"circle of life" or "justice" (depending on my stage of life)

I had dinner with a dear friend last night.
While we were visiting, her husband called to report that he was locked out of the house.
I gave my dear friend a pretty hard time about that.
I have never known anyone to get locked out of things more than her... and now her husband.
But I paid for it.

Scene: morning, exterior
Keith: "You have keys?"
Sara: "oh, you're kidding."

The good news is we got in the house pretty quickly - like in 3 minutes.
The bad news is we got in the house pretty quickly.
I see a weekend project of installing glass block basement windows in our near future...

another lesson from Israel... sort of

Fact:
Traveling to cool places for work with your husband is not romantic.

Fact:
Traveling for work with your husband inevitably leads to some sort of sex joke from colleagues that definitely qualifies as sexual harassment, but somehow it's okay because they're talking about your husband. That pisses me off.

Fact:
Traveling for work with your husband doesn't actually satisfy your desire to travel together - rather, it intensifies it.

Fact:
My husband recognizes all this and has booked me a room here for the weekend.

Fact:
The idea of getting away, just for a night, makes putting up with a "Let's see how many times we can say 'that's what she said' today" competition a little easier. (I wish I were kidding...)

Thanks for the support

It's so nice to know everyone's behind me.
That they have my back.
Even without needing to assk.
I really appreciate it, butt I'm waiting for it to get old for all of you.

Oh yeah, and thanks for the memories - of course I remember that one time when...
...I broke my elbow tripping on my bedsprsead.
...I feel hard and fast at the winter retreat with everyone watching, all the while gloating about how smooth I was.
...I got hooked to the pole when we were sledding... right as all the cute boys pulled up...
...I fell during a marching band rehearsal, wearing my snare drum, getting called out on the speaker from the podium...
...I was in marching band.

You guys are the best.

Lessons from Israel v.2

Required reading for today's lesson: Genesis 16, 21:8 -21.

Bottom line?
Jews are from Isaac. Muslims are from Ishmael.
They both come from Abraham.

The conflict over land between Israel and Palestine fascinates me only slightly less than it pains me. Isn't there enough on this planet for everyone? Can't we all get along? How'd it all start? Will it ever end?

I'm embarrassed to say I never paid attention to Ishmael before. And I'm much, MUCH more Western than I'd like to admit.

If you had asked me a month ago to do word association for "Ishmael", I would have said Moby Dick.
And if you had said "Ishmael" and "Bible", I would have said "Moby Dick."
And if you had said "Ishmael, Abraham's other son", I would have said, "what?"

Isn't it fascinating that God gave two sons to Abraham. Gave them both to Abraham through unlikely sources. Brought them both to death's doorstop. Saved them both by providing for their needs. Promised them both a long lineage of favor.

Is the tension in Israel really part of His plan all along? How are we to make sense of that? I'm doing some reading up on that. I'll keep you posted.

coccygeal contusion

Living in Michigan all my life, I survive the winters in a state of anxiety.
It's not if I'll fall, it's when.
And until I do, once a winter, I'm on edge.
Looks like I'll be able to chill out this winter because I fell this morning.
Hard.
Friggin frost. It's not even Thanksgiving.
I wiped out taking the dog out - slipped on the top stair of the deck and thudded down three more.
Bottom line (pun intedended) is that I either bruised or broke my tail bone. No need for an x-ray as the treatment is the same - just drugs.
And yes, I will be sitting on this little dream boat for the next week or so...

Lessons from Israel v.1

Kids play in a universal language.


I don't speak Arabic. They don't speak much English.


But the kisses I received as we left these angels let me know we're friends now.


And you thought I wanted brown babies BEFORE...

we're home

I'm still not quite sure what to say about Israel. Great shoot, great people, great trip. I understand the conflict, but I sure can't make sense of it. It's kind of like if the US owned Mexico, and was 100x more aggressive about protecting the border. Even then, I can't make sense of it. I don't think we're meant to understand hate. Still too jet-lagged to get much deeper...