Wow, where did the time go?

Things have been nice around here of late. G&T and I celebrated 28 years of marriage a few days ago. We tried to get out of town, but had several obligations and couldn't. So... we pretended we were out of town on Sunday and had a family day instead of church which usually has many obligations.

The weather has been nice here - highs only in the low 80's, somedays even in the 70's. It's nice to leave the office and not feel like I'm in a furnace.

What doesn't kill you will make you stronger - we hope.... manBoy's school experience has improved, but he still runs into issues that come up when you are working in groups. For those of you who don't know - he's at a school that has project based learning. Everything is group project based. They get the project first then learn what they need for it. Amazingly like real life. He's learning so much more than academic content, but man these lessons are not easy. I just keep thinking he'll be way ahead of the game in the real world. I know lots of adults that don't have the time management and interpersonal relationship skills he's learning.

Gifted and Talented is spending lots of time playing his guitars (yes plural). He's getting ready for the big gig on Nov. 1. The church worship band which includes Dogblogger and several other really talented musicians is doing a concert of folk, country, pop, and classic rock. G&T is looking forward to showing his stuff with leads on his newish Les Paul.

I have two big projects going at work. The Disability Concerns Committee wants to produce an awareness video while we still have money in this year's budget. Not much this year left to do that. I'm meeting with the videographer on Wednesday.

I have also been charged with updating the Conference Resource Center and moving it out of it's way underused status. The first thing I'm doing is adding a heading to each item. There was a system for shelving items, but no one who is on staff now understands it. The computer catalog system has provision for headings that can be included in the item number. Deciding the heading category of each item has been an interesting study in theology and logic. Does this study on Christian Living based on the book of Ecclesiastes go in Bible Old Testament or in Christian Living. I'm on page 104 of 151 of the entire catalog list.

Spookyrach did a meme and talked about fearing parents of other kids. This isn't usually an issue for me, but last week I found myself in a small group of parents from manBoy's school. I found myself wondering if I really live on the same planet as a couple of the other moms. It just seems like my values and world view are soooooo different from theirs. We just seem to have very different ideas about what's important. I'm so middle of the road, middle-class, and middle America that I rarely feel like I'm an outsider. I did at this meeting. No one there knew I'm clergy, so I don't think that's it. We are in the bottom half (more likely third) of the income range for this place, and that may have something to do with differeing priorities, but it's more than that. As I type this and think about it, I think the difference is that I don't have my life centered in Suburbia, USA. There's a bigger world out there that makes most local issues seem trivial. 4 years at somewhat liberal seminary and one year at big public hospital that serves the poor and uninsured have changed the way I see the world. At the same time, I have been reminded that people who live small lives often still have big pain. I must not discount the concerns of those other parents.

I asked manBoy if he feels the same way around his peers. This led to a wonderful loooooong conversation. Now its late and the alarm will go off early. Good Night Gracie.