by Greg

50

We got back late tonight from quite a party. It was a gathering of many old friends – and some new – to celebrate a milestone. Unfortunately, it’s rather rare these days, and not just due to “natural” causes.

Jen’s parents will be celebrating fifty years of marriage on June 25th of this year. Fifty. Not being alive fifty years, which is strange enough. Fifty years of being married.

In a recent conversation, it was brought up that Jen’s mom has been driving a school bus for thirty years now. That’s a real long time to do that. But, when I put to use my excellent math skills, I deduced that my mother-in-law had been NOT driving a school bus for TWENTY years prior to that 30-year feat.

My mortgage will take me 30 years to pay off. I am just slightly past 30 years on the planet. 30 years is a long time.

And then there’s 50.

Congrats to my second mother and father. Fifty years of living life together, and loving people together. They are quite good at it. The room was filled with people who have been loved by Jim & Carolyn, and the air was filled with many stories from those previous 50 years. And from all appearances, there will be many more to come.

Jen & I have only eclipsed ten years of life as one. It feels like longer – in a very good way. I can’t remember not being married to Jen. But we’re only a fifth of the way to where her mom & dad are this month. Incredible.

Life passes quickly – Tim Russert was gone this week in a heartbeat – but sometimes we get to enjoy it for a good long time. It’s good to stop and look back at all that has been and celebrate the good gifts God has given us.

Driving home tonight, I just felt like telling my family that I love them. I love who we the Campbells are, and I love being the dad of this family.

Fifty years seems far off now, but I bet these days now will seem like “just yesterday” when we get there.

On we go.

by Greg

A-Social, or Hyper-Social?

FacebookI have been spending a lot of time using Facebook of late.

Whether just playing word games with friends, or making use of their live, instant message chat feature, or just keeping in touch with friends however possible – I’ve been there.

I am a people person (as I have said before) and so it would make sense to find me at a “people” site. But is connecting with people on Facebook really a social activity?

We were talking with our friends about social networking sites, and how in a strange way they are almost a-social. It’s almost a way to keep from seeing people, and really interacting with them. By leaving a message here or there, or even using the real-time chat, some may consider that they are enjoying a relationship with another human being, and in a way they may be, but in reality, they are staying home and spending time on the computer instead of being with people.

My take on that was that I use Facebook to stay in touch with people I couldn’t otherwise, and to just add to the other communication I have with friends who are local. It’s another way to communicate.

What I noticed recently was that my time is spent very differently these days. I don’t do a lot of things I used to do. I was talking with Jen about that… what has changed? And the only thing I could figure was Facebook. I’ve been using it a lot, and that corresponds with the time I have not been doing other fun stuff I used to do. And that’s been fantastic. I have totally enjoyed keeping in touch with people I wouldn’t otherwise have been able to talk to.

And that’s what I think Facebook does for me. It actually is too social. 🙂 Maybe instead of a-social, Facebook is really hyper-social? You see, maybe we were only meant to relate to the people we could actually visit with in a given day? But now with electronic means of connecting – and Facebook makes that even easier! – I can have daily conversations with many folks I have met along the way in life.

That can fill up your time!

So, we’re feeling a bit busy lately, and maybe that is why. We’re hyper-social! Well, at least I am.

I may try a week or so without Facebook soon, and see what happens to my time. Could be an interesting experience.

But then, would that be a-social, or even anti-social? Would definitely be some sorta “social”. 🙂

by Greg

The Crying Wall

Earlier this week, after a big storm blew through, I noticed my wall was peeling! The paint on the 6-inch wall under my office window had bubbled up and was coming off! There was water under the paint somehow, so I tried to dry it off, but noticed it was still coming. I checked for leaks, but really couldn’t find any. It was just coming through the wall!

I peeled the paint off and tried to dry it up, and find the source. I figured it was the air conditioner, but there was nothing in on the unit itself, and nothing in the window track below it. The only “source” I could find was the bottom corner of the trim on the left side of the window. Somehow, the water was coming through the wood, and draining down into the drywall! It was beginning to erode away!

