eggstatic

“Carton eight eight five seven is now departing. Eight eight five seven is now departing”

Ted settles into his carton and looks over. “Well hello there Bob. How have you been?”

“I have been doing great. What life are you on now days?”

Ted thinks in his head and figures out, “10 I think. How about you?”

“I always lose track; probably the same number. Are you getting better or are you in a slump?” Bob asked.

“I was in a cake yesterday. Prior to that I was a scrambled egg. Did you hear about Fred? He came out of the Mother Ship, but just then a family dog came and scared the Mother Ship and he got stepped on. So far he has been reincarnated as a rotten egg and as an egg with a cracked shell. He is not getting any better in his reincarnations. I feel so bad for the guy.”

“Oh man that is horrible! Did he take up a plea to The Rooster?”

“He did, but The Rooster told him he should have rolled out of the way.”

“Ha Ha. That’s funny. Rolled out of the way. Man that Rooster has the greatest sense of humor. So Federation of Destination is just screwing with him at this point…?”

“Yeah. Fred has one more reincarn before he will go back to making it up the progress ladder. He gets to be a green egg first though.”

“Too Funny!” Ted remarked.

Suddenly there was a shake of the carton, the lid appeared open and a man’s head hovered over. The man checked each one of the 18 passengers before closing the lid and giving the carton the first flight, presuming into the shopping cart. A few moments later more shaking, followed by more before finally hearing the start of an engine and the feel of continued drive.

“With a guy you never can tell.” Ted whispered to Bob. “We could end up as a cake, or scrambled or something else.”

“I hope we aren’t scrambled. That would be a step down the reincarn ladder that’s for sure.”

Suddenly the car stopped, but the engine kept running. Aggressively the carton was grasped and the lid flung open.

“No way! Can it be? We have reached the top rung??”

“This is so exciting!” Ted yelled back. “If it is what I think it is we’ll be in egg heaven in moments.”

“It is. It is. We’re egging a car! We’re going to Heaven Ted! Yippee! Yipp---“ and suddenly Bob was grasped and thrown at a big truck with the license plate saying “Captain Bolton.”

wedding invites

Antioch, CA

Today I got two wedding invites in the mail. I'm not going to either wedding or either wedding reception, but it was nice to be invited.

barbed sunset

Antioch, CA

I took Zoe on a walk tonight.

(BTC - more from the walk)

drawing in church

When I was 14 or 15 I attended a youth conference. On one evening, we gathered at a ranch near Mission Peak owned by a member of the church. I was smitten with this one particular young lady and when she suggested we go on the hayride, I was suddenly an expert Hay Rider. Hay Rider was my middle name, at that point.

After a rather bumpy ride (there wasn’t actually any hay on the trailer) we came to rest just shy of the crest of a hill. We got out (about 10 of us) and followed the ranch owner to the crest. Up top was this big beautiful tree and a little bench that had been carved out of some previous tree.

The ranch owner had us kneel on the ground and watch as the sun slowly slipped away. As we sat there (I was trying to put my arm around the girl but was still a little shy), the ranch owner said that if us young men served honorable missions we could bring our sweet hearts back to here and picnic on this hill over looking this valley (and the SF bay). As the sun kissed the earth we could turn to our sweet hearts and propose. Often in church I can be seen drawing these pictures. I don’t know how to draw the sun setting so I draw it in the right corner.

Several years ago, Lifesaver Candies had a commercial where a father and daughter sit under a tree and watch the sun set. So occasionally I’ll draw the picture with my son. But if you ever see me in church drawing this (which is really the only thing I draw at church), just smile and know – it’s just me looking forward to a day of picnic and a sunset.

Sam

Antioch, CA

This is Sam. She is the dog next door that makes Zoe look like a cat.

living today

I don't blog as much any more. There are words in my head but I'm not quite sure how to organize them or put them on paper. It's a frustrating process. However, today intrigued me. After going to the dump I returned home and did my chores, did some laundry and puttered around the house. At one point the 7 year-old came in with his playmate and asked his 13 year-old sister to come out and push them on the tire swing. She refused. She was watching a movie and couldn't be disturbed. The playmate pleaded and still there was no action on the 13 year-old's part. Then they approached me and I said it would be my honor. It took ten minutes to satisfy their desires and we were back inside.

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My mother died when I was 24. For the last 10 years of her life she struggled with disabilities, illness, and an endless amount of pain. Every few months she would have the energy to leave the house and walk around the block. (On those special days I would carry a chair with us and if she got too tired I would set up the chair and she would sit while I went to go get the car.) As soon as she left a hospital her first request was to just go for a drive. If it was a warm day we would roll down the windows and cruise the streets of Fremont. The days rendering her bound to the house or to a hospital far out numbered the days riding in cars, but it was those days we talked about.

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During the past week, my father got into an argument with one of my facebook friends. It wasn't pretty and it really wasn't needed. For the last 24 hours I've exchanged e-mails with my father about how my friends are bad people and how he is right. The whole thing, along with the 13 year-old today, just makes me sick.

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On Thursday we got work that another one of my clients had died. That makes three in two weeks. I don't know how old or what was the cause of the first, but the second was 16 and died on an operating table. The one on thursday was 20 and just stopped breathing.

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I am not sure how to teach this to others. "Yesterday is the past. Tomorrow is the future. Today is a gift from God. That's why it is called the present." The movie will wait but those ten minutes with your brother giggling with him and his playmate on the swing - those should be cherished. Saving the world from your percieved dangers and causing strife with your son can wait - when moments of love can be cherished.
In the county that I live in 5 schools have been shut down do to the Swine Flu Pandemic. I really doubt we will reach the pandemic stage, but what if we did - did we live today or did we waste the swing opportunities and the car rides on other pursuits? I hope we are living our days.

rain day

Antioch CA

It rained today, which turned my thoughts to the homeless. Just two weeks ago it was 95 degrees outside, which means a lot of the homeless shed their winter coats. There is only so much you can carry in your shopping cart or on your back. So today's brief rain must have been a shock to a lot of them. At 5:30, when I got off work, I drove around for about ten minutes trying to see if there were any homeless that needed a trash bag to protect them from the storm. I didn't find any. I hope they all turned out okay. Between 1/3 and 1/2 of all homeless are veterans of foreign wars. I think it's sad that they go and fight for this country only to come home and not even have a trash bag to keep them dry.