Roads Not Traveled

As I lay in bed last night I got to thinking about how fragile our bodies are and conversely how resilient they are as well!  I have commented at how it seems all of the Spencer side of my family have very poor ankle structures and at the same time, how I managed to be cursed with the Plattner knee problems as well.  Genetics always fascinate me.

But, being a klutz means that at an early age I was out there working on helping the genetic curse!  I lost my knees at 16 in a ski accident.  I really wanted to try out for the US ski team, no where good enough for it - but that does not stop ambition!  Back in those days downhill was run as a dual event - two skiers.  The guy on the inside of the curve never turned and forced me off the course.  He hit a tree and never recovered from the coma, dying several months later.  I hit the worlds largest icicle under a tree and demolished the knees.  Nothing like being told at 16 you would never walk again, much less ski!  Through just plain force of will and endurance I worked on those knees for years, hours everyday to make them work again.

The final insult to the knees came in 2002 when I fell on the sidewalk outside my doctor's office.  Well, it was raining and there was a little moss on the sidewalk......  Yeah, king of klutz, probably the pattern in the concrete got me!  Poor knees just have not recovered from the surgery for that one!  Not enough cartilage left for them to function well.  And since artificial knees are only good for about 15 years, I will wait a few more decades before the replacement.  Better to be in pain than to never walk again, just in case it doesn't go well.

I mentioned one time in this blog about my American cousin whom, being a Spencer descendant, also has the bad ankles - worse than mine and way more surgeries than mine!  But, he had to work very hard at duplicating my knees.  He is about 10 years younger than me and I remember teaching him how to play soccer.  I figured that at least it would be fun for him and give those ankles some help in getting stronger.  It worked.  He went on to win a full ride to college on a soccer scholarship!  Too bad he got drunk at a college party and riding his motorcycle home, at a high rate of speed!, put the cycle into the back end of a VW bug.  The bike went on to hit four more cars - totaling out each of them due to their low values.  As for him, he flew over the VW, and a few more cars, eventually landing on the back end of a pickup truck.  Both feet went between the bumper and the bed of the truck - his body to the outside of the bumper.  SNAP!

Yeah broke both knees.  Of course, he lost his soccer scholarship, was hospitalized for quite a while and now had to get a job to finish college.  Changed him in oh so many ways!  Of course he had NO insurance of any kind, which darn near bankrupted his father for the medical bills and paying auto claims!

So, as I lay in bed I thought about Chris and wondered what ever would have become of him if he had lived his faith those first few years in college?  Would he have met the same young woman and married her?  Would he still have become a phys ed instructor?  Or might his life have truly gone down the toilet as a soccer star?  Don't you just love what if's?

As for me, it is well my skiing aspirations were destroyed early on.  I went on to work for Garcia as a product tester for ski wear and equipment for several years.  I know that would have not happened had I not crashed - I would have been too full of myself for that job!  ;^) 
And it was a great job for someone working on rebuilding muscle - I can easily see God in that one, even though I was still a long ways from becoming a Christian. 

My best friend at the time did go on to the US ski team and never really amounted to much.  The excesses of the partying however took a real toll on him.  When next I saw him, a decade later!, he was still the immature youth he had been - only now he was pushing 30 and having to learn to grow up and get a job.  It was like time had stopped for him and now his future options were looking very poor.  And what might his future have looked like if he had not pursued skiing as a career?

What if's and the road not traveled always fun to swirl around my mind.

John 8:1-11

You know this really is an intriguing episode in Jesus' life.  There are lots of goodies to take away from it and apply to your life, but today I am thinking about my son  and of course his sins which have brought him to the point where he is expected to be moving out this weekend.  (No idea if that will actually happen, but he has been told there is no more grace.....)

If you, my reader, are a Christian - then you can understand the idea that everyone of us has a past.  That past is composed of sin and it may well be those sins which put you on the road to finding Jesus, learning about his payment for that sin and making peace with your Creator.

And whether you are a failing Christian (such as my son) or still looking for "something" to fill that hollowness within, it is heartening to know that every sinner has a future!

We are each to see ourselves in this woman brought before Jesus for condemnation.  I see myself in my son's rebellion to God.  I am just as guilty of rebellion against God as this woman was.  And where I find it so hard to have finally drawn that line in the sand - which son so quickly crossed over I still can not believe it!  But, Youngest Daughter has never been known to lie, so I know he really did beat his girlfriend in front of our house.