Later that day, I ventured out on the roof to see if I could find the source of the water. I could not. Nothing. Looked totally dry, and was covered by a roof above the window. It HAD to be coming from the a/c, but I couldn’t find any water on it either?!!?

A friend I was chatting with about this online said, “Maybe it’s one of those miracle walls.” Perhaps it was an appearance of the Blessed Virgin… but I couldn’t see her face in the wall… I considered perhaps demonic forces causing my wall to weep… but thought better of it.

But it was very confusing… 🙂

I finally decided to check the other side of the unit, and sure enough, it was wet on that side. Somehow the condensation was draining into the window track, through the wood trim, all the way to the other side. Tricky! I had not leaned the unit back enough, so a quick tilt did the trick.

I will need to plaster and paint now a bit. But, nothing too major.

But at least we figured out the source of the mysterious Crying Wall. 🙂

by Greg

It’s Transition Week

Julia and her Nuk

We go through this with most of our kids. Alex was the worst so far… he loved his Nuk. (Pacifier, binky, plug, whatever you call it…) But he only took a few days of screaming and he was free of it. It’s definitely hard work, and takes perseverance by us, the parents… and lots of love, hugs, and reassuring… but in the end it’s worth it.

Well, it’s Julia’s turn. She has gotten very whiny if her Nuk is not in sight, and we just felt like it was a good time to wean her of it… and actually, she’s doing pretty well so far!! She wants to “be a big girl” and is excited to show her Grandma this weekend that she can sleep (and go all day, too) without a Nuk! We’ll see if she can do it! So far two nights down, and she’s getting the hang of it!

It will be better for her, and all of us when the Nuk is gone… but…

She is pretty cute with it, no? 🙂

by Greg

How Did I Miss This?

AppleHow busy have things been around here of late, you ask? Well, today I was browsing my news RSS folder (for the first time in a while) and caught a few articles titles referencing the big WWDC keynote today at 10am PST… and I thought, “TODAY???”

That’s right, folks. There are big doin’s today in the world of Apple, and I was totally unaware of it!

I’ll try to do better next time… 🙂

by Greg

Don’t I Know You From Somewhere?

I was noticing something quite strange last night…

At the boys baseball games last night, we met some friends of our friends last night, and that got me to thinking. They are friends with several of our good friends (we regularly hear their names in conversation), and so we were talking with them about how we all knew each other. Some kinda fun/random circumstances brought everyone together. Very cool. I’m certain that God was wisely directing all of that. (Or at least, none of it surprised him) 🙂

When we started thinking about it, I noticed that most (maybe all?) of the people we spend time with (not just “know”) are not people we met through any “institutional church” structure. That actually really shocked me.

One of the things that I do occasionally wonder about with us not attending weekend services anywhere is just how that keeps us “off the radar”. Even though I find public gatherings quite lacking for any real connecting with people… it is at least a place to see them, and be seen. And I have always also had this (apparently false) notion that most of the people we hang out with we met through “going to church” together.

I guess I was wrong.

Does that mean that we just hang out with the bottom feeding scum who “claim” to follow Jesus but won’t give up a couple measly hours on a Sunday morning to be with other believers? Perhaps. 🙂 But, I don’t think so. A lot of the people we spend time with – speaking of believers – are part of weekend services and more in that setting. Now, definitely several of our friends are in the same place we are with all of that, but I would definitely say not the majority.

Could it possibly mean that such structures do not build the best, most lasting relationships? Could it just be that we did a poor job of doing that? Maybe both? Maybe something else? I really don’t have the answer.

I know that our friends who just moved to Maryland definitely have some great, close, deep friendships with people whom they met via their “church”. And certainly that can happen. I found it completely fascinating that it is not true for us. Most of the Christians we spend time with we met through various other settings and endeavors. So crazy!

