Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Senator Craig Back in the News


Well, as I suspected weeks ago, Sen. Craig is again backtracking on his announced decision to resign from he US Senate in the wake of his bathroom arrest in Minnesota. Please understand that whether or not he resigns is not the core issue and whether or not he solicited sex is not the core issue either. At issue here is a far greater principle -- that of integrity. Senator Craig announced publicly that he would resign his Senate seat on September 30. Then a few days later he amended that to say "may resign". Now he is saying that he will not resign until the Minnesota court rules on his request to reverse his guilty plea. If I lived in Idaho, I would be asking myself, "What else is Larry Craig saying that I cannot believe?" The man has exercised poor judgment and wavered throughout the course of this silly issue. He plead guilty and then backtracked saying that he just did it to hush it up. He seems to want to blame anyone and everyone rather than step up and say, "I did something wrong." It is not unlike a certain Democratic President who lied about sex in the Oval Office. Again, I don't care that the sex occurred -- more power to them all. Sex is healthy. What I care about are two things: 1) the perceived need to lie about it, and 2) the American public clamoring to condemn people for doing the same things that many of them are doing. The difference is a matter of position and of who gets caught. Anyway, a note to Senator Craig: "Make a decision, announce it, and stick to it." Integrity and trust are next to impossible to regain once they are damaged. If you are going to resign, do it. If not, take the high road and say something like, "My earlier announcement was hasty; I made a mistake; please forgive me." and then stand by it regardless of the consequences. Your wavering and backtracking damages not only you but the integrity and respect of all elected officials. AND that's the way I see it.

Friday, September 21, 2007

It Is Finished

It is finished and so are we -- we emptied the house today and now the apartment is all but impassable with boxes and the endless stream of stuff. But with the exception of a couple of items still in the truck, the steady stream of trips up and down stairs is done. Tomorrow we dig into boxes and start to move things into their appropriate places. I think that closets and cabinets will be bursting at the seams, but we will make this all work out and this will be home for at least the next year. Life will begin to have some normalcy to it -- praise God. It was weird leaving the house for this, the last time. Ben hung in there, though I know it is a tough time for him. He is so much stronger than even he realizes. Now that we are out of the house and the memories -- good and not so good -- that it held, we can begin to forge forward in our life together. Thanks to all you good folks who kept us in thought and prayer through this whole process. More later.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

The Word for the Day Is "Exhausted"

You may have noticed that this blog has been pretty silent this week. That is because I leave the apartment a bit after 7AM to head to work. After an 8 hour day, I head to the house to help Ben pack up another load (There have been so many!!), and then back to the apartment, often getting home after 8 or even as late as 9. Besides the time, the house is 2 stories plus attic and basement and the apartment is a third floor walk up. That ought to tell you how physically exhausting each load can be. I am so in need of a down day just to rest and regroup. Actually, we both are and it will come soon. If you check Ben's page, he presents a photo of one room in the apartment -- boxes everywhere. Multiply that by another bedroom, the living/dining room, and the hallway and you can imagine the seemingly endless sea of "stuff." I am hoping that today's load will just about complete the task. There is literally no more space in the apartment. I need some time to get stuff put in drawers, closets, and secret hiding places so that we can get the job done. The poor animals are almost at a loss for places to lay about as are we. We got the great cable package with the HD receiver for the living room TV -- guess what? The LR is so crowded right now that we can't sit there and enjoy the superb quality TV. Besides, there's hardly time to watch it anyway. Even though we are both physically and mentally fried, we both seem to handling things pretty well. Ben has moments of bittersweet--his life has gone through so much loss and turmoil over the time we've been together. Yet he presses on. What is truly amazing to me is that throughout this grueling process there has not been one cross word or moment of disagreement. That, my friends, tells me that either this relationship is right or else we are both some zombied out that nothing matters. I can tell you this - the first option is the right one. Perhaps this weekend things can slow down just a bit and we can concentrate on making our new digs "home". Watch our blogs for more pics as the place becomes presentable. Hug someone and stay happy!

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Settling In and Trying to Regroup

Well, the bulk of the big move has been accomplished. We loaded up the big truck yesterday morning and met my sister and her husband at the new place in the early afternoon. Thank God they were here to help. My knee cooperated up to a point -- thank God for Aleve. Ben says, "Oh, now you can do permanent damage to your knee and not even feel it." We are butt hole deep in boxes and there is still a lot of little "stuff" in the house to move over here. Plus we need to get Ben's glass supplies out and to the new "studio". So this week appears to be another week of fun and frolic. BUT we are here and, as you might have read in Ben's blog, already locked horns with the downstairs idiot -- I mean -- neighbor. Hopefully I have here clothes and stuff for work tomorrow; if not, they get what they get. There's still some "fluffing" to do (pictures on the walls, a few more nicknacks, etc., but this is now home and it will be so until the lease is up or something major breaks in Ben's journey. Stay tuned for more fun details. Try to get some rest and hug someone special. I'm pooped!

