in our routine lives is so pervasive that we don’t know what it’s like to be without that work…therefore, we don’t appreciate and “see” what He truly does?

Think for a moment what might be different about your life right now if God, just for today, did not work in your sphere of consciousness. How would things be different? Would you have food to eat? Would you have shelter? What about a job? Maybe your spouse, children, or relatives might not exist or be different. Would you have gasoline to power your car? Would you have a car? Would you be healthy? Would you even be alive?

We have not a clue how much of what we ate today was due to the work of God in our lives. Nor do we have a clue whether or not we would even be alive today if God didn’t work on our behalf.

I suspect we would be a lot like the servant of Elisha who, when confronted with Aram and his army (II Kings 6), wrung his hands and wondered what they were going to do. We don’t see the work of God or the hand of God in anything. We are too cynical, too logical for that. You may know the rest of the story: Elisha prayed that God would allow the servant to see what was really happening, and the servant then saw God’s army surrounding everything.

What would happen to us if we really saw what God was doing right around us?

Time for Ice Cream

This past six weeks to two months has been a virtual roller coaster of emotion and experience for me. You might have guessed that something was amiss because I haven’t blogged regularly in a couple of weeks, and I too wondered why I didn’t feel much like sitting down and putting pen to paper (to use a quaint phrase).

We finally were able to purchase a home for ourselves that, while more than we need, will be a good vehicle to jump start our retirement income (we believe). We’ve been less than diligent to work with our retirement in any kind of systematic way, and this might just be the thing to get us off of center and on with some prudent planning.

We also were able to move into that home, and out of my brother’s place. I am so appreciative of his and Deanna’s hospitality I can’t say it with words, but I’m sure they are as happy as we are that we were able to move to our own place. Their daughters surely are pleased as well, since they now each have a room for the summer and don’t have to crash on couches, the floor, or some other place in the house.

We’re both settling into our jobs, which seem to be morphing before our eyes. Nothing bad, but just changes. And there are the inevitable ups and downs that come with being a part of starting up a new business along with some inefficiencies that just need to be worked out and through. Being an impatient person, I am not good at going with the flow, but am learning.

Our family is growing as well. Our grandchildren keep on growing, and our children and in-laws change jobs, move, and do the other things that young couples do. It’s a challenge, sometimes, to keep up with them.

I continue to see our old home place every couple of weeks as I mow the yard there. I also continue to be torn as to what to do with it. Some days, I’d sell it for ten dollars if I could afford to do that. Other days, I want to fix it up and use it as a weekend home. A lot of memories are stirred each time I go there and I’m not sure what to do with them (and with it).

We are working through discipleship at church and the idea of being salt, light, and leaven in a broken and dying world. I’ve been through lessons like this before, but this time, something is sticking and I have been thinking…a lot…about that subject. I’m certain that some of this has to do with the aging process; some with mental and emotional maturity; some with what we’ve been through the last year or two, and some just because.

The wife and I continue to work with our relationship with each other. I continue to be puzzled at times by it, sometimes frustrated, and at other times, I’m grateful that we have the ability to have relationships such as this. I’m never, ever sorry. And I suppose that’s good.

Those are some of the things in a nutshell that have been passing through my brain cells recently. Now, I think it’s time to go get some ice cream out of the freezer.

Some Folks Have Giants in Their Lives

Over the past week or so I’ve had the opportunity to ferry some of our residents to treatment in one of the cancer radiation centers we have here in Wichita. I take them to their appointments, then wait in the waiting area until they’re finished, which usually isn’t long.

If you have a chance, you should go to one of those waiting areas and just observe for awhile. You see everyone there. Young, old, male, female. Disabled, able-bodied, happy, sad. They’re all there, and they’re all there for one reason; they have cancer.

Some have that pallid look that comes with the more advanced forms, and/or I suspect, liver cancer. Others have do-rags or are disfigured in some way, possibly due to surgeries.

I am surprised, however, at the number who at least seem on the outside as if it’s not the end of the world, but rather it’s (their cancer) just something they have to do. There is joking and laughter, conversation among patients and families, and banter with the staff. Things seem so normal, but it’s so obvious that things are not at all “normal”.

