Life sometimes stinks, at least at our house it does. Last night our dumb dog got sprayed by a skunk! Needless to say it caused quite a panic as we washed her, opened all the windows and even put out coffee grounds in hopes of weakening the odor. Fortunately she was not sprayed directly and by ten or so the stench began to subside.
Life is full of unexpected surprised. How you react to those will often determine whether your life will stink or not.
My middle daughter, Esther turns 21 today. I remember when she was about one, I said something and she looked at me with eyes that scared me. As to say “who do you think you are?” I was actually scared that she would have this defiant streak in her. I’m glad to say the opposite happened and although she can be quite stubborn, she is one of the most loving people, if not the most, I know.
Time really does fly by, if you stare at a clock it seems to tick so slowly, but when you look back on it, boy! I am officially past middle age, and it is sad when one recalls ones father being quite younger than oneself. I just wish I had a better memory to recall ALL the special times I have had.
My children as I will always call them, are no longer children. Coyrn is 19 & David is 23 next month. Life has been good. But I know it’s only because God is so good. For whatever reason, He has decided that Barbara and I should have children that have been nothing but a blessing, may He continue to do so.
As I look towards the next few years, Lord willing. I expect that Barbara and I will live a different life as our children begin to move on. I don’t know what that will be since the world does not look to good right now. But knowing what I know about God and his goodness, ultimately praise is due Him regardless and “every knee WILL bow!”
I’ve never been a patient guy. Sometimes I can’t even wait the full twenty seconds I set on the microwave to and open it at about 18 seconds. That’s just the way I’m wired. Yet as I age and have learned through marriage, if to want to have a strong marriage you must learn to wait. So here I sit in front of the Brighton store for the - Gosh who knows - time. But I’m content because I know it’s only temporary and waiting is part of life.
I recall 30 years ago I’d also wait, but back then I’d be waiting for nothing in particular, I don’t even recall any particular reason. Now I’m waiting for my wife, yeah it can be long, but at the end I get her back and life continues without skipping a beat.
So on Tuesday at the last minute, I decided to take the rest of the week off. No particular reason but Barbara was planning to go back to work on Monday after having the summer off. This is just a reminder that spontaneous plans often turn out great.
After staying up late watching TV on Tuesday and with no real plans to speak of, we slept in, thanks partly to the room darkening curtains I had installed the week prior. We had talked about going to Santa Barbara for the day, but nothing was set in stone. We finally left the house about 10:30 and headed to Panera’s for a quick and simple breakfast. Barb loves the ocean so we decided to head towards Santa Barbara, not really sure we would make it but not caring either.
After driving for about an hour and having a great time listening to music from my iPhone we drove past the Camarillo Outlets. Since I’m not much of a shopper much like the other 3 billion men in the world I just kept driving but I asked Barb if she wanted to stop for a bit, duh! So we doubled back and browsed through a few stores, picking up a few things “we needed” but it was fun just being together.
An hour and a half later we continued our drive. Since we had only had a very small breakfast, I started getting hungry – again, (this by the way is a constant problem). I knew of a small seafood place at the harbor in Ventura, so we decided to satisfy those deadly hunger pangs with a platter of halibut, shrimp, scallops & calamari along with the ever present fries. They were great!
It is now like 3:30 in the afternoon and we’re still 40 miles from our destination, but being the troopers that we are, we pressed forward. Barb wants to see the water so we head to the pier. — I love Santa Barbara pier, mostly because it reminds me of the week I spent in Santa Barbara when I was about 13. My brother and I spent it with my 15 year old cousin and we spent part of it fishing off that pier catching God know what. But for a 13 year old it was just a great time. – So we walked up and down the pier catching glimpses of “the dinner” being caught by the multitude of 12 & 60 year old “boys.” It was really quite a nice afternoon for it.
