"Have a good life"

That's what G. said to A. as he hugged him in the security line at DFW today. I couldn't say anything because I was trying to not make a complete fool of myself while crying. He said, "I love you" then handed the security worker his computer and off he went.

I had to laugh the minute before that. When he took his bags to be screened, he must have set off some bells (maybe that trip to Afghanistan?). They opened his suitcase of books and removed ALL 42 of them (I counted) and leafed through EVERY one. They went through his other suitcase, a cool new rolling duffel bag that friends bought him, just as carefully. There were about 10 more books there and the guy said, "You sure like to read, don't you?" Finally, they let him go. Good thing we weren't in a hurry.

He didn't do a very good job of packing up his room, so that will be my project this coming week.

G. and I spent a moment in reflection this afternoon. We talked of how he has now really left the nest, this isn't just another short trip to another exotic place; this is the start of his career.

Lord, he is going to be in for a lot of changes, starting in less than 24 hours. Give him strength, help him to get off to a good start, help him to find some good friends. Give him wisdom beyond his years.

Empty Nest attack

Tonight my feelings really do relate to my blog's name. I'm starting to feel sad about A. leaving. I'm really starting to feel sad about him getting ready to leave.

Today he had a chat with one of our colleagues who lived in Ethiopia. A. came back from this chat overwhelmed and said, "What were they thinking?? I have no idea what I'm doing!"

This is some of the advice he was given:
--No respectable man shows his elbows. Wear only long-sleeved shirts. No matter what the weather.
--Have your leather shoes shined every day by one of the street shoeshine boys.
--If you learn Amharic, your street value will increase.
--Yes, there is malaria.
--If you can pronouce peoples' names properly, your street value will go up.
--Grow a beard.
--When you are asked to give someone's nephew a job, say you need to first check with your boss.
--When asked for a television, say the television might get broken when you tried to carry it over to them.

Yes, he is in over his head. Lord, help him.

Oaf son

I am laughing now. 
 
D just came home from Organic Chemistry class.  Well, he didn't come straight home.  He came in and announced:  I've just been on a date.  But I didn't know it was a date until she gave me her phone number!  Oh, don't worry, mom.  She's my lab partner.  We've got good chemistry.

Pensive

I'm in a thinking mood right now. We went out to dinner this evening to meet up with a group of friends from our old (now-defunct) church. Most of them I see occasionally, but tonight there were a number of people there I hadn't seen in ages. When you don't see someone for a long stretch, then you do see them, it gives opportunity to reflect on the changes you see over the interval of time.

Some of the kids from my daughter's peer group were there. One with a two-year old, livewire of a son, cute as anything, but with no father. She was there with a guy from that same group, actually someone she had dated four years ago. Yes, I think they should get married.

Another interesting thing was to learn one of the married couples from this now-defunct church has decided to become Roman Catholic. I guess in some ways it isn't a big jump for them because he attended a Catholic HS many years ago, and in recent years they became Episcopalians (after the church went defunct). Being Episcopalian was fine until last summer when the Episcopalians decided to ordain gay clergy. I'm not sure what I think about this.

I'm also feeling a little sad because of A's pending departure.

Ears to hear

Tonight was the fourth meeting of our college Bible study group, fourth out of a planned eight. We had a good sized group, 14 or 15, with 4 more people coming for the game time after the study. Several of the regulars were absent, but five new people came.

I was disappointed because a couple people I had asked to come didn't. I mentioned that to Gary and he gave me some good advice: don't be sad about who doesn't come, but be happy for those who do because they will have ears to hear. Our lesson kind of fit with that paradox of the senses too: we talked about the blind who can see and those who think they can see are really blind (John 9). Jesus often talked in riddles, with figurative language or with double meanings. Not everyone who listened to his words actually heard them them.

Lord, give us ears to hear.

No internet??

Most of today our internet connection was down. It seems we can hardly live without it.

Spiderman

When D. got back from the theater he told me Spiderman uses the same quantum mechanics book as he did at Taylor.

Life can be short

I hardly knew him, though he had been at our house not so long ago. I just know if he were my child, I would be devastated. Lord, take care of that family. Help them to love you though they must be hurting so much. Glorify yourself--though from my point of view, you could have thought of a better way to do so. Sorry, I shouldn't be insolent. You know more than I do.

Medical school

D. applied to medical school yesterday. He finished the process by borrowing my credit card to pay for the application--almost $400! It is a joint application for all schools and will be followed up by shorter applications to specific schools. He is looking at Ph.D./M.D. programs, and not all medical schools have them.

We've been offered a free car by friends who are getting a new one. I wonder if D. could take it to D.C. for his job there in September? Funny thing, the car they are offering is only one year older than our newer car.

Conversations

Heard around our house today:

Setting--D. walking repeatedly back and forth from one end of the house to the other carrying a floppy disk.
Me: What are you doing?
D: File transfers.

Setting--I'm giving the last stir to the the stir-fry for dinner.
Me: D., put the rice in a bowl.
D.: I can't. I'm applying to medical school.

Setting--A. getting his Harvard transcript in the mail.
A.: Look missa! I'm a straight up B+ student. Yes!

Setting--Cleaning up the kitchen at 7pm, listening to my new "stereo" system (speakers from my computer strung into the living room)
R. Mom, turn your music down. I can't sleep!

Someone to talk to

I feel like I need someone to talk to.

