oh the summer

i like to pride myself in being one who can handle change, but the truth is--- some change bothers me.
this will be hard for me to admit, but i miss my summers at camp.
camp was always a time for me to get away from the rest of the world and look out for the youth that surround us. to just have fun and not worry about paper work and such.
yet that is no longer a part of my life. i no longer get to spend my afternoons sitting by the pool life guarding (i miss having a tan. i am so white), or listening to kids talk about their lives with a camp fire roaring in front of them.
don't get me wrong. i love my job, but camp was part of my childhood. i just can't wait til riley starts going to camp so i can live through him.

the bright side is... i don't miss camp food.

i love this art

joshboston.com

angie's great grandfather and danny's talent for writing

my brother-in-law wrote this note on facebook after finding out his great grandfather had passed away.

"My great-grandpa died in his chair today.

My grandma asked him if he wanted a cup of coffee this morning and he said yes, but he didn’t live long enough to drink it. I think he was ninety-six.

He was a quiet man most of the time I knew him, but certain subjects would get him pretty animated. When he got started on a tangent he was hilarious. I only wish I could have been on the phone the time he got the call from the city saying he had to paint his shutters or something like that. He called my uncle in a rage cussing and complaining about the Ferguson Gestapo.

He liked to tell us about how poor he was as a child. So poor, he said, that he wasn’t allowed to shoot a rabbit for dinner unless there were two lined up and he could kill them both with a single shot. So poor, he said, that his excuse for being late to school was that he was last in line to use the toothbrush.

I was probably 10 or 11 when a few of us sat on his back porch eating popsicles. He told us to just make sure we didn’t eat the sticks. “One time,” he announced, “I ate a bunch of popsicle sticks and pooped a two-by-four!”

Great-grandma: “Pa!”

Great-grandpa: “Well it’s true!”

His house was heat, an uncomfortable couch, a magnifying glass on the newspaper, underwear in the recliner, and Wheel of Fortune turned up to 11. He was married to my great-grandma forever as far as I’m concerned.

When we’d visit for Christmas he’d play Silent Night on the harmonica. Other times he’d disappear into his room and come out and entertain us with an accordion he found in a barn as a teenager.

His and my great-grandma’s house was notorious among the cousins for having a candy bowl on every table. When we finished a Starburst and took him the wrapper he’d fold it into a little boat. As we got older (or smarter, or both) he taught all of us how to make one for ourselves. When I think of my great-grandpa I always think of Starbursts, and when I see Starbursts I always think of my great-grandpa. I still make a boat every time I eat a Starburst.

He had a mean streak that I never saw. He has pictures that show him as strong. He was a good man, and now he’s gone."


you will be missed. if only we all could live a life like yours.

facebook polls, bat's in the courtroom, and why i need to keep my mouth shut

facebook:
i am really getting sick of people posting their opinions on facebook polls.
wait.
let me rephrase that.
i do no like when christians have to force their views on facebook with a poll.
the most recent poll to annoy me is the "same sex marriage" poll.
why post that? we already know you are against it.
do we have a poll for people against adultery, gluttony, laziness, pride, should i keep on going? because if you want i will make a poll to cover every sin that all of God's children (including myself) commits.
it seems to me that it is easier for us to point the finger when we are not willing to admit that our own gut is a sin.

bat in the courtroom:
during court a bat started flying around. it was funny watching all of these tough guys run out of the courtroom because they are afraid.

why i need to keep my mouth shut:
this does not need to be explained.

4 years of putting up with me

tomorrow will be angie's and my anniversary. it doesn't feel like it has been 4 years since we got married, but i hear that is a good thing.
i have been blessed to have a perfect wife. she puts up with my comic books, annoying music, leaving my underwear on the floor, my depressing moments, me talking about movies she could care less about, and my spending habits.
what can i say... she got a winner.
i figured i would post a few pictures. the first one is when we were engaged. the next one as you can tell is our wedding day. the last was taken on easter.

once again with the comic pics

i really can't help myself. some of these pictures are just too funny.
one warns us about the dangers of going to the creation museum.