Saying Hi to an old {young} friend

Saw a friend at Target today.  Might not seem like a big deal, but when you live in a community for over 20 years, you get used to seeing people you know every where you go.  When you go to Target or Texas Roadhouse, you ALWAYS see a friend.  Now I have moved back home, and I'm not lonely,  my best life long friend is here, my family is here, and I have new and old friends, the town just seems somehow empty sometimes.  When I go to Target or Texas Roadhouse, I just see people.  Lots of people, but I don't know ANY of these people. 
So today, when I ran in to David Snyder, it made the whole town seem a bit more like home.  David is one of Joshua's friends, his parents are our friends and his Uncle Mike was my youth pastor in High School.  I got a hug hello and a hug goodbye and ten minutes of chatting with a friend. And I met his girlfriend, a sweet girl.  I was already having a great day, but this made my day even better!  It's also great to see kids you loved as kids grow up into great adults who you still love as adults. 
So next time you see the new person at work, school or Target, say hi, stop and visit, and smile at a stranger. 

clouds from an airplane Delta Flight July 2018 MSP SAN

The Blue Angels Come to visit/ or what was your favorite thing?

When you plan events or do things with your children, you can never know what will stick in their minds.  Kids appreciate the small things, sometimes even more than the large things.
A few Examples from my own life.
1986 Seattle Washington, our family is at the zoo.  big zoo.  lots of animals we've never seen before.  I was 16, Ross was 13, Lisa was 18.  At one point, all 3 of us are staring at the ground at a slug.  Said slug was not a zoo exhibit, just the biggest slug any of us had ever seen.  We were fascinated.
2007 Miami Took the kids on a trip to the Miami Zoo.  Joshua was 9.  After a day of seeing alligators and Komodo Dragons, Hippos and feeding Giraffes, I asked Joshua what animal was his favorite.  He said the fake ones.  Miami Zoo has cement animals that the kids can climb on. 
Almost as soon as my kids were old enough to put together thoughts, I started asking them what was their favorite thing they did today, or if we went to an event as we were leaving I would ask what their favorite thing about that event was.  By time they were in early elementary school, they were telling me what their favorite things were without being prompted. Many times in the car after going to a park or event, one of the kids would out of the blue say "My favorite thing about ___ was ___.  I would like to think that I helped train them to think about their day and to appreciate something good about that day.  My only regret is that I didn't write down and journal the daily thoughts the kids expressed.  But then again, not everything in life needs to be documented, some things just need to be enjoyed in the moment.
One of my earliest childhood memories included the Blue Angels. (which are flying over Fargo all day for the next few days!!!! I've missed the sound of fighters) I think at one point I figured out that I must have been 2 when this happened, could have been a few years older, the memory is pretty vague.  What I remember is sitting on my dads shoulders in a crowd.  He told me the Blue Angels were coming.  So the Angles came, they flew around, then they went away.  That's my memory.  But, I knew all about Angels.  God sends the Angels to earth to talk to people, bring 'good tidings of great joy' and things like that.  I fully believed that the Blue Angels were God's Angels.  I didn't in my young mind understand they were US Navy F4's.  Even after I found out they were not real Angels,  that was one of 'my favorite things' about that day.
I would challenge you to have those conversations with your kids.  Ask them what their favorite thing was.  You will be surprised.  I was all the time.  Some days we would have planned a big event or trip and the kids' favorite thing was the ice cream they got, or seeing a pretty rock, or playing on a fake animal.
PS: It's not a bad conversation with your spouse either. 

My Cushion vs a Farm

Anyone in the Red River Valley and beyond will understand when I say we had 'a bit of a wind' last night.  I woke up when my phone rang, emergency services warning me of the coming storm, I fell back asleep, woke up again to a sudden massive wind and rain storm.  In my tired mind, I remembered I never retied my sling chair cushion to the chair, and figured when I woke up, I might not have a cushion anymore.  I was feeling bummed and eventually fell back asleep.  We woke up a few hours later to a phone call from Laura telling us they lost their barn in the 80 mile hour wind storm that swept thru the valley.  Chicken coop was tipped over, minor damage to the house, and lots of other wind damage.  All of a sudden my cushion was no longer of any importance.  As daylight came, the damage was looked at and assessed, while there is loss of property, there was no loss of life, Laura and Ryan are safe, Angus (dog) and whatever they named their cat are safe.  Cows, horses, chickens and ducks are safe.  Rumpled a bit, but safe.  It's hard to watch your kids go thru stuff like this, we want to fix it for them.  Please add them to your prayers, there's lots of things they need to do, work with Insurance, Rebuild, Clean Up, they will go on, North Dakota Farm life will survive more than a wind storm.  And when I looked, my cushion is laying on the ground next to my sling chair.

Chahinkapa Zoo 2 june 2018 Wahpeton ND

Eat the Ice Cream

We went on a short cruise this past winter and were seated in the same area each night for supper.  I had noticed a couple who sat in our area each night.  They were around the 60 years old mark and I believe they were probably from somewhere in Europe.  From what I saw, they did not speak English, the gentleman never seemed really happy, just there to eat.  On the last night, I noticed that after they were done eating, the waiter brought him a dish of ice cream.  Served fancy in a silver stem bowl, one scoop of ice cream.  He smiled like a 5 year old at a birthday party, one scoop of ice cream changed my whole perspective on who he was.  He may have been quiet and solemn for most of the cruise, but for one moment, I got a glimpse of the inner child.

Today we went on a day trip to Itasca.  One advantage of empty nesting is that we can take John's Mustang when we travel.  It is such a smooth drive and those curvy tree lined roads in the park and outside of the park are just a dream to drive thru.  If you know John well, you know he loves Huckleberry anything.  Itasca sells Huckleberry ice cream.  The line was way too long to get some, but on the way home we stopped at the Malt Shop in Lake Park and we got our Huckleberry Ice Cream.  Well, John did, I got my standard mint chip, always a good choice. 

Go out, drive with the windows open and eat the ice cream.

Know your Goals

Took me long enough, but here is my first Blog post. 
I decided to call it know your goals, because I am trying to define the goal of my blog. 
I play a game called Gummy Drop, it's a silly mindless game that takes up too much of my minds time, but playing it is a relaxation mode for me. There are different goals for each level.  Sometimes, I am playing a level and I can't seem to win, I try and try, use all three of my 'guys' and still don't win the level.  Then I look up at the goal of the level and realize I have missed the goal.  Maybe I was trying to clear the tiles when I needed to drop the flip flops, or trying to drop the bomb while forgetting to clear the tiles.  The game is much easier if you just know the goals.  Such is life, it is much easier if you know the goal. 
I have decided to make the goals of my blog to:

Talk about my travels
Express thoughts I have at the time of writing
Reflect that Life is Good even on a bad day
Learn from people thru comments and discussion
Be open to adding to these goals

Life Is Good
Christi

BroseProse it is

BroseProse it is.  The start of my new blog.  I have been wanting to do this for a long time, now that I have, I have nothing to write.  In the future perhaps, I can tell you about my thoughts on feathers and rocks, ice cream while at sea, and the many other things that run thru my mind, some are fascinating, some only fascinating to me.