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Another Step Closer to Moving

Yesterday we had our big moving sale. We sold a lot of stuff and made a few bucks. Among the items sold were the stove and refrigerator (pick up is Monday), so we are scrambling to move the kichen stuff so we have at least a place to keep some frozen stuff. On the other hand, the spare microwave didn't sell, so we can at least heat up our take out food (I suspect a high amount of eating out this week.). I can tell you all that a yard sale is a LOT of work. Thanks to our good friend Annette who came and helped price and sell. The best part of friends helping with yard sales is that they tend to buy -- and Annette was no exception. LOL. Plus she and her pals got a lot of the rocks and stuff from the yard. Today, Ben is preaching in a nearby town. He took off without some stuff he needed, so I made a speedy trip down to deliver the stuff. Then I came home and packed up about a third of the kitchen stuff for a moving trip later in the day. Then it's back to work for both us tomorrow. Where did I ever get the idea that weekends were for rest and renewal? I'm going back to work tomorrow to rest!! Anyway, have a great rest of the day and hug someone special!

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Weekend Report

Ben has posted pictures from our weekend getaway to Mackinaw (or Mackinac), so I won't post any now. Go take a look--there's some neat stuff there. After signing the lease on the new apartment on Friday and moving a bunch of stuff in, we were pooped out on Saturday night. Ben preached on Sunday morning and then we headed north. Sunday morning I did something to my left knee, and it hurts to bend or twist it -- made walking lots of fun. Anyhow, we headed out and drove north. As we often do, we got off the freeway and hit some back roads. We re-visited some spots from Ben's past and then headed on the Cross in the Woods Shrine. It was actually much nicer than I expected. It was awe inspiring without being overdone, though I still thought it a bit much. Then we headed the rest of the way and found the campground. We got camp set up and headed out for dinner and wandering around Mackinaw City for a while. Then it was back to camp for a really good night's sleep in preparation for the big walk. We got to Mackinaw City about 7 and finally got off the shuttle bus at the north end of the bridge in St. Ignace about 9. After standing in the potty line for a while and taking care of business (no place to pee for the next five miles) we struck out along the bridge. It was beautiful and it was kind of awesome to see that large number of people paricipating. By the time we finished, I had two blisters and my knee was screaming. BUT I did have a really good time and I would love to do it again (maybe next year). Then we had lunch, headed back to the U.P. to visit the Mystery Spot (a real tourist trap I thought). Then it was time to head south -- with LOTS of other travelers. Once again, we got off the freeways and headed down backroads. I don't know if it was faster or not, but it was far less stressful. Ben was wonderful (always with a sense of adventure and always showing concern for my wimpy ailments). I just gotta tell you all -- I got very lucky when he came into my life! I wouldn't trade him for anything!

Some folks think that it was silly of us to take the time away from moving over the weekend, but I say it was exciting, fun, and therapeutic -- well worth any sacrifice of time and money. Today it was back to work -- ten hours -- much work to make up from being away yesterday. Our European clients don't celebrate Labor Day so the work went on. That's the way it is today -- enjoy one another and give someone a hug.

Sunday, September 02, 2007

Partly Cloudy on a Bright Sunny Day

Here it is Sunday morning and the sun is shining. Ben is off to church, and I will likely go for the 10 AM service about as soon as I finish this post. I had a wonderful night's sleep, and we head north for the bridge walk later in the day. The lease is signed and we've moved a few things already. I should be feeling upbeat and anticipating the day and the future, right? Maybe I should, but, alas, I'm not. I feel as though about half of my posts here are real downers, but I count my readers among my friends and confidantes -- SO -- you get to hear it all. I am sitting here this morning in a real down mood with no apparent or specific cause. I have borken down and cried twice and am having a heck of a time getting motivated. I know that I am dealing with a fair level of depression, but I also know that I will just have to deal with it. Therapy is beyond my means at the moment. Ben is great at being supportive and caring about my well being. Just sitting here and writing this post is helping the sun begin to pierce my clouds and darkness, but it is a tenuous sun. I know that once we get on the road this afternoon, I can put all of the transition and upheaval out of my mind for a few hours and relax a bit. Then perhaps I can truly enjoy the beautiful day. I guess it's off to the shower and on the way to church for me now. Thanks as always for listening to my whine list. You all are more comfort than you realize. Thanks for being there for me. Hug someone and let them know how special they are. Happy Labor Day!!!