If you remember almost two years ago, I posted a blubbering picture of me saying "goodbye" to my youngest who was heading off for California and seminary. I've never been very good at goodbyes especially when it involves my children. I frankly hate to see them go. But my, how time flies.
There's hardly been time to blink an eye and yet here I am saying farewell yet again. Things have changed a little though, since that last snapshot. You might notice another person in the shot this time. Yes, my baby now is a husband and I have 
a wonderful daughter-in-law. But that only makes it doubly hard to say goodbye, especially when you don't know when the next time will come when you'll see them again. They're heading off to rejoin the mission team in Canada and then eventually off to their next mission field.
So there I was fighting back the crocodile tears. "Crocodiles." Hmmm, made me think of Peter Pan and Captain Hook which made me think of my dad and how he faithfully wrote me letters on his supper break on the graveyard shift at the factory in the evenings, pretending that they were from "Peter Pan" when I was going through my "Wendy" phase. I wondered how
Dad felt when he had to say goodbye to me on my many trips off to Europe when I was in the military, which made me think of my nephew, Kevin who just finished a training session with the Army in San Antonio where he worked at one of the big hospitals there.
A person can pick up a lot of things in a hospital, like germs and infections, and things that could be as scary as the Asian bird flu, which just goes to show that you shouldn't be handling birds in Asia if you don't know where they've been or at least until they come up with a vaccine against that flu. I made a mental note to remind Jason and Laura about that. But I was already thinking about flues and the time my brother and I had toured a mansion in Newport, walking into the drawing room just in time to see a chimney sweep crawl out of the fireplace covered in soot.
Soot! If I could only sing like Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins and have a friend like Dick Van Dyke to dance around the tops of roofs with. And what about that scene where she takes the children to visit old Bert Lahr and they end up laughing so hard that they all float up to the ceiling? I have friends like that, who make me laugh so hard that tears roll down my face and we all clutch our stomachs because they hurt so much from laughing. But I've yet to float up to the ceiling. I can float on water, though. I'm about as buoyant as they come. Guess it's all those fat deposits all over. They must help you float.
You know, a root beer float would taste good right about now. I can remember the A & W Root Beer stand where I grew up and how good those frosted mugs full of root beer and vanilla ice cream tasted on a hot summer's day. We'd have to roll our car window partway up so they could hook the little tray on the window when they brought our floats. I don't know if they have many drive-in's like that anymore where they hook trays on windows.
Speaking of hooks, it's been awhile since I've done any crocheting but I am getting pretty close to finishing another pair of socks. What I really should do is get going on that shawl that's been languishing in my workbag.
Going? Did someone just mention "get going?" Oh no, it's time for Jason and Laura to head out. But I don't want them to leave. There are too many scary things out there. Have I warned them about all the things that they need to watch out for?
"Now, you just be careful, young man," I admonish my son. "You take care of that wife of yours and don't take unnecessary risks or I'll....I'll.......
Isle of Skye....now that's a place I'd love to return to visit. It's been far too long since I've been to Scotland. Yessir, I think it's time to go. And it was. And they did. And now you see how my mind works and why most mornings I'll look up from the breakfast table and be amazed that it is almost 10:30 a.m. and I'm still in my pajamas. I'll have no idea where the time has gone but I DO know that I've done a heap of thinking since I came down for breakfast.
a wonderful daughter-in-law. But that only makes it doubly hard to say goodbye, especially when you don't know when the next time will come when you'll see them again. They're heading off to rejoin the mission team in Canada and then eventually off to their next mission field.So there I was fighting back the crocodile tears. "Crocodiles." Hmmm, made me think of Peter Pan and Captain Hook which made me think of my dad and how he faithfully wrote me letters on his supper break on the graveyard shift at the factory in the evenings, pretending that they were from "Peter Pan" when I was going through my "Wendy" phase. I wondered how
Dad felt when he had to say goodbye to me on my many trips off to Europe when I was in the military, which made me think of my nephew, Kevin who just finished a training session with the Army in San Antonio where he worked at one of the big hospitals there. A person can pick up a lot of things in a hospital, like germs and infections, and things that could be as scary as the Asian bird flu, which just goes to show that you shouldn't be handling birds in Asia if you don't know where they've been or at least until they come up with a vaccine against that flu. I made a mental note to remind Jason and Laura about that. But I was already thinking about flues and the time my brother and I had toured a mansion in Newport, walking into the drawing room just in time to see a chimney sweep crawl out of the fireplace covered in soot.
Soot! If I could only sing like Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins and have a friend like Dick Van Dyke to dance around the tops of roofs with. And what about that scene where she takes the children to visit old Bert Lahr and they end up laughing so hard that they all float up to the ceiling? I have friends like that, who make me laugh so hard that tears roll down my face and we all clutch our stomachs because they hurt so much from laughing. But I've yet to float up to the ceiling. I can float on water, though. I'm about as buoyant as they come. Guess it's all those fat deposits all over. They must help you float.
You know, a root beer float would taste good right about now. I can remember the A & W Root Beer stand where I grew up and how good those frosted mugs full of root beer and vanilla ice cream tasted on a hot summer's day. We'd have to roll our car window partway up so they could hook the little tray on the window when they brought our floats. I don't know if they have many drive-in's like that anymore where they hook trays on windows.
Speaking of hooks, it's been awhile since I've done any crocheting but I am getting pretty close to finishing another pair of socks. What I really should do is get going on that shawl that's been languishing in my workbag.
Going? Did someone just mention "get going?" Oh no, it's time for Jason and Laura to head out. But I don't want them to leave. There are too many scary things out there. Have I warned them about all the things that they need to watch out for?
"Now, you just be careful, young man," I admonish my son. "You take care of that wife of yours and don't take unnecessary risks or I'll....I'll.......Isle of Skye....now that's a place I'd love to return to visit. It's been far too long since I've been to Scotland. Yessir, I think it's time to go. And it was. And they did. And now you see how my mind works and why most mornings I'll look up from the breakfast table and be amazed that it is almost 10:30 a.m. and I'm still in my pajamas. I'll have no idea where the time has gone but I DO know that I've done a heap of thinking since I came down for breakfast.
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