Category: montreat

Catching Up

Twitter is really eating into my intermittent blogging ideas. I suppose it’s that I figure it’s already ‘out there’ I don’t have to put anything ‘out here.’ So, I’m going to bullet some stuff to catch my trusty reader(s) up on what has been going on lately.

  • I’m not sure I’ve described my office here but it is a combination equipment store room/office. Oddly shaped with some of the walls being exterior walls. It has one vent that is approximately 6″ in diameter and I believe it is connected to the vent in the rest rooms. So, I keep it closed. In the summer it gets rain forest hot and the winter it gets arctic cold. I have done without the suit and tie at work and have been wearing a polo shirt. I am getting used to it.
  • My DirecTV was acting erratically last week and there was fear that we’d miss the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus 3-D movie on the Disney Channel on Saturday. When I called DirecTV the earliest time I could have gotten a service call was today. Not good. But the digital satellite gods smiled upon us and blessed us with uninterrupted ‘tween pop star goodness. And that was 2 hours that I can’t get back.
  • The Introvert/Extrovert family had a wonderful time being back in Montreat/Black Mountain, NC. Sigh, it was very nice catching up with that community. I miss it so.
  • The Elder Extroverted Holy One has an interview with a church that is located in the eastern part of Tennessee (vague enough?). I’m excited for her and the potential of this church.
  • The Young Extroverted One starts kindergarten in a couple of weeks!?!?!? Holy crap! We are so not ready for that and at the same time we are so ready for that.
  • Contemplating stuff to do to the house to make it look better is overwhelming. My head is going to explode.
  • I missed the Music City Brewer’s Festival this year due to me paying attention to publicity for it. Damn.
  • Caught a new show on the Planet Green network called “Off the Grid.” Chronicling the efforts of my man crush Les Stroud and his family to live off the grid in the Canadian wilderness. Nice.

Alright, carry on with your daily activities I am done.

Job Nonfulfillment

You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.

—Commencement address by Steve Jobs, delivered on June 12, 2005 at Stanford University.

The only time I have felt like I have been doing “great work” or at least meaningful work, to me, was working for the Montreat Conference Center. And that was in any capacity. I’ve been a wilderness ranger taking care of their 2,500 acres of wilderness, a bellman in the Assembly Inn, a night auditor in the Inn (3rd shift one winter and read The Shining. Awesome.), AV Technician on up to Director of Production. I, also, felt like I was doing good work as a sound guy and sometimes bartender at the original Grey Eagle in Black Mountain working for beers instead of money. In each of those positions I have felt like I was doing something I loved. Maybe it was being surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains. Maybe it was the folks I was working with or the people I was serving. Maybe, in Montreat, it was working for the “Dear Lord baby Jesus, lyin’ there in [his] ghost manger, just lookin’ at [his] Baby Einstein developmental videos, learnin’ ’bout shapes and colors.” It just might be a combination of all of those things. While I’m in an industry that I enjoy I just can’t get behind what I’m doing here. Sure, it’s putting food on the table and insurance for the family, but, ugh. I just can’t stand being here wearing a tie and pushing for the almighty dollar instead of the Almighty.

I suppose I’m having some employment angst. It’s come up more so since I have been the new director of event technology at my current location. Also, with the Elder Extroverted Holy One’s graduation from Vanderbilt Divinity School and her current church search (that’s sounds kinda cool, “Church Search ’08” should be a t-shirt). There is a possibility that depending on the call she gets I might be able to be a stay-at-home dad. With the Young Extroverted One going to public school I could stay with the Bobblehead to save on childcare costs. We’ve even had a short discussion of possibly just owning one car.

With all of the possibilities of being able to be more of the domestic goddess that I could be I am certainly finding it difficult to get motivated to get up in the morning and put on that tie and coat. Thankfully, my work ethic kicks in and I continue to do the best I can no matter what I’m doing. . . . Stupid ethic . . .

‘The Man’ Keepin’ Me Down

On Mondays and Wednesdays I pick up the Young Extroverted One from school. It’s on Mondays, however, that I take her back to work with me. Mainly because the technician that works with me has prior obligations on Monday nights. So, after many weeks of the YEO hanging out in my office playing some sort of Diego game on my computer the director of food and beverage tells me yesterday that I can’t have the YEO on property any more. WTF?!? This is after the director of sales has seen her and talked to her Continue reading “‘The Man’ Keepin’ Me Down”

Sleepin’ Triple in a Double Bed

Hi, we’re the Extrovert/Introvert family. We’re co-sleepers.

I was going to post earlier when the Young Extroverted One slept through the night in her own bed. But I’m glad I didn’t because it has been hit and miss the last couple of days.

