Politically Correct

So I have realized that I really need to write more of these. It has been a couple of weeks now since I last wrote anything actually. In my defense though, I have been very busy with studying Revelation for Wednesday nights and that has drained me a bit when it comes to writing I guess. I have been looking at the jar off and on for a couple of weeks. Anyway, I decided that tonight would be the night to get back to it. So here it is.

What are some of your political views? What characteristics do you want to see in our Presidents?

I thought it was kind of funny to draw out this question at this point seeing as how at the time I was just discussing with a friend about the fact that President Obama has been on TV more in his first 100+ days in office than I remember Bush being in 8 years it seems like. I realize that this isn't the case (yet) seeing as how President Bush had to give 8 State of the Union addresses, but it's sure getting close. I think maybe he likes to use the teleprompter a little too much. By the way, do you think he uses it when he's having a conversation with Michelle? Ok, that is way off point I know.

I guess where my political views are would depend on who you ask. If you ask me, I would say that I am an independent moderate for the most part. If you asked Roni, she would tell you that I was more liberal now than I was a few years ago, and if you asked some of my more liberal friends, they might tell you that I am a conservative. About all of this I will say that I really don't care about politics all that much. It is not something that has ever really held a great deal of interest for me. What I want is a person who will come in and do what is actually best for those people who don't have the luxury of money, even though they are gainfully employed and such. I'm tired of all the "I'll give you this if you will give me that" type of things that go on. I don't understand why there is so much red tape with things at times. It's kind of like serving...you see a need so you do what needs to be done to meet that need. Not all of this other stuff.

I believe that we should be taking care of the poor and doing our best to bring peace to this world, even if it is just a very small part of it at a time. I believe that all people have rights, not just the people who yell the loudest about it. I think that if we would begin to treat others with some respect and if we actually acted in love it would make a difference. We wouldn't have a need for all the politics then. Do I think this will happen? Not really. I think it would help though.

As far as our presidents go, I want someone who will get in do their best to do what they actually said they were going to do. I want hem to be concerned about what needs to be done to bring about a bit of peace. Be a leader and do the right things consistantly. That is what I really want.

I want it to be that we are no longer concerned about liberal and conservative, but rather about what is right and what is good and what is best for all of us. I want leaders who are trying to do what is actually right not just what is easy. I think if we can have a President who will take a stand and do that which is right, we would begin to see the crap of politics begin to wane and we could actually get done the things that need to be done to help (re)build this country. Peace and Love y'all.

The Get Aways

Well the time has finally come to write once again. I have been putting it off for no particular reason as of late, and I decided that tonight was going to be the night that I finally did a new love letter. So, here you go.

Describe a favorite vacation in your married years.

I again don't know that I can really limit this to just one. It' s not that we have just been able to go on a ton of vacations, but rather that we have done different kinds of vacations I guess. So I will just name the vacations that I have most enjoyed since getting married.

1) We went to Seattle when Boo was about 18 months old. It was a fantastic experience for us. The city was incredible, and the whole area was just so cool. The only problem that I really had with going to Seattle was the fact that we were there in August and that is right BEFORE their rainy season starts. I was so disappointed. I mean, if you go to Seattle, you more or less expect it to rain...they are famous for it after all. We did some pretty cool things though while we were there however. We spent a couple of days down on the water front. We did a Harbor Cruise there where we got to hear various things about the city from Elliot Bay. We went to Space Needle but the fog rolled on so thick that we couldn't really see much from up there. We visited a cool zoo, and I think our favorite thing was our dinner theater experience out on Blake Island. That was so very cool. We took a boat out to the island and when we got there, they serve you this traditional meal of what the natives would have had. It starts off with a clam soup appetizer that was better than expected. Then, much like the native tribes of old, we went single file through the serving line. We had salmon that was baked over an open flame and was awesome; red potatoes, some beans, bread, and of course the most authentic part of the whole thing, the small fish shaped chocolate in gold foil, just like the original tribes would have. Over all it was just a really cool place that we enjoyed visiting and would love to go back to.

2) Right before Boo turned 3 we went on family vacation to San Antonio. We did all the things that you do as a tourist in San Antonio: we went to the zoo, we went to River walk, we went to the Alamo. We also went to Sea World with a two day pass. At this time Boo was still our only child, so it was much easier to do some of these things. We had such a good time as a small family on this trip. We did learn however that had we just simply stayed at the motel and let Boo swim all day, she would have been perfectly content and we could have saved a bit of money.

3) The last one that I will mention would probably be the trip that Roni and I took to New Orleans two years ago. It was the first vacation that we had taken as the two of us since Boo and Puck had come along. We had a great time, and it got to be the honeymoon that didn't really get when we first got married. Once we were there, Roni had us going everywhere and doing everything. We went to the zoo, we were in the French Quarter, we took a carriage ride, a paddle boat cruise on the Mississippi River, and even did a walking Ghost Touron our last night there. The only real complaint that I have had about this vacation was the fact that by the time we had done all of these things, we were both so worn out and sore that it wasn't even funny.

So there it is I suppose. Three of my favorite vacations since getting married. They are nothing spectacular really, but they were great times for us to be together as a family as well as a time for Roni and I to be away. I'm looking forward to more of these in the future. Peace and Love y'all.

That's Amore

So here it is...the next installment of Daddy's Love Letters!! It seems like it has been a long time since I wrote one of these. So here is this go rounds topic.

How did you know that you were in love with Moma? How will we know when we are in love? Do you think everyone falls in love at sometime in their lives?

Well, this is an easy question to try and write an answer for. And it's not just a single question...it's three that are all connected. I will be honest, I drew this slip about four days ago and have been putting it off so I could consider what my answers would be. Not sure that that really helped a whole lot. Right, so lets take this in sections shall we?