People are talking to me, but that's not what I mean. I mean I need someone to talk to.

Lord, are you listening?

Gmail

I opened a gmail account tonight, just for the fun of it. If you are reading this message, send me an email to my new gmail account: linda.sim***@gmail.com I need to see if it works. (You know what to substitute for the asterisks.)

Horses and roller coasters

She: I just got off the roller coaster, but I want to get back on.
Me: Don't be too agressive.
She: If you fall off a horse, you need to get back on.
Me: But don't be too agressive.
She: Just someone to talk to.
Me: How can you have a DTR if there isn't any R?
Me: AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!

School bills

Ugh--I just did the math and siged the papers for the 10 months of payments for R's last year of college. Lord, you are going to have to provide for this somehow, since we don't have that much per month.

Church was good today. Nothing special, really, but my heart is drawn to God when I sing and participate in praising God with my fellow believers. I enjoyed hearing my family and friends sing around me. D. visited another church in town, then we picked him up for lunch at Taco Bell. He doesn't feel very connected at our church any more.

Coffee

I don't drink it myself, though I do like the smell of it.

This week R. learned to make coffee, though she doesn't drink it either. That is now part of her job description at the office. She made coffee at our house last night, too. It smelled strong to me, but everyone drank it.

And I learned something about coffee this week from D. and A.: Folgers is old people coffee, while coffee in small foil bags with flavoring added is young people coffee.

One way ticket to Africa

Today A. got word that he will fly to Nairobi one month from today. That seems soon. But we were that age when we left for the middle of nowhere, and we took the only grandbaby with us--who is now doing the same thing. But it was a little different for us: we had each other. I just wish he weren't going alone. Lord, take care of him.

R. had lunch with her friend Jessica. Jessica is about to go to China for a year. She is going alone too. Her mom is probably sad too.

Reading and swimming and working

R's plans for a regular reading night each week have fizzled, but she has found a book she likes (and it isn't a dating advice book this time!), so she is reading anyway. Good for her! She's acting determined to do some exercise too, so we've started swimming laps during the lunch hour. Her job has started, kind of, but we haven't yet had a typical day. If we can get it going it will be good, but it is a job that depends on me putting in some time to keep her busy and to supervise her. The pay is about three times what she's ever been paid at any previous job, so if we can get a system going smoothly, there is hope she could actually make some money towards her school bill.

And speaking of working, it looks like A. will leave for his job July 22 or 23. Now he's getting visa photos, making an appointment for a yellow fever shot, trying to get into the dentist, making plans to fly around the country to visit all his friends, and of course, going to some more baseball games. His dad got mad at him today because he bought a plane ticket to NYC to go to a Yankees-Mets game this weekend with a friend who invited him. I thought it was a silly thing to do, but I know he is a very social creature and saying goodbye to his friends is important to him.

Making plans to leave already

A. has only been home a few days, but today he got his marching orders from SP. SP's East Africa director phoned from Kenya and talked for an hour. He told A. how he was leery of him and his abilities, until he learned he was from Taylor U. and also got a personal recommendation from a mutual friend (his Harvard credentials weren't necessarily in his favor :-)

So it looks like he will leave at the end of July. He's going into overdrive now to do the things he loves to do before leaving: see his friends and go to baseball games. He's on the phone at the moment buying tickets to the Rangers' game for tomorrow night--a date with his little sister. And he just bought plane tickets to go to NYC for the weekend since a friend bribed him with Yankees-Mets tickets. And then a trip to Kansas city to see old college dorm friends and to St. Louis to see the girlfriend who never was. He just can't sit still.

He has to get yellow fever immunization, and cholera too if he hasn't already had that. And malaria pills. He's already been told there is bad phone and internet service (and you get thrown into jail if they catch you with a satellite phone)and common supplies aren't that easy to get either.

I think I'm starting to feel sad.

Doro's last night is a nightmare

When we got home from DFW last night there was a small copperhead snake blocking the door to the house. The car headlights lit it up clearly, so we were in no danger. The push broom was right handy so I shoved it off into the grass amid cries that I should kill it. Then Doro had a nightmare about it.

She had lots of friends come say goodbye to her early this morning. She is like a people magnet. Now that she has gone, our phone will probably never ring again. She got checked in at DFW with no problems at all, but she did miss her flight out of Atlanta due to bad weather, so that meant also missing her flight to Hamburg.

I spent the rest of the day rearranging our rooms and our lives to make space for A. and D. and all their stuff. Now I'm pooped and I still feel unsettled.

Cemeteries on Sunday

We got to church early this morning, so I went for a walk in the cemetery next door. It was an unpretentious cemetery, with lots of room for new folks. The only thing I didn't like were the artificial flowers on some of the graves--too bright and too perfect. I mean, people have nice bodies for a while and then they die, and their nice bodies decay; flowers should do the same. A particularly loud bunch of colors caught my eye but when my nose caught a whiff of fragrance, I realized these were real flowers. The nameless grave was only a day old. The flowers were starting to die, but many of them were still beautiful. As I meandered through the rest of the cemetery I found a few wild flowers; they were the best of all.

Come to think of it, last Sunday I was in a different cemetery after church. That cemetery was very pretentious with signs and warnings and no flowers--fake, cultivated, or wild. It was full to the brim with Paul Revere, Mother Goose, and Ben Franklin's folks, among others.