I love Sun City. Where else can you hear the intro music to the TV show Bonanza coming from a house? Thank God for cable TV, huh?
Did you hear this news story? Cool.
President Lincoln's watch
I just got back from "Wolfsburg Registry," the local VW club. Very interesting to attend a club meeting when you don't know anyone there and they all know each other. When I'm in a situation like that I try to pay attention to my innards so I can understand what visitors to church must feel like.
Lesson: talk to visitors!! It's very awkward for them to sit there alone while everyone else around them is engaged in conversation.
I got the bias ply tire, so in the next day or two I'll get it put on the rim. I also learned that my fuel lines are leaking. YIKES! VW's are famous (infamous?) for leaking fuel lines because they're made of rubber with a woven fabric sleeve around them. The gas eats away at the rubber so that the gas leakes through the fabric sleeve. A visual inspection of the fabric and all looks fine, unless the engine is running, and it's dark, and parking lot lights reflect off the gas leaking through.
VW's are also famous (infamous!) for engine compartment fires. So tomorrow (!) I'll head to BAP to get replacement fuel line, and do that before Gerta sees the road again.
I learned that the wheels are indeed original (I thought so but wasn't sure) and the bumpers are '66 or earlier. That makes them easier to replace.
When they were wheeling Pam from the delivery room to her hospital room after Steve's delivery she looked up at me and said, "I want to do that again." Two years and two days later, March 11, 1977, she did. Only this time the result of her labors weighed 11 lbs. 5 oz. and was 22" long. The problem was Josh's shoulders, which even then were three feet across. The pediatrician said it should have been a C-section delivery and he got no argument from Pam. He also suggested that going from 10,5 to 11,5 didn't portend well should we decide to have a third. You'll note that we didn't.
Josh was even easier to raise than Steve. Mostly, if we kept him full of food, no easy task, he was happy. Same results at school - perfect grades and ideal student. I felt almost guilty about how easy we had it, but sure didn't complain!
Because Josh was always so solidly built he tried out for the Jr. High wrestling team. He was a natural...on paper. But you can't be a successful wrestler if your primary concern is the possibility that you might hurt your opponent. If the best wrestlers have a natural aggression Josh was the antithesis of a wrestler. He didn't make it to the end of his first season.
What we all quickly realized is that Josh is his mother's son - caring, patient and very good with children. I wasn't at all surprised when he chose pediatric occupational therapy as his career path, or that he excelled at the academic preparation. The result is someone very good at the technical aspect of their profession but also perfectly suited for working compassionately with very small, very fragile patients. I've seen him at work and he's good!
But without question the best thing Josh has ever done is marry Aubri. The two of them are a matched set in so many ways.
Friday night we're going to celebrate both of the week's birthdays here at our house. No big deal, just dinner and visiting. When we have those gatherings here I like to spend at least part of the time just observing and reflecting. I am very blessed, and have been from the beginning of this journey called fatherhood. I'm not sure I could have handled challenging kids. Maybe that's why God gave me such compliant sons who grew up to marry wonderful young ladies.
People wonder if the next generation will have it better than they do now. I don't know if the economy is headed up or down but I know that I have been bested by my sons as men. I am humbled, grateful and blessed by that fact.
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