Old Family Photos

my parents' wedding, Lyle and Vivian Dennis, July 29,1952, Crystal, MI

I was so happy to get an envelope from my childhood neighbor with a handful of black and white photos of my family. Her parents had been at my parents' wedding, and Carol found a few old photos they found when cleaning out. I was happy to get them.

Haven't heard much from Andrew and Laura this week except that they got their contract signed in the town of Awassa and the TV reporters were there to film it.

Talked to David who has just finished his first block of classes (they have blocks instead of semesters). He gets some time off this weekend, but said it was too expensive to buy gas to drive home for a visit. He did buy a pass to the UT-Houston gym, so he can start working out a little bit. His girlfriend phoned from a borrowed cell phone the other morning--that made him happy.

Rachel continues to do scanning about 3-4 hours per day. We are nearing the end of the materials to scan, but it is good money while it lasts. She has joined the church choir and is attending two different singles' groups during the week. Her latest set of fingerprints were accepted by the Texas board of Education, but still no word on her Review of Credentials.

Gary is doing OK, except always always too busy. He goes to Michigan for a few days at the end of next week for a paid consulting job. It has been many months since he has had one of these opportunities.

True Love at Church

His 250 lb. wife is now pushing 300 with their third child--he looks at her and smiles.

His wrinkled wife moves over to let him in the pew with a giggle--he leans his grayed head over and kisses her.

His grouchy wife smiles in spite of herself when he takes her hand--he whispers, "I'm ga-ga over red hair."

A skinny, beautiful, young blonde woman sits all alone--Lord, won't you bring true love to her too?

Playing in the Rain

Who says you're ever too old to play in the rain??

We haven't had much rain this summer, in fact I think we're over 6 inches behind the normal rainfall totals. And it is still hot here, so playing in the rain was kind of like a warm shower.

Anatomy of an Apology

1. Acknowledge the facts. I cut you off in traffic. Don't include any but,... statements.
2. Admit you were wrong. I was wrong to do that.
3. Apologize. I'm sorry.
4. Ask for forgiveness. Will you forgive me?

No, I didn't write that because I'm mad at someone, or someone is mad at me. I wrote it to remind myself of the conclusion I came to several years ago when I thought hard about apologies. That situation came to mind due to some recent silly (and some not-so-silly) bickering on a forum I frequent.

Those many years ago, someone did something bad to one of my kids. (That's all the more specific I'm going to get and I will use all male pronouns when talking about the situation, regardless if the antecedent is male or female.) He tried to apologize, but he skipped directly to number 3, and could never come to terms with points 1 and 2. So in my mind, he never really apologized.

Of course, I am guilty of doing this too. It is hard to admit wrong, and it is easy to rationalize and make excuses. It is also, sadly, easier to observe these faults in others than in one's self.