I had the audacity one day to look at a middle-aged man coming out of the center and silently wondering what he was doing in there to begin with. He walked healthily, looked normal, and seemed to be just fine. I said “thank you” when he held the door for my resident and me, and he said something in return. However, I couldn’t understand him because he whispered it…he had no larynx. That probably was a result of throat cancer and he was being treated for it. I felt like a heel in the next few minutes.

I don’t know if you’ve fought cancer or not. If you have, you’re a hero in my books regardless of how it turns out. If you haven’t, thank God for your health and walk a little more circumspectly and reverently in the days ahead, knowing that others are facing giants daily; the likes of which you’ve never seen before.

Survivors All

It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged, but there’s been a lot happening. Work just seems to never end. One would think that with a new building and not many residents (compared to the full number of beds available) that there wouldn’t be much to do maintenance/housekeeping-wise. But that’s not the case as I’ve already put in a full week of work (over 38 hours) and it’s not Friday yet.

I’ve had the privilege of taking some of our residents to radiation therapy at one of the larger hospitals in the area. I take them in our nursing home van and wait for them as they are getting their therapy. It usually doesn’t take very long.

I have been looking around at those others who are waiting for their treatments. There are a lot of hats, do-rags, and bald heads in the waiting room. Some can walk around on their own; others require assistance of a greater or lesser amount. They are young and old, male and female. They have one common denominator…they have cancer.

As I look around and observe them interact with others who are undergoing treatment, or with those who brought them to the center, or with the staff, I am reminded of some things. These people who are receiving treatment will have success in some instances. In others, the cancer will return or will never go away. Regardless, this is a life-changing event and forever alters the way one thinks, lives, and relates to both himself and his surroundings.

These folks probably have (or had) jobs, family, dreams, homes, plans, and aspirations. For all of them, the cancer that has invaded their bodies has changed their priorities and has caused things to be in an “upset the applecart” kind of way. There’s no choice on whether or not to have cancer. We can only know the statistical evidence for or against the disease based on our environment, lifestyle, and choices, and change what we do in order to lessen (but not eliminate) the chances.

I marvel at the resiliency of the human race and the overwhelming desire to survive. And I see great evidence of that not only in the faces of those cancer survivors, but also in the faces and lives of our staff, residents, and their families. We were created in a wondrous, marvelous way and we are of all the creation most blessed.

How Often??

Last Sunday I went to church with two different styles of shoes on my feet. I don’t know if this is a sure sign of dementia, old age, or just inattention, but when I looked down at my feet between church services and Sunday School class, there they were…a left of one shoe and a right of another style of shoe.

At least they were both black. And I knew that I would be spending the remainder of my time there with my feet under a table, so that wasn’t really an issue. I don’t think anyone noticed and I didn’t have to get in front of anyone or do anything publicly.

I can just imagine, though, being tapped at the last minute to fill in on the ushering detail or some other such thing. It’s good that there are a lot of people to choose from in this church and that really doesn’t happen to me here. But still….

Has anything happened to you lately that is in the same or a similar category to this? How often do we go off half-cocked into the public arena, and how often do we never know that we do?

“And a good time was had by all.” So goes a cliché line that has ended many a story about some gathering of people. However, the line truly fits the gathering of friends and family of our nephew Dan as he prepares to leave Wichita for Wisconson parts unknown (at least to us).

Capping off several days of activity on the part of my sis and her immediate family, we attended a recital at their church yesterday. Nephew Dan was the featured performer, and sis Marianne and Dan’s sis Rebekah helped out. They truly are a talented bunch, and we are pleased and proud to have association with them as family members.

We then “broke in” our new home with a gathering of whoever could come. We had hot dogs, hamburgers, homemade ice cream, and all the stuff that goes with that. Our new home has a fire pit out back and two patios, which were put to good use. Even in the Kansas wind, we had a good time and were pleased to be able to host such a gathering as this.