Each of us grades our own sins on a curve.  Well my sin can not be anywhere near as bad as yours!  Sin can not be minimized.  A white lie is as bad as stealing, which is as bad as murder, which is as bad as adultery, etc.  So from God's perspective, what son has done is no worse than what this woman brought before Jesus has done and no worse than anything I have done (even if I believe that hitting a woman is about as low as you can get!).  We can not compare our sins to another's!  If you want to do comparisons - you have to compare your holiness with God's holiness!  Yeah the "curve" disappears when we allow God in the picture.....

Jesus told this woman to sin no more.  In doing so He acknowledges that she did wrong, he offers hope for her future and offers forgiveness.

I am not sure my son will be able to see forgiveness in my pushing him out into the real world, but if he is to grow up and have a future - it obviously will not be living here and not learning his lessons the easy way.  Some things really crack one's heart.

Crash

So, next month, September, I am taking the month off to ride my bicycle from the southern end of Vancouver Island - to the northern end.  Beautiful scenery, yummy seafood and a whole lot of eh's, eh?

Just one teeny-weeny problem - I crashed tonight.  Oh yeah.  I had installed lighter pedals with rat-traps so I would not be using my clip-ons.  But, during a shift my right foot rolled off of the pedal and tore my inner tendon from about 4" off the ground to 2/3s the length of the foot!

Oh yeah, major pain.

And now, what of my blast off this weekend?  Sigh - I hate being a Klutz.....

Yeah

Interesting, panic in the political and media arenas for a storm that yields 60 mph winds and rain.  Ouch.

We have to come up with a better name than Nanny Culture.  When everyone is willing to flee their homes, disrupt commerce and change lives over an "IF there is a storm...."  Something is really wrong within that culture.

You may snort, but I honestly wonder if now that America has announced God is dead, that the culture has reverted to just normal everyday pagan superstitions - in this case fueled by paranoid politicians and a hungry news media?

Yeah......

Nannies Are For Babies

Surrounding me are two constant philosophical thoughts.  First, that the State should do all it can to care for the citizen.  The other, that the State should get the heck out of citizen's lives.  Personally, I am more of a "get the heck out of my life" kind of guy.  Most of those around me are not.

So, I have watched with interest as the Nanny Press and the Nanny State have been declaring emergencies and ordering evacuations for the past 2.5 days in anticipation of Hurricane Irene.  Such rib tickling comments as "it is going to rain", "expect up to 12 inches of rain", and the best one - "winds could gust to 80mph"!  I have lost all respect for those babies on the east coast.


I hate to tell the press and government this: IF the storm does not make landfall - all of the dire predictions are worthless!  Yes, there might be high tides.  Yes, there might be rain!  Yes, there might even be winds as high as 80mph!  Uhm, and any of this is outrageous because.....?

I am so sick of the wannabee nannies in this country whom believe any of this does not occur annually, if not several times annually!  Twice since I have been here in Washington State we have had over 12" of rain at my home, winds well over 80mph with gusts of about 100mph, and floods?   Hecka yes, as my oldest says.  And yet no one is issuing gloom and doom reports on just plain ordinary Washington weather.  Nanny wannabees really need to grow up.

If a zone can not take a 5' wave - stop issuing building permits!
If a structure can not take an 80mph wind - do not allow an occupancy certificate on it!
If the foundation, basement, whatever can not take 12" of water in a 24 hour period - get rid of it!

This is not rocket science kids!

We do not need nannies, we need individuals willing to take responsibility for their actions, locations and structures!  Good Lord man!  The end of the world is not going to be avoided because the State coddles you.....

(just for the record i am a survivor of: 1 typhoon, 2 hurricanes, 3 tornadoes, 4 major earthquakes, 2 floods, 1 avalanche, 2 landslides, many bizzards, temperatures of -80, 1 maritime disaster, 1 air crash, 3 armed revolts, 1 armed robbery, being shot twice, 1 mine collapse, hit by lightening once, poisoned thrice, and aMcDonald's Happy Meal survivor as well!  just lucky i guess.  thinking about it, you might not want to hang around me much.)

