Dropping the ball on 2010

Happy New Year everybody. New years eve was a nice family day. A nice quiet ending to a year that could have been allot better, but also could have been much worse. There has been some stress in our lives over jobs and money and personal relations with fellow employees. We lost our health insurance and had to buy it on our own. I know that does not get much sympathy but its a adjustment. New years eve here in Michigan was a soggy affair. It was if God was crying tears all day after the very emotional funeral of Pat Coughlin the day before. I am sure they were tears of joy from him, but they felt like tears of sorrow to us.
Iris and Lily were getting stir crazy and therefore so was I so we decided to get our gift certificates and some cash and go out on a last splurge for 2010. Just like Dave Ramsey would tell us to do. First we went out for a late lunch and then it was over to the mall to gets some exercise. The mall was packed as usual and we headed down to the Magic Mushroom to let the kids play. The play area was packed with kids from 1 year old to 6 so we pointed Iris and Lily towards the center and said "good luck, be careful". The thing I hate about these mall play areas is the total lack of any control. The sign says the area is for children under 42 inches, but who enforces it. If you say something you are the bad parent and will probably end up getting into a cursing contest with another parent who is stressed out from trying to keep an eye on their kid. All sorts of kids are running around knocking each other over so that ads a few kids crying which makes matters worse. There was one particular child who might have been under 42 inches, but he was over 42 inches wide. He would plow through kids like a bulldozer. I kept giving is dad the evil why don't you watch your son eye, but he never got the message. And then there is the dad walking around the kids with a cup of coffee in his hands. I kind of wish the little human bowling ball would have taken him out. Anyway after an hour there was no broken bones and it was off to Barnes and Noble. We read a few children's books to the kids, purchased Avatar on Blue Ray and I picked up a U.K. magazine on Classic AOR rock that just begged me to read about how Journey and Styx and the such are making a comeback. With our gift certificates spent we went home. We ate a light dinner with the kids, cleaned the house a little and sat down to watch Avatar with a big bowl of popcorn. The kids lost interest about an hour into the movie and Hazel was chatting on skype with her family so trying to watch the movie became more of a challenge than enjoyable experience. I tried to put Iris and Lily to bed around 9:00 and read some books to them but they were so wired I gave up. About 10:30 the online chatting was done as well as the movie so it was time to go to bed. Hazel put the kids down and said "stay awake I want to spend the new year with you" and I said "OK and went to bed and read "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" for awhile until she returned. Last thing I remember is her coming to bed at 2:00 and I said "Happy New Year" and that was it. Nice quiet and tired ending to the year. For 2011 we have some goals in place and we made a budget for spending. We will put our trust in God to help us carry them out. A nice resolution.

Funeral for a Friend

This past week has been a sad week for me with one of my co deacons and friend Pat Coughlin passing away. His death remains a question in my mind and a reason for some righteous anger. Wednesday December 29 and Thursday December 30 were the days of his family visitation and funeral. I went to the visitation early in the afternoon only to become one of a thousand or so who passed through the doors. It was a standing room only crowd from 1:00 in the afternoon to 8:00 in the evening. Such a great testimony to all the lives he touched in the Wayland area. The funeral was at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday and the parking lot was full at 10:00 when I arrived. I sat with a few Friends from church and just watched the mass of people enter the building. I probably recognised 10% of the people there. It was a very nice funeral. There was one particular event during the funeral that kind of gave me a reason for me for Pats death. The music was nice(Amazing Grace) Chris Tomlin style, Psalm 23 and a great tribute from a close friend and minister. However Pats niece read letters from his 4 children to Pat. These letters included how the missed Pat and how read stories to them, played games with them, made them recite their ABC'S when they were bad and just a laundry list of great things Pat did as a father with his children. This brought tears to my eyes as I reflected on what my children might write to me if I died tomorrow. It was if Pat was tapping me on the shoulder and saying "Dan pay attention to your children and family". "It's the most important thing in your world"
After the funeral I talked to a few more friends and each one of them had the same feelings of guilt that I had. I went home after the funeral and just took Hazel and Iris and Lily in my arms and prayed and asked God to help us become a more loving caring family and take time for our children and make us even more a blessing to them as they are to us. A little less time on Face book or EBay and a little more time involved in their world. I have found one silver lining in a very dark cloud of Pat's death to apply to myself. Hopefully the 400 or so fathers in attendance that day received the same message and the children in the Wayland area will benefit also.