Wend and Wender

Got the kids to school today for Picture Day after fighting the urge to let them WALK to school -- Longfellow's a few blocks away, and I think it would expend some of their energy instead of on each other. Perhaps this fall (I know, I KNOW, I'm the one who wants the kids ready to go and not dilly-dallying on their tablets, but then with me finishing writing in my journal I'm the last one to get out) we'll experiment with that, practicing in summer and praying that hip-deep snow doesn't fall this coming winter! Besides, in two years Sarah who's now in fourth grade will be going to Ramstad Middle School which is now significantly further away than Longfellow is. Not that I minded riding the school bus so much when I was growing up, but I'm kind of glad my kids don't.


Though today if the bus broke down -- happened quite a lot on the dirt roads surrounding where I grew up in north central Florida -- most kids would likely call or text their parents and let them know what happened and not leave them up in the air! And they likely do, for all I know ... curse this adult body. Last couple of nights and mornings before work I've dealt with this sharp pain in my upper mouth that almost feels like a nerve got exposed. Been sucking a lot of ice cubes to numb it, but after I got the kids off this morning I don't really notice it, alleluia! And as we approach the end of March, here come, live in Minot at the State Fair this year ... The Jonas Brothers!


*raucous applause*


Ok, I'm kidding about that (we got anyone here who remembers who the Jonas Brothers are?) But if you don't think that the title of Once Upon A Time's latest episode "The Jones Brothers" that we all watched last night got some inspiration from that boy band, I am concerned about you. One title character if you've kept up with the show -- one of the few I do, I admit it -- is better known as Captain Hook, the guy Emma, Regina, Henry, etc. have gone down to the Underworld to bring back from the dead. The other is Hook's brother Liam, who was on a royal vessel with his brother and died when he left a magic island and a humongous reputation to live up to. And Hades lord of the Underworld where the dead who have "unfinished business" is understandably not happy about living people walking among the dead.


I bring this up (again) because it's helped my kids and I get into discussions about what happens after we die. We aren't able to physically go bring our loved ones back from the dead and ... I don't remember all of our conversation (sorry, honey) but it ended with Sarah asking me what happens to dead people after they die. Of course I know this in a Biblical sense, but that we go to be with Jesus the Christ in heaven is not quite what she was looking for. And she wasn't asking or saying this as a joke -- she said that when people die they go to sleep. Got me thinking of 1 Corinthians 15:51 "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed," making death synonymous with sleep.


Well, you are still enough.


David