IMG's Mother

So, Italian Missionary Girl came into town, as did her mother several days later.  Since I have known the both of them for several years, I threw a little birthday party for the mother and figured the two of them would be off visiting - as they have not seen each other for over a year.  But, IMG suddenly vanished by going on a camping trip the day after the birthday party with some people she hardly knows and ditching the mother unit - here in Seattle!  Talk about more than a little personality flaw in there girl!

So yesterday, I took IMG's mother (Linda) out to lunch, Azteca of course, I doubt she would have appreciated the local Italian joints!  Naturally, we were chaperoned!  I had Oldest Daughter (with screaming grandchildren in tow) meet us at the Mexican restaurant and had one of my college guys with me as well.  So, it was cool.

I seemed to be in particularly rare form and had most of the area around in tears they were laughing so hard!  Yeah, ever so often I seem to be on a roll and can really get a crowd going.  Used to happen quite a bit before OD ran away from home - that sort of killed something inside of me, as did Middle Daughter doing the same and now son's "problem".  (Honestly, I thank God constantly for youngest daughter - whom has stood strong against following in her sister's footsteps!)

Linda (who knows how it is really spelled!), was in complete agreement with Robin that I have done the proper thing in telling son to go.  (It really helps to know at least someone agrees with me!)  Only one more week and he is doing NOTHING to prepare for his departure.  I expect he thinks it is a bluff, but for once his is going to be held accountable for what he did - at least what I can do about it.  There is no room in my home for someone whom would beat a woman.  God I wish she would go to the police and his little reign of terror could be ended before it really turns ugly!  Yeah, I have this real fear that if he could do this, he could turn out like one of my customers from many decades ago (a serial killer named Yates).  But, there is little anyone can do to help him in Washington, where the troubled one has to be willing to be treated!  How backwards is that!

Anyway, back to Linda.

She has many health issues, currently recovering from cancer surgery and treatment.  I really feel for her in that regard.  I also feel for her that she came all of this way to see her daughter, whom then abruptly left to go camping.  Children!  Sigh.....  On the other hand, it is interesting to see that things have not gone well on that trip but IMG will not be back until Saturday night - her mother leaves Sunday morning.  Children!

But, it was a nice lunch and I think she had some fun.  We certainly wore her out that is for sure!  Buona Avventura!

So, I am not likely to see her before she leaves.  I am still busy trying to get a jam experiment to work, before the end of next week - deadline for the State Fair.  Yes, still cooking and seeing if anything I create could possibly get even an honorable mention .....

The Heavens Above

Father was a theoretical mathematician and part of his early work had been on the V-3 rocket, I can remember him regaling me with stories of its design, purpose and rather odd "disappearance".  How he filled my youthful head with tales of the stars and the ships which would one day take us there.  But, once I was in school, those days stopped, as did the tales.  I remembered those times fondly though.

I can remember father tuning in Sputnik on the radio and hearing the beeps it made.  Father was at Sandia Labs at the time and I can still feel the coolness of the evening air, huddled on his lap as he pointed to the white light of a star as it moved across the night sky.  His words were filled with marvel at what he knew his friends, now slave labor in Russia, had created.

Whom could not watch with wonder the news of the Russian space achievements in the 1950's and early 1960's.  I remember the somber discussions over Russia preceding the US at every turn in the space race and the news of the disaster which consumed the Russian space program - killing most of those whom had brought such success.  Listening  to the song, "The River is Yellow" from China's first satellite.  Those were the days my friend.

Into this mix, Wernher Von Braun's many social visits with the family.  But, who cared by then?  I was a teenager and Margrit, his daughter a few years older than me, was simply fascinating!  She and I had one commonality, we both had FBI babysitters as we grew up and so would share tales of how to drive those poor guys utterly mad!  I imagine she really did not even know I was alive - just that other German's annoying kid.  Sigh.

I worked in aerospace for three decades because of my love for space - not necessarily contributing anything as great as father had, but I like to think my computer innovations supporting the Saturn rocket program helped in some small way.  Like father though, just slave labor, whom will not even score a footnote in history.  (Ok, unlike father, I got paid.  But it still felt like slave labor at times!)

And my love for space is not at all diminished by no longer working.  I have my movies and books, and friends still working to leap frog us into the heavens above.....

Good Times.