Are we missing life?

The sermon at church this week hit home, which it would for you had you heard it. If you have an iPod, you can access it from iTunes, just look up Lutheran Church of Hope and find this weeks sermon. It talked about how we are filling our lives with so much, both material and time consuming, stuff. He gave the example of how his oldest son is graduating from high school, and it was just yesterday that he was starting preschool, or so it seems. I'll give you a little run down of my week, from Wed. on. Yours is probably busier than mine, but don't brag. If you beat this, you are worse off than me, and I'm exhausted.

Wednesday. Of course there is work, but I started my day at 5am so I could meet my friend Joe for breakfast, which was the best thing I did all day. Worked until 5pm and headed to church to finish off the marriage class that Marcy and I had been taking for several weeks. Got home, put the boys to bed, paid bills, but was in bed at a reasonable 10:30pm.

Thursday. Started off at 5am again, this time I needed to get to work so I could make up some time that I missed on Tuesday when we had a doctors appointment for Mason. Finished around 4:30, got home in time to load up the boys to head to the WDM Police open house. (more on that below) Got home at 7:30 in time to get the boys ready for bed, read books, brush teeth and all of that. Again, got to bed at a reasonable 10:30pm.

Friday. Worked a regular day, about 7am to 4pm, went home to load up the boys and head to Altoona for a birthday party, mentioned in an earlier post. Got home at 10pm, was asleep by 12am.

Saturday. I was actually able to play 18 holes of disc golf, but had to go at 8am so I could get it in. We had a baseball game at 12pm, but first I had to drive back out to Altoona to pick up Mason and Makiah, who had spent the night at Uncle Brian and Aunt Mindy's house. (Thanks guys, they had a great time) The game is from 12pm to 1pm, once the game was over, Marcy dropped me off at home so I could shower, since I hadn't after 18 holes of disc golf. Then, they drove to a party that I met them at a little while later. (Funny, I discussed with our friend Mindy on how ALL of our lives are so busy while I was there) Left there, went home for 1/2 hour, then headed to church to hear the sermon that has me writing this boring post. Went home, made dinner and had just enough time to get the boys to bed in time to watch Man vs Wild on the Discovery channel, which cause Marcy to gag, literally, when she watched the guy on the show eat a snake that he had just killed, raw. She has a really low tolerance for gross stuff like that, so she actually gagged about 6 times. I thought for sure she was going to hurl and I would have loved every minute of it, but alas, she was able to hold down her cookies. I was up through the news on Saturday Night Live (yes I still watch it) and then I was out.

Sunday. Up at 7:30am, got the boys up a little after 8am so we could go pick up a girl Marcy and I know so I could give her a ride to work. Took the boys to Krispy Kreame for Daddy's idea of a nutritious breakfast. Thank God Marcy feeds them better than I do. I cave to, "Well, they'll eat it." mode of cooking. They eat a lot of peanut butter and jelly, spaghetti and pizza when I have them.(not all together) Toss in some macaroni and cheese on an off day and you pretty much have the menu I prepare for them. Haven't heard a complaint yet. Got home and started cleaning for company that was coming. Mowed the lawn, takes about one hour and forty-five minutes. Cussed at my weed wacker because I can't get the damn thing to start. I've used it several times this season, but for some reason, it has decided that it wants a rest, nice. Time for lunch. Whipped up an awesome batch of PB&J, but they did have salsa with their chips and there are vegetables in there, right? I'm working on laundry this whole time, so any down time I have is spent folding and throwing away the boys socks. I swear they wear holes in them faster that you could ever think possible. I finished the cleaning, then headed to Lowe's to buy a new spark plug for the f*%king weed wacker. Got home, put it in and jerked the cord until I thought I had dislodged a vertebrae, still not working. Said a few choice words and went in to shower and get ready for company. Company arrives, we grill out, eat and have a great evening of conversation with two couples from our small group. Do the dishes, clean the back yard of yogurt debris that was thrown from the deck by my two year old who thought it would be fun. Picked up all of the indoor toys that had been launched from the same said deck by my 5 year old. I caught him after he had all ready deposited many items in the yard below and told him to go down and pick them up, which he only did part of them. Argued with two of the boys, but was able to get them to bed, and I'm guessing, because I haven't heard them fight in over 10 minutes, they are asleep. Now I have an hour to kill and I spend it giving you a play by play, sorry.

My point is, this is crazy. See if you can find just 10 minutes, other than this hour smart ass, where I, or anyone in my house, was able to sit and be still. To be quite and enjoy the beautiful day God had given us. There wasn't. I'm exhausted. You might think that this was a fluke, well, in some ways it was, but it's not that uncommon for us, or you I'm guessing. I did get to play disc golf and I am forever grateful for the hour and a half I walked in nature, by myself, in the quite, and threw a little piece of plastic around, only loosing it twice and only splitting one of my disc's in half. (and it was my favorite one as well, go figure) I wish I could slow down, but I fear the only way my life will slow down is: A: The kids grow up and move out. B: I fake a serious illness that confines me to either a Lazyboy or the nearest disc golf course. C: I die. I'm kidding, but then again, there is truth in it as well. I constantly feel over whelmed with the "stuff I need to get done." Tell me I'm not alone, cause I know I'm not. How do we slow down? Are we all destined to run ragged until we have a break down?

I mentioned that we went to the WDM Police open house. It's not far from our house and the boys like to look at all of the vehicles they bring out. There is your typical fire engine, ambulance and police cars, but they also have a SWAT truck, mobile command center and our favorite, a National Guard helicopter. Makiah is really big into anything Army, so he damn near kicked the crap out of me when I lifted him up to see it over the crowd. He started kicking his feet, apparently trying to run in the air, to get too it. I put him down and he bolted.

Oh, they were giving out free bike helmets and Mason decided he would just go ahead and wear his the rest of the evening. Then, we watched the helicopter take off, and if you haven't ever seen that up close, I would highly recommend it. Especially if you are a guy, cool stuff. Makiah was in heaven.
We got a tour of the station, which sucked because the only thing anyone would want to see, the jail, was off limits because there were people "visiting." We did get to see all of the cubicles, which is extremely exciting if you have been living in the jungle for the last 30 years and had never seen one before. If you work in one, everyday, not some thing you'd like to view in your spare time. Oh wait, we did get to see the break room, almost forgot about that piece of excitement. The only interesting thing we saw, was the gun range, not bad. The cop giving the tour couldn't have been less informed unless he had joined the force that day. He was asked several questions, that I would figure a guy who had been there since they built it, would know. Not Johnny Tour Guide, he knew squat. The only answer he gave was, "I don't know." Hell, I could have given the tour, I know what a cubicle is, I can read the names on the name plates and if anyone asks something not dealing with the two items I just listed, I'd give them a big fat "I don't know." Maybe next year, I'll skip that part of the evening, only so much a guy can take.