Love And Death In No Particular Order
Little wonder that Dakota Square Mall is now proliferate with so many clothes stores, slightly followed by cell phone providers. Among the thoughts that occurred to me Saturday afternoon when I brought Breanna, Josceline, Sarah, and Jeffrey there (I invited Martha to join us after she got off work, but she said NO for her heels were really killing her) along with I have never actually shepherded a teenager – Breanna turns eighteen in one month, four days – on a mall quest. It's quite an experience, yet it's one a parent of caring can really feel like a fifth wheel at. But I had the keys and that item with the internal combustion engine, so it all balanced out.
Breanna wanted to get some clothes but
found nothing to wear at – I believe I counted five – stores, but
did buy herself a bad of Swedish Fish and treated the kids each to an
item of their choice. Jeffrey got this Pokemon Black & White set
and we've been playing War with the cards, letting whoever has the
highest hit points win unless you have a Pokeball or a potion; Sarah
and Josceline both got some costume jewelry, and I bought myself a
bag of pumpkin spice M&Ms. Which I got to mostly eat for the
girls weren't fans of them … Speaking of eat, Breakfast with the
Boys at church started it's, I was told twenty-second season, so I
quipped after breakfast that it's been running as long as Survivor.
According to Brian, one of the fourteen men there, I haven't been voted off the island yet :p But really, I miss the fellowship and even if it makes the kids cranky, I will make it a point to go as often as I can. Martha said she would change her work schedule so I could go, for I appreciate the time in Bible study afterward and just being able to do more in church than show up. It's why it didn't take much to talk me back into teaching our Sunday school class Parable Playhouse either … we've had to make some changes throughout our program due to a smaller enrollment (got fifty-six kids and they're divided into first grade, second and third grade, fourth and fifth grade, and sixth grade), but it's working great!
Of course, I say this in week one. Dalyce is in her first year of confirmation (seventh grade) and she asked me a few weeks ago if I'd had a helper for class; I hadn't chosen one yet, and she does a terrific job. She puts off with my offbeatness a bit more than Krista did (who's in college now) and when the kids were on all fours except for Abigail who played our shepherd – our Bible story this rotation is Psalm 23 – this worked out great as I expected anyway. Because this is the first day of rotation Sunday school (on our tenth season) for this Rally Sunday everyone coming to church gets to enjoy ice cream sundaes too!
That afternoon I wanted to return a library book I'd finished and offered to liberate my kids for a while from their electronic tethers … okay, those weren't my exact words, but Sarah came with me and we read a few books to get her fifteen minutes a day of reading for school done and each checked out two. I returned Will McIntosh's novel Love Minus Eighty (ISBN 9780316217781), an intriguing story about Rob who came in to see Winter who had been cryonically frozen after death in early 22nd century Earth for several minutes at a time. He put her there. Turns out Rob had rounded a corner a mite too past and ran her over.
This story taglined “a novel of love and death in no particular order” allows people to … um, shop for women – colloquially termed “bridesicles” – who were frozen after their death and if they can afford it pay for their complete revival. Seems like a rather useless indulgence in a world already divided significantly into Low Town and High Town, and though I personally can't imagine having such guilt that I have to revive someone who's dead to have someone to love. The other main characters, dating coach Veronika and similarly frozen Mira (who seems here just a token type character anyway) help the story to move … but it may be a third longer than it should be. I still read it, but it may not stick.
So let me close today with something I read from Terrence Moore, an assistant professor of history at Hillsdale College in Washington, D.C. (which by the way, Robert, Sharon, and Mary are headed back from and should be in Minot by Wednesday) – it makes sense!
And the full article is here:
http://whatiscommoncore.wordpress.com/2013/09/07/top-ten-professors-calling-out-common-cores-so-called-college-readiness/
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