We have a tradition here in the conTIMplating home that every Christmas before bowing to the idol of excessive consumption, we read the story of The First Christmas and revel in all of its bell-jingling yuletide merriness. But never before our November gluttonous ode to gratitude have we sat down and reminded ourselves of The First Thanksgiving. So by golly, this year I am going to use the expression ‘by golly’ more often and do something about it. And you can too! Simply gather about the victual-laden tabletop, get out your various electronic devices that are out anyway, and read aloud to one another in your best Charlton Heston voice this,
Tag Archives: family
We Are GAMEY
Supercool photo taken by Thing 1.
The Red Bike Gang rides again. You will recall from a previously posted post you probably haven’t read that the males in our family all own red motorcycles and have a nasty habit of annually riding them about the countryside within a 4-day travel radius of the greater Southwestern Michigan area. This year is no exception as the five of us spent last weekend astride our semi-hoglike two-wheeled vehicles hell-bent for scenic overlooks and home-style diner food. This is our story.
As the title indicates, during this trip we were GAMEY: Great Apostle Motorcycle Expedition Yahoos. Our stated goal was the Apostle Islands in northern Wisconsin, where there are 22 islands named for the twelve apostles of Jesus to evidently include some of his lesser-known followers like Stockton and Basswood and Raspberry. Continue reading
Hoosier Daddy
Last week was a rite of passage for me. No, it was not breeching, smarty pants. Nor was it completing my Rumspringa, something you are sure to Google and to which there is no end in sight. What I did last week was take part in the compulsory and sometimes traumatic Western middle-age ceremony known as “Dropping Off Your Firstborn at College.”
Wow, does the time go fast. It seems like just yesterday I was cleaning up the pasty Vaseline and baby powder concoction Thing 1 spread liberally about herself and her childhood bedroom. Now here I am launching her three states away with the freedom and independence to do the same in an Indiana dorm full of strangers. Continue reading
Time for a Graduation Innovation Conversation
Yesterday was Thing 1’s last day of high school, which means she graduates in the top 100% of her class this week and enters the ambiguous and limbotic state of a Phillip Phillips Summer; somewhere between “Home” and “Gone, Gone, Gone”.
Not unlike your typical middle-aged milquetoast who has survived such a life event as this, my emotive state is one of uneasy apprehension and terrible trepidation, not so much from the launching of a long-time household resident as from the requirement that I actually attend the lengthy and dreaded tradition that is the graduation ceremony. Continue reading
Tim and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week
I’ve had better weeks.
Perhaps you have heard the phrase, “First World Problems.” It is a euphemism for such life difficulties as, “My lettuce turns brown too fast” or, “The escalator is broken again” or, “Which government agency should I use to harass my political enemies?” I won’t say whether I have any of these specific problems or not, but I will say that after this week I am seriously looking at some lovely sand-front property in northern Mali.
Early this week I fought “The Battle of The Siding” which is a lot like “The Battle of The Bulge” except that nobody died and there probably won’t be a movie made about it starring George C. Scott, although one with someone like Bill Pullman is a distinct possibility. Continue reading
conTIMplating 