Birthday

Today is my sister Bethany's birthday.

She's 22 years old now. Here's a list of my memories of her; the milestones:

• My first memory of her was not of her at all. I remember mom and dad bringing us kids (Jeremy, Joanna and myself) together for a "family meeting." I was 11.
• I remember coming to the realization that I'd never get my own room - no offense Jeremy.
  
• I remember being at home waiting for mom to bring home the new baby. She slept a lot and really didn't change the house too much (other than a shift in attention).
• I remember the times when she'd stop breathing. These events usually happened from falling off the bed or getting knocked over. It scarred the family severely every time it occurred.
• I remember enjoying being the big brother.
• I remember going off to college. The night before I left I tried to explain how it would be different for both of us. She was 5. I was heartbroken.
• She was in my wedding at age 9.
• She played the violin.
  
• She got her first car.
  
• She graduated from high school.
• She got her first job.
• She got her first apartment.
• She's a woman now.

You know how when you fill out a job application you have to fill out all your previous jobs and the dates you worked them. One of the reasons employers do that is to see if there are any gaps in your employment. Gaps are bad. The same is true in this case. There are gaps. I regret the gaps. The gaps are because we're half a family apart. No problem there - it is just the way it worked out.

I'm proud of you Bethany and I know that with patience and faith God will reward you (Matthew 25:21).

Here's to new milestones and less gaps.

on our love

Because my wife and I are prone to sarcasm we use a key phrase to verify the other is speaking the truth. We use the phrase “on our love?” Now because the sarcasm is so thick we find ourselves saying “on our love” once or twice a day.

I was visiting a friend in another city. We were talking about our dream homes one evening. During the discussion he talked about buying a vacation home in our city. In my excitement I promptly responded: on our love?

My First Blog Post - How Sweet...

To be fair to all the readers (zero, at this point) I thought I'd share my goals or motivation behind this blog.

First, I enjoy writing. To-date my writing consists primarily of emails. I take pride in my emails. I email better than I talk. I pour my heart and soul into those emails. I re-read and edit most of my emails several times before I click send. I'm probably a bit neurotic about them. I care.

Second, I know that this can be an outlet for me to share my thoughts (whether anyone reads them or not). As I mature (don't laugh) it is becoming more apparent to me that sharing my thoughts is therapeutic. To save my wife some grief this seemed to be an obvious outlet.

As the title of this blog suggests I don't consider myself an expert at anything, so the posts may be about BBQ, or a faith moment, or my family, or church, or my day, or baseball, or something I did this weekend, or something funny, or technology, or an experience, etc...

I welcome comments, but I don't take criticism well. My ego is too big for that.