There’s really no point to this, other than to share that interesting observation, and to just throw that question out there to you. Could this show that good friendships with other believers not only can happen outside of the institutional church structure, but perhaps even be better? (Better doesn’t really fit here as relationships are not really quantifiable, as that qualifier would suggest. I just mean, deeper, more lasting, going beyond conversations simply when you’re in the same place.)

If you have any thoughts, please do post your comments.

by Greg

Unique

For some reason I am often reminded that God made me unique. I’m a bit differenter than your average Joe. I mean, first off, my name’s not even Joe. So, I’m different already.

But, as I’m sure I’ve mentioned here before, a friend of mine used to call me the “Curve Wrecker” because I was never what I was “supposed” to be.

And, another proof that I am different is that I’m totally OK with that. 🙂

Tonight as I was driving I noticed three boys playing together, hanging out, and I noticed that they all had the same hair. The longish, curly, sort of unkempt hair that all of their other friends have too. It’s an epidemic!

But that made me think, why are we so afraid to be unique? What is this compulsion to be like everyone else? I really have never understood it. I just am who I am. Maybe that’s different from you, or maybe it’s different from all of you… but it’s just who I am. Why would I try to change that just so I wouldn’t be different?

Talking with Jen about this later we remembered that young kids can be brutal when someone is different. Usually a difference from the group is made fun of right away – and often. Uniqueness is not tolerated. And yeah, that does make sense why you wouldn’t want to be different. Who likes to be made fun of?

But I guess that’s where love comes in. Where you’re loved for who you are. Loved by parents, by God, by siblings, grandparents, even friends. It starts with our adoptive Father, who loves us completely, and shows us what love is… but it’s modeled by other people who genuinely love us. Maybe I had that more (from my parents and family) when I was growing up? I definitely know it now, and God continues to show me more and more just how much he really loves me … and you 🙂

So if you’re feeling weird tonight, or too different from everyone else… consider that a good thing. There’s no one else who is like you. You are one of a kind, and you’re that way because God made you that way. I’m pretty sure I can say that. But I am sure that I can say he loves you completely that way. And that’s the most important thing… and what makes it OK to be unique.

So enjoy your uniqueness just like I have learned to, you weirdo! 🙂

by Greg

Some Things Currently Distracting Me

  • Quite a Stanley Cup Final… with Detroit winning the first two by shutting out the explosive Penguins, and then the Pens winning game three on the back of two Sid the Kid goals! Great stuff. Should (hopefully) go seven.
  • Phoenix successfully landed on Mars on Sunday and I have been intrigued ever since. The link goes to NASA’s website… tons of stuff there (photos, videos, etc). Pretty amazing that we can shoot large metal objects 420 million miles away, and hit a target with pinpoint accuracy – and not damage the highly sophisticated scientific research equipment. Incredible. And then we get to see photos back from it just a few hours later. Nuts.
  • Facebook games and chat have also occupied some time recently. I love word games, and it’s fun to play against friends (and Jen, too!) in between projects I am working on. It’s kind of a funny “mental break” (since you’re working your brain on your break?) but it’s been a blast. I have found games similar to Scrabble, Boggle, and one called Word Twist that is similar to no other game I know of… And, I’ve been playing a good friend of mine in Chess. He’s quite good. Haven’t beaten him yet. 🙂 Oh, and Facebook added an instant message feature which has been a neat way to chat “live” with people I haven’t talked with in a long time. Pretty amazing.
  • On top of that, we’ve gotten to see a couple cool movies lately, as well as some awesome episodes of the Knight Rider from season two DVDs borrowed from the library! 🙂

More to come, but there’s more to do… so, more here later.

by Greg

English Class

Riding home from the long weekend in Buffalo, Jen & I were talking in the front seat about anything and everything. (It is a 90 minute ride.) At some point we got talking about technology, and specifically the iPhone (I think wished we could look something up on the internet) and I said, “Maybe we can get one when (I forget what the first part was) … and when there’s ubiquitous wi-fi.”

There was only a brief pause, and then I added, “Do you like it when I use big words like that?”

She replied, “Well, it makes me feel like I’m back in English class…”