Water

My friend murat got me thinking about water, and this got me thinking about my own experiences with water.

I've never really learned how to swim, I can float some, and tread water, but I'm not fluid within the waters be they river, lake, or ocean. I've gotten much better as my children truly enjoy the water and could and do spend enormous amounts of time in it.

When a was around 4 my mom signed me up for swimming lessons and that experience was so traumatic for me that it colored how I saw and experienced water for a very long time. I appreciated the water, I found it immensely beautiful but had zero desire to immerse myself within, I was happy just to dangle my feet in. Anything more and panic would set in.

The irony of all this is I grew up in Michigan surrounded by The Great Lakes.

The Great Lakes - Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario - are known for their beauty and the wealth of resources within and around them. The combined lakes contain one-fifth of the world's surface fresh water, and they are often referred to as the "sweetwater seas". The Great Lakes could cover the entire continental United States with over 9.5 feet of water. They are large enough to influence the regional climate, cooling summers and tempering winters, as well as increasing amounts of rain and snow in the region. A world-renowned fishery, thousands of acres of forests, major mineral and metal reserves and rich agricultural land provide a balance of economic opportunity within the basin. In addition, the lakes and their surroundings provide many recreational opportunities and an appealing place to live and work.

http://www.michigan.gov/deq/0,1607,7-135-3313_3677---,00.html

One of the beautiful aspects of parenting is when your child(ren) help you see something anew. Their love of the water helped me let go of my fears. I didn't want to keep them from enjoying something and I really didn't want my fear of water to be passed along to them; however, they couldn't go in by themselves, so we ventured into the waters together. It started with them only going in up to their necks, and then only going in up to my neck (this is still true for SweatPea), and now at least in pools Sonshsine has free reign.

So all this gets me thinking about family/community, at its best, walking together - growing together. It gets me thinking about all the leaps of faith I've made in my life. I'm not ever going to be this great swimmer, and I have no desire to be, but I am thankful for finally getting in past my knees.

Tao Te Ching:

The best are like water. Water benefits all things and does not compete with them. It flows to the lowest level that people disdain. In this it comes near to the Way.

I love this band

Bowling For Soup: The Great Burrito Extortion Case
"I'm Gay"

(This fucking song is all personality)
(Dude, that's the shit!)

Well we've all heard about
how the guys in the band
Weren't the popular kids in school
And now you hate your parents
'cause of the way you turned out
But in the end the blame's on you

And we all sympathize with your torn-apart heart
And your really artistic worldly views
It sells records when you're sad these days
It's super cool to be mad these days

I think rock and roll is really funny
when it's serious

Don't hate us 'cause we're happy
Don't hate us 'cause we're beautiful
Don't hate us if we make you smile
Or if we go the extra mile
To make someone feel better
on a really shitty day
And if you're hearing what I'm saying then
I want to hear you say, "I'm gay!" (I'm gay!)
Say, "I'm gay!" (I'm gay!)

Let's start a movement, let's start it right now
And if you don't know where to start
I can show you I'm your new team captain
Put your left hand over your heart
and repeat after me

It's perfectly fine to be a happy individual
It's perfectly fine to be a happy individual
Chris, Gary? You guys wanna join in?
(Yeah, buddy. Sure. Sorry Dude)
It's perfectly fine to be a happy individual
It's perfectly fine to be a happy individual
Very Nice. Very Nice.

Don't hate us 'cause we're happy
Don't hate us 'cause you're miserable
Don't hate us if we make you smile
Or if we go the extra mile
To make someone feel better on a really shitty day
And if you're hearing what I'm saying then
I want to hear you say, "I'm gay!" (I'm gay!)
Say, "I'm gay!" (I'm gay!)

That's right, ladies and gentleman!
Pick up the phone
'cause Bowling For Soup is on the line!
And you don't have to be sad anymore!
You don't have to be mad anymore!
We can all join hands and do ring around
the freaking rosie!
In fact, can we can get some "La la"s up in here?

It sells records when you're sad these days
It's super cool to be mad these days
I think rock and roll is really funny
When it's serious

Yo, where my "La la"s at!

La la-la la, la-la la-la
La la la la
La la-la la, la-la la-la
La la la la
La la-la la, la-la la-la
La la la la
La la-la la, la-la la-la
La la la la
La la-la la, la-la la-la

--And if you're looking for something new: The Pinker Tones

In the land of declentions

I orginially misspelled declentions as declination and I think that mental slip was probably quite accurate. My Greek study buddy is feeling the same way...so, our solution is to stick to our schedule, use the book but start incorporating reading and translating else we'll fall right into the ravine and/or never lever the author's "Fog". We also both struggle from the well, yeah I speak English but you want to to parse what?

--- Warning, you've heard this all before ---
I was reading another's blog about being overweight and the frustrations about weight and society and body image projected on women and weight loss should be about an integrated body-mind way of being and all other sorts of interesting things...then my mind wandered over and into wasn't there a time when plump meant healthy and wealthy? Wouldn't he make a great catch cause if he's plump you know he can feed you?

Now adays it seems we associate thin with successful and plump with loser...how in the world does this happen, when did this happen? Oh wait a minute...advertising...first there's the ads to come to restaurant x and try this new tasty meal deal...then there's the ads for beer...then there's the ads for erectile dysfunction junction...and then there's the ads for leaky bladders, depression, breathing...and then there's the clothing, make-up, diet ads...my head is reeling after an hour long TV show from the mixed messages.