Using the Plank Memorial Weenie Sticks, we roasted hot dogs and toasted marshmallows. We visited, ate, drank, and visited some more. A couple of the guys ended up flat down on the floor in the basement trying to absorb what they had eaten, and we even had a visit from a fireman from the Wichita Fire Department asking about the fire in the back yard (he was also a guest, so it was OK).

Yes, a good time was had by all. These kinds of things don’t come often, and are to be savored when they do happen. We wish Dan the best in his endeavors.

How's It Working For You?

When we watch old TV shows like Leave It To Beaver or the Andy Griffith show, we tend to make fun of the parent/child relationships portrayed in those shows as irrelevant to today’s world, and “pie in the sky.” We say that those relationships as portrayed aren’t realistic in the world today, and we’re better off to see shows that have “real” relationships, complete with divorce, drug abuse, sexual experimentation and the like.

Having just watched an episode of “Beaver”, I am going to vigorously disagree that the marriage and family relationships portrayed are not realistic. Yes, June is always wearing a dress and necklace. Ward always has a tie on. Wally and the Beaver always get along. I know that isn’t necessarily how things are in real life. But those things are the fluff. I’m talking about the relationships.

I didn’t crawl out from under the rock yesterday. We all go through tough times in our marriages and in our family relationships. Sometimes there is no quick fix. Sometimes there is no fix at all…we just endure. We don’t always have the world’s problems solved in a 30 minute segment. Parents become ill or disabled. Children die unexpectedly. Financial reversals aren’t uncommon anymore.

But the core values of the relationships that we see in those old TV shows, far from being fodder for laughter and derision, should be values we strive for, labor for, and press our entire beings into bringing into our relationships with others, and maintaining them, growing them, and using them as we go through life.

What’s laughable about honesty? Why would anyone make fun of integrity? What is cornball about doing for others? What is it about devotion to others that makes it anathema? And since when did generosity, truth, and humility become things embraced only by losers?

Come on, someone. Answer me if you dare. Tell me that these things are truly worthless and good only as fodder for humor and crude jokes. Tell me that these things aren’t the values we should have…that greed, selfishness, dishonesty, deception, and pride are better. Tell me how society benefits from these rather than the “old school” values of honesty, truth, and humility.

Then tell me how you’ve done lately and how it’s working out for you to embrace the new value system. Tell me how it will work for you when you’re old, alone, and chronically ill in a nursing home. Suddenly, the Ozzie and Harriet show doesn’t look bad at all.

Something New

I’ve seen wild turkey a lot of times. Many years ago, now, the State of Kansas re-introduced turkey to many areas and they have since flourished. I’m not a hunter, so my experience with turkey has been to see a flock at the side of a road or once in a great while in a tree. And while I’ve seen many, today I experienced something I have never, I think, experienced before.
This morning a tom was strutting his stuff out back of the house when I pulled the shades. His hen was feeding at the feeder a neighbor has out and the tom was ever watchful and letting everyone know that he was there. Now, I’ve seen that before. What I’ve not done is hear a tom gobble. I did this morning.
He was a young bird, if my Internet information was correct. His tail feathers had one or two missing from them, so he didn’t have a perfect fan tail. His beard wasn’t that long, but he was truly a beautiful sight and sound.
I looked around for additional hens, but didn’t see any. Evidently, this is a one-woman tom. But that’s OK because they put on quite a show for us this morning. We have to observe them quietly, mostly from inside because they are wild enough to spook if we go out on the back patio. I did however, manage to get the back door slid open so I could hear the gobble several times before they went into the woods.
Although I have yet to see some of the other critters one might expect to see…raccoon, opossum, skunk, and the occasional fox, I’m sure they’re there. The habitat is just too good and the cover is just to plentiful for those animals to not be present in the wooded area of that park. I’m a little at a loss to explain the relative dearth of various species of birds there, especially compared to the number of birds I saw in Topeka along the Shunga Creek. However, maybe they will come a little later on in the year.
But for now, I will just enjoy the turkey, deer, cardinals, ducks, robins, and others as spring awakens the earth in Wichita, Kansas.