I think I knew I was in love with Roni when I couldn't let her go. Even when I was dating someone else, I couldn't let her go. I wouldn't do anything other than just hang out with her, but there was just that feeling I guess. I remember when we first went out and I told Heath that I felt like I could see myself with her for a really long time. Yeah I know that that isn't really an answer, but it's part of the story. When I didn't want her to date anyone else I had an inkling of what was going on in me.

On top of that, there was the day that I woke up and just knew that this was the person that I was going to be with. I had gone to sleep on March 2nd 1998 and I woke up on March 3rd just knowing that God had told me that I was supposed to marry her. I don't remember if it was a dream or what , I just know that I knew at that point.

Now as far as the second question about how you will know that you are in love. To be honest I can't tell you anything that is a sure fire way to know. I know that when you can't be without that person and you are able to put their needs and desires before your own, well that's a good start for knowing if you are in love. This is a question that I have gotten from all three of my brothers, and I told them the same: I don't know how you know if you are in love, you just do. When you reach that point, you will know.

For the third part of this question, yeah I think that everyone falls in love at sometime in their life. That doesn't mean that you are going to end up with that person. I think of one of the pastors that I worked for/with years ago. This person was single and had been for years, and yet at one point they had been engaged. They had been in love, even though in the end that love didn't work out like they thought it would. Being in love doesn't mean that you will end up with that person forever. For some, being in love like that is merely a season of life. That doesn't mean that you were not in love or that you never will be again, it simply means that at that time, it wasn't what was right for you.

I think that's about it. I don't know what else I can say on this subject really. Who knows, I might end up having to rewrite this thing at some point when I have a better idea of how to really answer these questions better. We'll see. Peace and Love y'all.

Then and Now

So I was sitting here and decided to draw a slip to answer before bed. Almost wanted to put the slip back but I will go ahead with it.

What thing do you enjoy today that you enjoyed doing as a child? Describe then and now differences, similarities etc.

This was a touch question really. I was trying to think of what there was that I used to like to do when I was a kid that I still like doing now. I guess there are a few things, but I was telling Roni that really it kind of depends on how far back you want to go when considering what it means to be a child.

One of the things that I really liked to do when I was younger was to read. When I was in elementary school, I would go to the library pretty much every morning to look around and find books that I wanted to read. I would go and check them out and then I would read them as fast as I could, turn them back in and get more. Some of my favorites were the Encyclopedia Brown books. These were short books that had the adventures of a boy called Encyclopedia Brown whose dad was the chief of police. He would solve mysteries during the summers with his friends, many times having to do with the same bully. The stories would conclude with him knowing the answer to the mystery and the reader would have to turn to the back of the book to get the answer and explanation. I thought they were great books.

These days, I still love to read. I was thinking about this just the other day in fact and how it seems that I always have some kind of book that I am reading or wanting to read. The difference now is in what I choose to read. Now I tend to read things like Blue Like Jazz and Searching For God Knows What by Donald Miller; The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning and other various books that deal with Christian living and growth. I also still love to read fiction. The fiction that read now is a bit more grown up than the Encyclopedia Brown books, but not always (some of my favorites are the Harry Potter books). I guess it is that in some ways our tastes and interests change as we get older.

Other than that I have always loved spending time with my friends both then and now. The similarity here is that some of the friends are still the same as when I was a kid. The difference is in what we can do. It's still one of my favorite things to do though, to spend time with friends.

I liked playing video games as a child. It started with Justin's Atari and progressed from there to the original Nintendo and then Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. As I have gotten older it has moved to the Playstation, Playstation 2 and XBOX. The graphics are better and the games more involved.

Finally, I liked writing when I was younger and I still like doing it now. The biggest differences I suppose would be what I write about and how I do it. As a kid I liked to try and be creative and create stories (I would still love to do this, I just don't seem to take the time to be creative I guess). Now I choose to write on here about other things like sports, family and faith. I still love to write, but I want to be sure that I have something to say when I do.

I guess that's about it really. Those are some of the things that I like to do now that I also liked to do as a kid. Funny how even though some things about them change, really the basics of it is the same. Peace and Love y'all.

A Place to Call Home

Here is my next letter.

Where did your parents live when they were first married? Tell about other places where they lived as well.

Well let's see now. When Mom and Dad (or Gran'maw and Daddy Bill) first got married they lived in Snyder in the Coleman Apartments. It seems that I was born while they lived there, but I have no memory of that seeing as how I was less than a year old at the time. What I do know about the Coleman Apartments is that by the time I was old enough to be looking at moving out and getting my own place, there were some ads for there and Mom and Dad both assured me that it was not the best place to live anymore and that there was a reason that they were cheap. So I didn't end up there.

Anyway, after that we lived in a couple of rent houses there in Snyder. I have vauge memories of a house on 31st street and then I can remember living in a house on 41st street. That was a house that I really liked. Well let me say that it is a house that I can remember. This is probably the first house that I really have clear memories of.

After that we lived in a trailer house both outside of Snyder and in Midland. This is one of the houses where I made a great memories. This is the house we lived in when I met Justin and James and Jamie and Derrick and so many others. It is the house we lived in when we would play football and baseball on a regular basis in the neighborhood. The house we lived in when I was playing guns and G.I. Joes and Transformers. This is where we lived when we built our ramps and jumped our bikes on them and the dirt hill and dug huge holes in the pasture behind us.

After a while Mom and Dad bought an actual house behind the school where we went. This was the house where I first kissed a girl and first learned to drive. It was where I first went wrapping and stayed up all night. It was the house where I lived all through junior high and high school. It was where some friends and I were chased while wrapping one night and where we hung out on so many occasions.

There have been a couple of other places since then. But those are the ones that really stand out in my mind. The houses that had the biggest impact for me. Peace and Love y'all.