Afterwards we head up State Street which is the “Westwood” of Santa Barbara, tons of shops and eateries line both sides of the street. We had no particular place to go, but since we spotted a Ben & Jerry’s we knew it deserved a stop, so I obliged. Sometimes it’s fun to walk into stores with no intension of buying anything and just look at all the stuff they are trying to “unload” on us. Come on, do I really need a wine aerator, really? Or a stick that looks like a “T” to turn over my crepes? No offense to those of you who do, lol.
We decided to start heading back, but instead of jumping on the freeway, I decided to drive through some back streets. As we are driving we stumble on this small park. Actually it was a public garden; Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens, it was really, really nice. I highly recommend it for a nice quiet stroll. It’s not an old park, less than 30 years old, but was designed very well. Barb and I spent about an hour there, - young men, listen up, plan a picnic and take your girl there and you’ll steal half her heart in one date, listen to me, don’t waste your time and money on a movie, trust me! In any case, there were about a dozen people under a large tree and they all had guitars or violins, and they were just having a grand time playing this music that reminded me of the type of music played around the 1860’s.
By now it is getting late, close to 7:30, so reluctantly we head back, as we are approaching downtown Los Angeles, that constant problem, I was telling you about earlier hit me again. So I mentioned to Barbara about stopping in East L.A. and getting some “street tacos” I mean the kind that are sold on a sidewalk. Now I know some of you non East L.A. type are thinking, “you got to be kidding” no I’m not, let me take you one day, be brave. –This brings to mind of the time about 7 or 8 years ago when a group from our church went to Tacate, Mexico to do some humanitarian work. I was one of a few if not the only Latino amongst the predominately Anglo group. I love those brothers, but come on, live a little. After our work we all start heading back across the border with plans to eat at Carls Jr. Are you kidding me! As we are caravanning to the border crossing, I ditched the group with plans to meet them in an hour or so. I take my two kids who were with me and make a dash for a local taco stand. I’m telling you, YOU DO NOT GO TO MEXICO AND NOT STOPAT A TACO STAND it is just plain wrong! It’s like going to Italy and eating only what you cook and heading to dominos when you get back to the U.S. Now, I will say you do need to know how to pick the right stand, but that’s easy, just look for a clean one with lot’s of people. – Any way getting back to the one in East L.A., I pulled up to a particular one, I’ve frequented before, it is set up in front of a small house on Indiana and the 5 FWY. It’s always there, you walk up tell them what kind and how many and literally one minute later you are eating. After standing there and polishing off a few (they have no places to sit, you eat standing up) and Barb having her fill you tell the 13 year old cashier, (I think, he is the only one who speaks English) how many you had and he quickly tells you how much. Simple, fast and tasty. With that we jump in our car and head back home fully satisfied with a new string of memories.
So thus ended a most perfect day. It reminded me of the movie, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, only this was a whole lot more fun, particularly because Ferris, didn’t have my Barbie to share it with and I did!
So I’ve decided to start a blog. Why, not really sure, but I know that often things run through my head and I wish I would put them down on paper and I never get around to it. Don’t know what direction this will take, nor how often I will update it, most likely often the first week or two then most likely not very.
What do I plan to blog about? Just about anything that pops into this skull of mine. Who will read this? Not sure, me for one beyond that, not sure it matters.
My point of reference, God! I know how that sounds, but I mean it. I want to interweave what God has shown me though out my life and how it has impacted my thinking and my heart.
In a nutshell, I became a Christian on July 30th, 1980 and have walked continually under His wing ever since, Never regretting even for a day, the choice I made to follow Christ. My life has been so fulfilling and though I would never say it’s been always easy, it’s been more than I ever envisioned.
But I will stop, because this will not necessarily be a religious blog, my life (and writing) will bring out what needs to be said regarding what Christ has done as well as what he is doing in my life at any given time. For now it is about whatever, happens to be going on.So let it begin…
We stopped at Hearst Castle for about 4 hours.
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| 27 years later! |
