Dad.
Singer, reader, worker…
turns 70 today.
Keep on walking!
(Sorry about the picture. I had some pretty good ones from our time in Normandy, but you were wearing a funny hat (not cowboy) and dark glasses… This shows you a bit better…)
Tomorrow, Son 1 will be 21. Amazing!
He’ll celebrate with a big breakfast in a nearby village (the have a "bread festival") and then have some buddies (and a buddiette) over for lunch.
And we get to celebrate with him. What fun!
In Switzerland, at 16 you can buy beer. At 18 you can buy wine and other drinks that are bad for you, get your driving license, vote and shoot a bazooka (do military service). And file your own taxes.
But 21 is still a big deal. Or so we think…
The latest student report from our household:
Daughter will pass her junior year in high school with great grades. She’s been out of school for almost a week. She’ll have two friends over from Geneva this week, then she’s off to Marseille for a week with a buddy from Lausanne to do the mini-spiritual internship there.
Son 2 is in the middle of his finals to get out of high school. He’s done very well. Did I tell you he got 1560 on his math-English SAT scores? (He takes after his aunt…) He’ll have some time off before serving as a counselor at the two-week long kids’ camp. Then he’ll do the year-long spiritual internship in Marseille starting mid-September.
Son 1 begins his exams on Thursday. He has worked very hard, and is working hard, preparing for these exams and the ones at the end of August. Only 30 of the 150 students will be allowed to continue into second year. He won’t have much of a break this summer… A sincere “poor guy” escapes my lips. Really.
Of course, our futures are in God’s hands. Bless his name!
(My mistake. It was 1540, not 1560. My math scores weren’t that good.)
My Nana died in the early hours of Monday morning, April 30. Mom had flown out to Little Rock then gone on to Searcy during the day on Sunday. She was able to see her mom, be with family, and be present when Nana died. It all happened peacefully.
When Sister 1 and I were young, every two Summers the family made the drive from California to “Nana and Pappy’s”. (Who establishes that order anyway?) While Pappy loved his garden and crossword puzzles and crushed ice, Nana would can peas and other vegetables, fry us chicken and bake chocolate pies. She’d regularly slip us a quarter or two for brown derbies.
Whereas Pappy made sure you knew you were his favorite, Nana would tell us she loved all us grandchildren the same. Then she’d hold us tight and usually find us something good to eat. In fact, one Thanksgiving during a college break, she fixed a two pound ham for Pappy and me to eat AFTER Thanksgiving dinner. It took all afternoon and evening, but we ate it.
Some of the “earliest fish” I ever caught were with red worms she’d put on my hook. While the men were out fishing for bass, Nana’d row me out a little ways and I’d fish for brim, always pulling in a few.
I never lived near Nana, but I felt close to her. She died in the Lord, a woman of faith, covered by grace, which means she will live. And that’s not only comforting, but it’s true.
The woman who bore me and her husband (who happens to be my dad) arrived safely in Zurich on the overnight flight from Dallas. They are doing much better than the last time they came (in 1998). That time, mom’s first words were: I’m never doing that again!
But they did.
On the way back to Lausanne, we stopped at Avenches where there’s a first century Roman amphitheater and ruins of Roman baths. Dad, wearing his Western hat and wandering in the beautiful Swiss countryside, was a "roamin’ cowboy".
We are hanging around Lausanne tomorrow (someone’s turning 48) and then be with the church on Sunday. Monday we are heading to the Normandy beaches.
Be my Valentine,
Be a pal of mine.
Promise me the whole day through
You will be my friend so true.
Will you be my Valentine forever.
January 24 is the date of our canton’s independence from the Bernese (that is, the kind folks from the Canton of Bern). Unfortunately, it’s still a work day.
Today, Son 2 and daughter (along with 221 others) made the solemn promise to uphold the constitution of Switzerland and of the Canton of Vaud. They now have dual nationality and love both of their countries.
This morning, I woke up married for half my life. (Wife must wait another 11 months till she reaches that blessed date.)
Good reasons to celebrate… So we will have some friends over, eat some fondue and enjoy the blessings that God has given to us on this day. And who knows what good things tomorrow will bring?
I can remember coming home from school at 2 pm at the age of 17 and finding my mom laying on the couch crying. She was 5 months pregnant and had had a doctor’s appointment that morning. I thought the worst, but then she started laughing, which was very weird.
She explained that the doctor had been concerned after listening through the stethoscope and wanted to do x-rays, which were quickly done. Mom heard quite a bit of commotion in the adjoining room when the doctor finally came in with the film and said something like: Mrs. Smith, there are three heads and three spines. You are going to have triplets.
Mom cried some more there on that couch. I remember thinking what all this would mean to our family. Sister was 15, a high-school sophomore. I was heading off to University the following year. Mom and Dad were in their late 30’s…
And they were starting a second family.
My parents’ trust that children (especially triplets) are a blessing from God, and the expectant joy that entered our home that day changed our lives forever. And early on a Wednesday morning, December 1, 1976, our family nearly doubled in size. And tripled our joy.
Happy birthday B, B, and B.
None
Moby-Dick (Bantam Classics) by Herman Melville