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A Long Walk January 2, 2016

Posted by TimTheFoolMan in death, Family, life, Love.
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It’s about 3:00 AM, and my sister and I just finished helping our 94 year-old aunt make the trip to and from the bathroom. My aunt awoke around 2:15, needed help getting out of the recliner she now sleeps in, needed some help using her walker to navigate the 30′ trip (she’s fallen several times recently), and required both help and a bit of coaching to complete the return trip.

As you might surmise from the starting and ending times, we didn’t set any speed records on our trip. However, this isn’t written to complain about the early hour, the duration of the trip, or any inconvenience this represents to me.
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Our Schools Don’t Have a (mandated) Prayer, and I’m Glad December 16, 2012

Posted by TimTheFoolMan in Christianity, Church, Family, Parenting/Children, Religion, Theology.
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I don’t want a return to mandated prayer in schools. I have no idea what the theology of a random teacher might (or might not) be. I trust the instruction of theology to people who are trained to do so.

I don’t want the 10 Commandments posted in schools or other buildings paid for with tax dollars. My country was founded on more than this, and to suggest otherwise diminishes the genius of the Founding Fathers.

My sons never knew mandated school prayer. My sons don’t remember ever seeing the 10 Commandments posted in their school. The absence of these things did not diminish the presence of God in their lives at school.

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Time February 15, 2012

Posted by TimTheFoolMan in Blogging, Family, Friends, Love, Memories, Parenting/Children, Relationships, Writing.
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Time is a funny thing.

No, I don’t mean “time is hilarious.” Time is… peculiar.

This morning, as I was getting dressed, I looked at my forearm as it emerged from my sleeve and thought, “That looks like the forearm of an old man.” At 50, I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me to have revelations like this, but it honestly surprised me. I stared at my arm blankly for a minute, thinking of the inevitability of the aging process, and the peculiar manifestation of it in the texture of that region of skin. (more…)

Just like that… January 14, 2012

Posted by TimTheFoolMan in Family, Laughter, Love, Parenting/Children, Relationships, Theology.
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We sat down at lunch, as we have at various times over the past five weeks, and he carefully managed the potential disaster-in-the-making known as a Qdoba Chicken Queso Burrito (with Tortilla Soup poured onto the rice). As he somehow avoided spilling a single grain of rice, we laughed at the little children around us (both of us tend to be magnets for kids, as we happily engage them in goofy faces and childish play), and we talked.

We discussed a wide range of topics. Last night, while shopping, we’d discussed the design of intake systems for performance cars (the merits of hood scoops versus cold-air intakes). Today we talked of Facebook, parent-child relationships, and sexuality. In other words, just another typical conversation with one of my sons.

In the middle of his junior year of college and with his older brother married and living 90 miles East of us, you would think that I would be accustomed to my younger son being four hours-away. You would think that him being home for several weeks over the Christmas break wouldn’t create an intense sense of loss as I watched him drive away today. You would think I’d have seen this coming.

You would be wrong.

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Happy New Year! January 1, 2012

Posted by TimTheFoolMan in Family, Friends, Love.
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Wherever you are, may 2012 bring you everything your heart desires.