It's been almost a year since the big news. Mom and Dad have rejoined their hearts after 30 years, moved to Houston, then moved back to Lake Havasu, AZ — all within the last few months. So now my Dad tells me that he needs me to build him a piece of furniture, appealing to my compulsive woodworking addiction. Here's how the call goes...
Dad: "I was wondering if you could build me a little triangular table, that I can put next to my recliner, so I can perform all of my life's ambitions from this little corner of the universe. A sort of base-of-operations, so to speak."
Me: "Sure Dad, I could probably tackle that... can you send me a sketch and some measurements to get me started here?"
Dad: "Well, son, I was thinking that in order to really get an idea of what I need, you should probably come out here and take all the measurements you need. Oh, and how about bringing the wife and those scrumptious little grandchildren, too?"
Me: "Ah-haaaaa......." :-)
So, I find myself actually getting excited, really amped, about going "over the (Colorado) River and through the woods" (read: yucca forests). It has been over 30 years since I've gone back to "Dad and Mom's house"...
30 years since I've gone back home.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
The Big Weekend
Well, fast approaching is the big weekend. Seeing Mom and Dad in the same room for the first time in 17 years... In each others' arms for the first time in more than 30 years! Actually, I honestly can't remember the last time I saw "chemistry" between them. This is going to be really weird. You see, all I have in my mind is a short little 8mm (soundless) film of them as newlyweds, my Mom sitting on my Dad's lap, smoochin' away.
And now, I'm suddenly aware of how God's grace has permeated my life. He's built something - my own little (or not-so) family, my wife, my kids - out of brokenness. 30 years of it.
Makes me want to go home and give my wife what we call a "fat-lip kiss". You know the kind... wet and smashy. -- Oh yeah, and right in front of the children. Let 'em make their own "mind-movie memory".
And now, I'm suddenly aware of how God's grace has permeated my life. He's built something - my own little (or not-so) family, my wife, my kids - out of brokenness. 30 years of it.
Makes me want to go home and give my wife what we call a "fat-lip kiss". You know the kind... wet and smashy. -- Oh yeah, and right in front of the children. Let 'em make their own "mind-movie memory".
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
30 Years of Brokenness... Now What?
I am a God-fearing, stumbling-toward-Jesus man of 41 years. Husband of only 1 wife, married for nearly 17 years. Father of five children in a 1200 sq-ft house ("holy bunk-beds, Batman!"). I'm a "Pastor of Worship" for a growing church in San Diego county. Now much of my experience growing up has been in the shadow of the divorce of my parents when I was 12. This brokenness seems to color virtually every relationship I've formed in the last 30 years. It has shaped my theology ("clearly divorce is the cardinal sin, right?"), greatly influenced what I sought in a spouse... it has even given way for an addiction or two, that I've spent loads of tears, time and money recovering from. Since as far back as I can remember, I have lived in a different home every 3 years or less. Change and upheaval seemed constant and unavoidable.
On Monday, April 11th, I received an email from my father, explaining that after 30 years of being divorced from my mother, they had decided to re-unite with each other. In and of itself, this would have been amazingly great news. But to complicate matters, this reunification requires my parents to first divorce their current spouses (whom I must confess, I'm not emotionally attached to). So now, I find myself in this tangled mess of joy/tears/anger/fear/resentment/giddiness/anticipation... et-cetera, et-cetera, et-cetera.
Now, this giant ball of yarn is rolling to a climax of sorts on May 15th, when I'll take my little family to visit my only brother's family in Lake Havasu City, AZ on the occasion of their legal adoption of their two foster children, Luke and Bella. This will be an exceptional gathering, for since my Father (Dick) and Mother (Susan) will be there as well, it will be the first time that we've been in the same room for 17 years, since my and Jenna's wedding. How does this make me feel? I can only compare it to this: I've just won the lottery, and there's a bomb strapped to my chest.
I can't even begin to anticipate how all of this is going to play out. I'm just waiting, watching and praying.
On Monday, April 11th, I received an email from my father, explaining that after 30 years of being divorced from my mother, they had decided to re-unite with each other. In and of itself, this would have been amazingly great news. But to complicate matters, this reunification requires my parents to first divorce their current spouses (whom I must confess, I'm not emotionally attached to). So now, I find myself in this tangled mess of joy/tears/anger/fear/resentment/giddiness/anticipation... et-cetera, et-cetera, et-cetera.
Now, this giant ball of yarn is rolling to a climax of sorts on May 15th, when I'll take my little family to visit my only brother's family in Lake Havasu City, AZ on the occasion of their legal adoption of their two foster children, Luke and Bella. This will be an exceptional gathering, for since my Father (Dick) and Mother (Susan) will be there as well, it will be the first time that we've been in the same room for 17 years, since my and Jenna's wedding. How does this make me feel? I can only compare it to this: I've just won the lottery, and there's a bomb strapped to my chest.
I can't even begin to anticipate how all of this is going to play out. I'm just waiting, watching and praying.
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