With all that said, why do I want to exercise...because I don't like seeing my body slow down sooner then it should, I want to be walking when I'm 90 and happy to be alive at 90, I want to like my body better - I want the me within to match the me presenting, I want to feel sexy with the lights on if ya know what I mean, I want the opportunity to revel in my body like I should of when I had one in my 20s but was so lost inside had no clue that I was one sexy mamacita; I say all this as a reminder to myself for those times when all I want to do is plop. I'm not a plopper but I'm becoming one...I feel so like a broken record, but at here people can stop reading or skip to the end. The DJ keeps scracthing tired and exercise and oh pray...but the flip side is that I love my kiddos, my wife, my "church stuff", not my job-that's there so that other good things can happen in my life. I looking forward to DJ play that funky record integrated whole.

Can I pass out out yet?

Ugh, yes, yet again...I thinks it's one of those years, or maybe it's just NE. I am very tired, physically tired. I was emotionally tired too, but not so much now. Sonshine and Sweatpea were in Summer Camp together: Sweatpea loves it, Sonshine HATED it. So, now we're driving 35 minutes to one town to drop off Sonshine at his new camp (which he loves), and then driving back into our town and past our house to drop off Sweatpea at her camp, then driving back into downtown to work. Repeat above but for other parent and add 10mins to the commute to go get Sonshine. Total commute time: 1hr 30mins.

This means that I'm up at 5am so that I can walk the dogs and have 20 minutes for the Daily Office (well only the readings) and if there's any time "left over" that's my meditation time. Then it's time to get the kiddos up and moving and ready around 6am: Sonshine gets to stay in bed until 6:15-6:20am because he's all business; Sweatpea is slower then molasses and needs constant encouragement to get the lead out. Then it's get myself ready, pack my lunch sack, get dishes into or out of dish washer, get laundry out of dryer and possibly folded, get big dog into crate, and children into the car. One plus is that I'm getting quality NPR time whilst in the car.

I wish I knew how to squeeze more energized morning hours into my day; I'm a morning person...I want to read and exercise and think and pray in the morning. Evenings I want to relax and listen to my kiddos, not study, not exercise. But, ya know that work thing tends to get in the way.

Speaking of studying...I was right on track, until this last crazy week and a half. But in order to stay on track I've gotta quit with the excuses and do things in the evening I'd rather do in the morning. I actually thought about getting up at 4am, but the thought of being in bed at 8:30pm is really uncool.

And in the World of Periodontal Dentistry...I'm scheduled for a gum graft...apparently I've got recession in my mouth happening and I could wait or I can be proactive (so says P. Dentist). I'm actually pretty nervous about this cause my body can't even tolerate a splinter without instant redness and irritation - my wife is always amazed at how quickly my body reacts to anything not of itself, like earrings or nail polish or perfume. My body flat out says no way whatever were you thinking. So, I told P. Dentist no way to 'gums in a can' option, we'll use my own gums thank you very much. And none of this is cheap, every time we get ahead in the doctor visit budget bucket my mouth goes "oh really, I know exactly how you'll be spending that money te-he."

And total randomness - I really dig BostonMed, it's really well done. I love the stories, each episode(s) follows a doc or two and a nurse and some patients. Until last night all the patients had lived or had successful outcomes, last night was a brief  moment into a man dying. It left me thinking about dieing with grace. My wife looked at me and told me that she couldn't run into the room like his wife did, she culdn't be in there holding my hand and watching me die. I told her she had to be in there, and she joked that the dialog would go like this:
Me: Haaannnd...
Hospital Staff: What's she saying?
Me: Haaannnd...
Hosptal Staff: What?!
Wife: She saying hand, she wants me to hold her hand, and I'm not doing it.
Me: B***h...hold my haandd...

Enjoying Summer

So far my Summer has been wonderfully active and restful. We've been swimming fools thanks in part to the children's summer camp, and then the whole family has been enjoying our friend's pool on the weekends. We've been taking hikes, had our second family bike ride, and we went to a nearby park to play handball, a wee bit of tennis, and soccer.

We had tons of fun playing handball. We were using a kickball, because I thought the softness and size would be helpful for the kiddos. However, trying to hit a kickball hard enough with your hand to hit a wall is actually kinda hard. So we're going to look for the smaller version of the kickball, and then decide if we should buy a real handball ball if we find we're still having lots of fun.

Our next July hikes will be up the gentle side of a nearby little mountain, then off to a tourist farm/museum hike along nice flat trails with beautiful scenery.

I know this is silly but I'm so excited about having a tan...I haven't been this tan since living in Tejas. Shoot I had more color when I lived in Upstate NY. When I had my physical with the doc he suggested I start taking vitamin D, apparently adults these days are pretty deficient (turns out I am too). He said some of it is from using sun screen but mostly it's because of not enough outdoor time; and I think living in the Seattle of the NE plays a part . Getting sun is hard to get when you work inside, eat 'n sleep inside, and at most during the week get 20-30 minutes in the early morning walking the dogs, and 10 minute stretch my leg walks at lunch time.

And I now have a friend who wants to learn Biblical Greek with me! I haven't touched my BG in nearly a year. I was surprised at how much I remembered; however, I'm going to need to get serious for the next set of chapters and vocabulary. And the wife is practicing Espanol with me. My hope is that by next Summer I'll be fluent in reading and writing BG and able to read/speak/comprehend spoken Espanol :)