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The Christmas season always involves these big shopping decisions, "What should we get for the kids?" Well, our children over the years were always helpful enough to provide us with a list. Now it's kids and grandkids. And now it's our grandchildren that really have great lists.
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A boy from the south side of Chicago; a girl from the Ozarks and they lived happily ever after. It's the story of my wife and me. As we approached our wedding day several years ago, (ahem!) it was a week after our college graduation. We had a lot of love, but no money to speak of.
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My wife hates snakes! Okay, let's just get that out there. Her skin crawls almost at the mention of those critters. Of course, growing up in the Ozarks didn't exactly help her learn to appreciate them. And then there were the weeks she spent as a counselor at a camp deep in the woods. Oh, man, that really didn't help.
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The baby in the family! Now the baby in our family happens to be a boy. Today he is far from that baby, in fact he's a father himself. But we have this one photo that we all associate with his childhood which we love to bring up to him over and over again. It's our favorite; it's his un-favorite. He's about two years old. He's in our back yard, and he's standing next to our camping tent that has collapsed on the ground. In one hand he's holding a tent pole about twice his size. And he's holding his other hand against the side of the tent, looking totally bewildered. He's got this pitiful expression that says, "What have I done?" He was only playing with the pole and the whole thing came crashing down. And I hope he's listening today.
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One of the good things about our yard was all the trees we had. One of the really bad things about our yard was all the trees we had; in the Fall that is. See, our town required the bagging of leaves, and we had the exciting challenge of raking and bagging over 100 bags every year! And as the kids left home, one by one, guess what...my labor force dwindled to one. Guess who?
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For four years my wife and I did whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. It was the first four years we were married, just the two of us. Now I'm happy to say that neither of us required diapers or formula or having to have an early bedtime. And then along came this precious little bundle, our daughter. Our lives were never the same. Maybe you know that experience.
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The Mississippi River flood of 1993 was a nail-biter if you had a home or business near the river in St. Louis. The flood had already done unprecedented damage up river, and St. Louis was holding their breath as the crest on the Missouri River and Mississippi Rivers rose.
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Our firstborn - our daughter - was only a few days old when I first called her "Princess." She's been my princess ever since. I cannot imagine the agony of having her snatched from her school and taken who knows where.
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Let's face it. I was overweight. I was! I was 210 pounds by high school at 5'8". Now, how did that happen? Well, I'm blaming it on a cowboy hero of that day. Yes, it was Hopalong Cassidy's fault.
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The idea of teamwork in a marriage isn't really that tough. For example, my wife prepares a meal, which is better than me preparing it because the Bible says, "Blessed are the merciful." So, what do I do? I clear the table and I rinse the dishes. I also eat, but that's not such a bad deal.
