The Long And Short Of It
I ... would be lying if I said that this weekend's family camping trip was all smooth sailing. First of all, Martha and I didn't get there until late Saturday afternoon (but in our defense, that's because Martha didn't get off her Saturday shift until that afternoon, so I spent the day by myself) the kids had been out of the house since Wednesday night, spent the night with my in-laws, got brought back into town Thursday where we met Jeffrey at Subway where he wanted his birthday dinner (our son turned eight that day), and then THEY headed back out to Lake Audubon about an hour south of Minot. So Martha and I had been at home by ourselves three nights in a row and Friday we had THE WHOLE DAY to ourselves because our main workplaces were closed for the Independence Day holiday.
Do most of the Americans in my reading audience even remember that's what the Fourth of July is supposed to commemorate? Our national independence? Reading press releases and posts leading up to the two hundred thirty-ninth birthday of the United States of America (and it took quite a bit of wrangling to come up with that name; I really must share that sometime) and often finding them reduced to "Happy Fourth" or something like that, I wonder. I suppose it's a bit unwieldy to say "Happy Independence Day" especially if you're economical on the words you use. Paraphrasing T.S. Eliot, we must take care not to have the experience but miss the meaning. I'm willing to spend a few more words on making myself clear.
Even if sometimes I am NOT understood. I ... doubt I'm in danger of being burned at the stake at church reformer Jan Hus was today six centuries ago (the sescentennial?), but living in the early twenty-first century as I do and being prepared for the Rapture any minute, I can do much better as a person, as a child of God, than I have been doing. So Saturday afternoon we got to camp and enjoyed the hamburgers and hot dogs off the grill with my in-laws, Martha's sister Margaret and her kids Breanna and Josceline, Martha's sister Mary and Donovan. It's not so much that I did not enjoy being there (something I said later when I was frustrated and tired) but that I envy other members their skill on the grill and their outdoors resourcefulness.
Martha says she didn't marry me for any of that or (what I see as) the stereotypical male obsessions/skill sets with woodworking, sports watching, and automotive semi-genius. And I know that's true. I know that's true, but I don't always act on it. Sometimes to keep peace among members of our family it's all I can do to nod and admit I need help, or we do. Saturday night there were fireworks going off from neighbors all around us, but we still brought sparklers for the kids -- Josceline, Sarah, and Jeffrey -- to light up and wave around by the Totten Trail Bar & Grill, and there were even some people setting off fireworks around there near the highway. One shot in fact got near close to the Bar & Grill itself and a dirt hauler, but no one got hurt, praise God!
And then we got home and crashed, David
Do most of the Americans in my reading audience even remember that's what the Fourth of July is supposed to commemorate? Our national independence? Reading press releases and posts leading up to the two hundred thirty-ninth birthday of the United States of America (and it took quite a bit of wrangling to come up with that name; I really must share that sometime) and often finding them reduced to "Happy Fourth" or something like that, I wonder. I suppose it's a bit unwieldy to say "Happy Independence Day" especially if you're economical on the words you use. Paraphrasing T.S. Eliot, we must take care not to have the experience but miss the meaning. I'm willing to spend a few more words on making myself clear.
Even if sometimes I am NOT understood. I ... doubt I'm in danger of being burned at the stake at church reformer Jan Hus was today six centuries ago (the sescentennial?), but living in the early twenty-first century as I do and being prepared for the Rapture any minute, I can do much better as a person, as a child of God, than I have been doing. So Saturday afternoon we got to camp and enjoyed the hamburgers and hot dogs off the grill with my in-laws, Martha's sister Margaret and her kids Breanna and Josceline, Martha's sister Mary and Donovan. It's not so much that I did not enjoy being there (something I said later when I was frustrated and tired) but that I envy other members their skill on the grill and their outdoors resourcefulness.
Martha says she didn't marry me for any of that or (what I see as) the stereotypical male obsessions/skill sets with woodworking, sports watching, and automotive semi-genius. And I know that's true. I know that's true, but I don't always act on it. Sometimes to keep peace among members of our family it's all I can do to nod and admit I need help, or we do. Saturday night there were fireworks going off from neighbors all around us, but we still brought sparklers for the kids -- Josceline, Sarah, and Jeffrey -- to light up and wave around by the Totten Trail Bar & Grill, and there were even some people setting off fireworks around there near the highway. One shot in fact got near close to the Bar & Grill itself and a dirt hauler, but no one got hurt, praise God!
And then we got home and crashed, David
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