We started co-sleeping with YEO when she was a newborn. Apparently, we were lazy parents and didn’t want to play the ‘it’s-your-turn-to-get-the-baby game.’ Hey, it was great. YEO cries for food the Elder Extroverted Holy One rolls over and pops it in and everyone goes back to sleep. It was system.

However, the transition to crib after the weening process did not go too well. For starters, I’m not a big fan of letting the kid cry and get over it. It kind of makes me sad. So, the YEO has been with us for 4 years.

When she got older we tried everything to make sleeping on her own appealing. My folks got her a Thomas the Tank Engine tent when she was into the Thomas schtick. No dice.

When my lovely ladies were working in Montreat for the summer I painted the extra room a cool green color (her favorite color at the time), put glow-in-the-dark stars (even made the constellations that are in the night sky on her birthday. Yup, I’m a geek) and got her her own ‘big girl bed.’ She no likey.

As we all grew, either in heighth or width, we stepped up to a queen sized bed. Finally! Then we figured that maybe she didn’t like the small bed and that she would prefer a full sized bed. So, we move the full sized bed into her room. Uh . . . as if .

Well, since the summer and the increased renovations on the house next door to us we’ve had increased incidents of brown recluse spiders . So, the whole big girl room/bed thing was way out of the question. So, one day while the YEO was at her grandma’s house EEHO and I carefully picked everything up out of her room and literally threw it out in the backyard. We killed several of the buggers in the process and I still feel creepy-crawly all over my skin. Ugh.  Our neighbor was wondering if threw the YEO out of the house. If I was going to do that her stuff would be in the front yard!

So, with her room cleaned out and her original big girl bed replaced and some different arrangements of the rest of the furniture she seems very excited about her new, exorcised room. Her first night in there she slept there all night! It took her awhile to get to sleep but when she did she passed out. It was great! And continues to be great. The other night she came back into bed with us and last night she did as well but said she was crowded and moved back into her room. I think we’ve turned a corner. Just in time to do it all over again with the new parasite. What is it the kids are saying/typing/texting these days? W00T? I have no idea what that means.

All I know is that I am very proud of my big girl for making transitions when she felt it was the right time. The EEHO and I have always been the organic-like parents. We never really stuck to a rigid bedtime. We don’t do the vocabulary/science/math flash cards . . . anymore. When she ate the second pack of cards and didn’t get any smarter we gave up on the osmosis theory and the cards. Just Kidding (or is it, JK?). I kid because I love. We never forced giving up the pacifier. When she sucked her favorite one so hard it tore she looked at it and then us and said, “Paci broken.” And then threw it away herself. Very nice.

Every once in awhile we get impatient and try to force something. Like the sleep-in-her-own-bed thing. But we are the ones who get frustrated. And then the YEO will just do whatever it is whenever she is ready. ‘Nuff said. If she is going to grow up into a fine young woman or gamma girl it will be when she’s darn ready to.

And in Other Sad News . . .

I just heard about 30 minutes ago that the wonderful Ruth Graham just passed away.  I don’t have any words to describe what an absolute beautiful person she was.  I didn’t even know her personally.  But . . . wow.  So, I’ll let Reverend Graham do it:

“Ruth was my life partner, and we were called by God as a team,” Billy Graham said in a statement. “No one else could have borne the load that she carried. She was a vital and integral part of our ministry, and my work through the years would have been impossible without her encouragement and support.

“I am so grateful to the Lord that He gave me Ruth, and especially for these last few years we’ve had in the mountains together. We’ve rekindled the romance of our youth, and my love for her continued to grow deeper every day. I will miss her terribly, and look forward even more to the day I can join her in Heaven.”

Oof.

 

I only have a couple of ties to her and her wonderful family: I saw the Grahams at Tong Sing once. Tong Sing isn’t a classy Chinese food joint but the best one we have in Black Mountain. At the time I just happened to look up and see the Reverend Billy Graham return to his seat from the restroom. Of course, he was carried by four angels.  Once he got back to his seat I saw the rest of the Grahams sitting there eating Chinese food.  Or, rather being fed Chinese food. God has them hooked up! =)

 

Also, as a wilderness ranger for the Montreat Conference Center I had the pleasure of spending time with Franklin Graham’s mother-in-law.  She has volunteered down at the Nature Center (ranger hut) for countless years.  Through her I met her grandchildren, Franklin’s children.  They were very fun to be around, especially, when I was doing environmental education for the conference center’s Club’s program.

Um . . . wow . . . all I can say is the world lost a special person today.  God be with the family (as if I needed to say that) and especially Reverend Graham.