Re-booting This Crazy Life: Too Young to Die

A friend from college died last Monday.  He had cancer.  I was on a trip when he succumbed and I did not notice until Friday, the day of his funeral, that he had passed away.  He was 4 or 5 years younger than myself and it is very possible that I may have thought that he was too young to die. Today his father shared a link on FB to a post my friend wrote on his blog this past  February.


Re-booting This Crazy Life: Too Young to Die

My friend made very good points.  I think death is one of the biggest Monday Morning Quarterback issues we have with God, sickness is another.  My friends wife shared in her blog  few months before her husband died  how his cancer led to their eventual reconciliation and remarriage to each other (they had previously been divorced from each other.)  Who expects God to use cancer like that?

I had not seen my friend for over 20 years.  He had been planning a trip back to our home state and I would have loved an opportunity to see him again.  I would also have been very happy if he had not passed while I was on a trip of a lifetime with my son.  I also wish that I had one last chance to say goodbye even if was just on FB.  However my friend was right, God controls our destinies; He doesn't do it in a way we can fathom, but in a way that is best for us.

My wife,  oldest daughter, and myself were some of the last people to see one of my grandmothers before she died.  We and my son were one of the last to spend time with my other grandmother at her home before she spent her last few weeks dying in a hospital.  My son and I were among  the last family members to see my younger brother before he died 5 years ago. If I didn't question God's timing when he allowed me opportunities to connect with family prior to their relatively sudden passings, why should I question him when He does not allow me those opportunities?

Most of all, I miss my friend and am glad for  the time we spent together in person 2 decades ago for the  past 5 years we spent together electronically.

I owe you a packet of Ramen, Don.  I don't think I can bring it to heaven, so I will eat it myself in your memory.

Carnival of Homeschooling at Living Life and Learning

The Current COH is up at Living, Life and Learning.  Please enjoy the  So you're thinking of homeschooling edition by clicking here.  My first post of the reboot, I Am Back, was included in the edition, for which I am grateful.

Galena Day I

On July 13th  this year I went on vacation to Galena, Illinois with my family and my sister-in-law's family. We stayed in a time share that my parents graciously shared with us.  We arrived on Sunday and returned home Thursday. Three adults and five children ranging in age from 8 to 14 drove from suburban Chicago to the
tri-state area of northwestern Illinois, southwestern Wisconsin and Northeastern Iowa.  This is our story.

Day One

Since Galena is just a few hours away from us, we were able to attend church on the day we left.  Our interim pastor was taking a few weeks of well deserved vacation.  At church I saw Ben Calhoun from the Christian band Citizen Way. His band has played at our church before, but that is not why he was there. His father was giving the sermon for our vacationing pastor.

After church, we had a quick lunch and drove to Sycamore, IL where my SIL lives.  We reorganized the vehicles by gender and drove to Galena.  Galena is the part of Illinois that is not flat and I enjoyed the scenery as my son and nephew chattered on about all things Mine-craft.  The trip took about 2 hours.  I may have considered throwing myself off one of the rolling hills with all the Mine-craft discussions, had we not had radio contact with the other car  provided by the walkie talkies we brought along for the ride.

We got to our hotel and scouted the place out.  My SIL and her kids were in one suite and we were in another.  Ours had 2 balconies,2 fire places , 3 TVs,  2 bedrooms, a main room, a kitchen, 2 bathrooms, one with a hot tub, and a laundry room.  In other words, it was a dump.  For the rest of the day,we went swimming and talked on the walkie talkies, and after dinner all watched the movie Field of Dreams. Galena is an hour from the place where it was filmed, and planned to visit there later in the week.  The vacation got off to a terrific start!

Next Episode: Returning the favor.

Hall of Fame Part 1

My son and I were at Cooperstown over the weekend. We went to see Frank Thomas, Greg Maddux and Tony LaRussa and the rest of the 2014 class be inducted.

Over the next few posts I will share clips to the speeches and some pictures of the players inducted.  Let's start with good old #35 Frank Thomas.

Here is a link to his very impressive and moving induction speech.