Family Matters - Getting Real

Yesterday was our last full day to spend with Payton during our summer visit. Today after church we will be taking him back to Toledo where we will pass him off for his return home. Last night his Uncle Damon took him out for some fun time at "Swings and Things", but we did not spend the day doing the usual kid fun things. Instead we drove over 70 miles south where we had arranged to meet with his 94 year old Great-Great Aunt Ruby for lunch.

Why? Because family matters. The older I get the more I understand.... i.e., really deeply understand that jobs, titles, prestige, honors, money and things... even health or lack of it... are not the source of joy and fulfillment. These temporary situations can't and won't provide real lasting happiness. Possessions, activities, and accomplishments.... even those dreams and pleasures that we were sure that we couldn't live without, ultimately leave us dissatisfied and/or disappointed.

It seems that there are only three things that really, really matter.

Our relationship with our partner for eternity, God himself.

Maintaining a close, loving, helping, caring, forgiving relationship with family, friends, partners, and loved ones... all of them... whether or not events and circumstances have left us feeling good, bad, or ordinary.

Those thing which we are able to do which will help satisfy the needs of others and improve our world.

Everything else is temporary and of no lasting value.

18 Hours

I am shooting for getting out of here to head for vacation land by 9:00 a.m. tomorrow. Granted we probably won't make it but my hope is that we can hit the road without undue delays. The trick is to motivate my chronologically challenged wife to stay on a realistic schedule without starting a war. I often fail to succeed at that.

I have been packing and organizing all week, still I feel that something has been overlooked. We are going ultralight this year so I have scrutinized everything three times and checked all of the packing lists over and over. Still I have that uneasy feeling that I have overlooked something. The two physically large items, The boogie board and a large plastic storage box containing all those little things needed for a week at the beach, are already in the car. My bag of car essentials is ready to go and my suitcase is packed except for my toothbrush. I can't pack the C-pap until tomorrow, and the laptop needs to be synced with this one before it is ready - in the morning after I negotiate through first of the month finances. The camera bag and my letterboxing pack are sitting ready by the stairs. Why am I so uncomfortable about leaving something behind??

I have checked the garden and picked up my license from the sheriff - It only took them a week to have it ready this time - they are supposed to have it within four weeks, but the original took them seven. Saturday I finished getting the radio in the car and ventured out with my wife to spend about an hour at a local field day site. I even packed things to make another letterbox as an activity to serve as a hedge for any rainy days. Still I can't shake that "Something is missing" voice.

Oh well regardless - tomorrow we go for almost two weeks away from home with some of those we care about the most. I wish that the others could be there also, but thats a story for another day.

Where we are going

I created this blog without much of an idea where I was going with it. I do maintain another one, God's Janitor, where I have been posting philosophical and religious thoughts and musings. My daughter got me interested in blogging while she was visiting last Christmas.

Recently she has been taking her two boys on an adventure know as letterboxing. It sounded like a ton of fun so I did some reading about it. I have a number of physical problems that limit my activity much more than I would like. This sounds like a possible way to get out and have some fun.

So now I need to find a couple of them to get a better feel for them, decide on a design and make a personal stamp, get a logbook, and probably place a few of my own.