Vacation time

ok - so I am finishing up a great week of vacation, a much needed vacation I might add, I decided to stay around town and do some things that I have not done before.
Monday - International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island where I got to see my fav, Stefan Edberg from Sweden. Then, I took a turn to Pawtucket to see the Richmond Braves get beaten by the Pawtucket Red Sox. They almost won, but not quite. The fans were pretty nice to me, although, one person thought that the 2nd baseman was my son. That hurt.
Tuesday - a tour of Sam Adams Boston Beer Brewery and I unfortunately, had to taste some ;-0 It is smaller than I thought but then I found out there are a few more around the nation. However, here is where they do the new "experiments".
Wednesday - Horseback riding to celebrate 120 pounds of weight loss!!! I have not been able to do that in a LONG time, about 10 years I think, when I got thrown off. It was definitely a nice little reward. I was smiling like a child the entire time! An hour on a beautiful mountain range. Very nice.
Thursday and Friday - I went to a monastery to be in a 24 hour silent prayer retreat and worship with some new friends, the Episcopal monks. This was more needed than anything I did this week, I think. It was nice to be away from the world for 24 hours and be in silence. Even the meals were taken in silence, with the exception of one person reading from a book. The worship was wonderful and uplifting. They were extremely hospitable
Saturday - rest, reflection, talking to family, a haircut and shopping. I was supposed to work on cleaning my apartment, well...that didn't happen
Sunday - I was off from worship today so I went and worshiped with the Boston Harbor Lighthouse. A bit foggy at first, then cleared up nicely. I even climbed to the top to see the beacon. A perfect symbolic end to the week that I had.
These are just a quick sketch of photos. I have LOTS more and will share with you in my snapfish. Send me a comment and I will send you the link.
Monday - rest before I return to work. ugh...probably working on my apartment

It was a good week. It was a much needed week. Since I have been here, I have not been able to really treat myself to trips like these. This was a spiritual week for me, focusing on some things that I needed to focus on. Before you ask, I did not go to Richmond, because I will be there in September and then at Christmas. (Plus, it's not cheap to fly, have someone take care of the cats, and much less drive, down south) This time needed to be about me. Selfish? I don't think so. You take vacation don't you??
It was fun. It was uplifting. It was rewarding. It was a treat. I was able to congratulate myself for getting this far with all the changes that have taken place in the past two years. Can you believe it's been two years since I moved up here??? It was a good week and a much needed one. Thank you for the prayers and support.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Dad!
Miss you.

"This is Big"

Another Great DAD Gone too Soon

He said it frequently on the political trail, "This is big". Well, this is a big loss to the nation, to all fathers, and to all children.

Tim Russert of Meet the Press died today of a heart attack at the age of 58. A hard worker, a great family man, and a wonderful dad. You have a lot in common with my dad.

As Father's Day is celebrated this Sunday, on a day when it can seem darker than most for those who have lost their father, just as recent as today, let's celebrate dads as he celebrated his with all the world.

Rest in Peace.

Life, Death, and Life Again

Today was a mentally surreal day. I’m not even sure where I will go with this post, but I just feel the need to type. I got to preach today and I think it went well. I talked about how we need to reach out and touch someone, because that’s just the right thing to do. There was more to it than that, but I won’t bore you with the whole thing.

Well the reason I got to preach today is because of the little girl that you see on this post. She is the brand new girl of our Sr. Minister, who was born at 3:24 this morning. I got a chance to visit with them later on and it was such a beautiful sight. She was just 9 hours old and all curled up in daddy’s arms. She was making this little baby sounds that just melt your heart. To hear these sounds coming from this new life just makes all the stuff we go through worth the pain. She is precious. Life is precious. Those sounds were precious. It was a precious moment.

The afternoon proved to be rather hot. So I took a break from that “hot” weather, and went to see Iron Man. It was highly suggested to me and so I went. Rather rather excellent I must say. You should go see Iron Man. That is a movie all about heart, fighting an inner conflict, and beating the demons that you thought were stronger than you. And that’s when you realize that you are stronger than iron. And I don’t think they could have picked anybody better than Robert Downey Jr. to live this role.

But it was what I did after the movie that made it surreal, full circle if you will. I decided to go for a run and the place that my car took me was the cemetery. I know, it’s a little strange, but at the same time, rather peaceful. Imagine pounding the pavement, relieving the stress of the week, the mental roller coaster, the release of adrenaline that was keeping you going throughout the day. Then all of a sudden, you hear the voices of those present. Mind you, nobody was in the cemetery. It was around 7:00 this evening and it was just me and a few thousand rested souls. I heard the people at rest. I heard their families. I heard the moments that they had to say goodbye. I heard the tears of those who left too soon and I heard sighs of relief from those who had suffered much too long. At the same time, there was a sense of peace. It was calm. The Memorial Day flags were still up as a reminder of those who sacrificed and you could see flowers of those who had recently visited. Then as I was sitting by the pond, the bull frogs started talking. I wondered if it was God with a weird sense of humor, but they just started talking to one another.

As I was running, I came through a scene in one of my favorite movies, “The Contender”. Joan Allen’s character, Laine Hanson, is running through the Arlington Cemetery, as the President of the United States, is speaking to a joint session, talking about the unbelievably strong character that she maintained through a bloody assault from those who didn’t think she deserved the VP nomination. The whole experience of going through a struggle, whether it’s a public one or private, makes anybody want to consider quitting, but then you keep running and you keep going to the next level, because it could only make you stronger and eventually, when you least expect it, it just may give you new life – even as you are running through a cemetery.