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I’m praying for Ken Rivera, who is going to have surgery tomorrow to fix his heart, his liver, and a bunch of other stuff. His wife Kim works in our tape library, and we have been praying for her as well.

He will get to really enjoy March Madness as he recouperates. Lucky.

I was musing on how many emails i’ve written in the last 10 years. While I’ve had many memorable ones from some great friends, and I’ve written many to my wife and others, where are they?

now, if you go upstairs at our house, you can pull two shoeboxes: one is full of letters that I wrote to Amy when we were engaged, and the other is full of Amy’s letters to me. We can hold them, read them, remember the place and time when they were written. There is something about holding something physical (imagine if the Constitution was electronic first…).

I have letters from my mom, who is in Heaven now. My grandma, who poured into my life.

I remember what triggered this. No one wants to check the USPS now. It’s only bills and junk mail. When I was a kid, and we moved to Alaska, I couldn’t wait for the mail to come. We lived off of the main highway from Anchorage to Fairbanks. No telephone, not even electricity or running water. Each day, we would drive to the highway, and there were a line of mailboxes right off the highway. We were box 113 or 139 or something like that. I remember always being excited to look and see if there was any mail in the box. Typically, I would get something if I wrote something (my Grandma Helen reminded me of that).

Anyways, we need to write letters. bottom line. more later.

…Alaska’s flag, what it means to you…” That is what I remember of the opening line of the pledge to the Alaskan flag. I lived there from 1973 until I left for college in 1983. My folks left Anchorage in 1991, and my sister in 1995.

As most of you know, our small frontier state is now front and center in the national spotlight (and it’s not because of Senator Ted Stevens this time!). Governor Sarah Palin has been named as John McCain’s running mate for the Republican ticket for president of these United States! Way to go, Mrs. Palin!

Now don’t go asking me questions about her politics or track record. I am embarrassed to say that I haven’t quite kept up w/ Alaskan politics in the last 200 years, except for the occasional sighting of Don Young or Ted Stevens in the news (I saw from a distance Sen Stevens at the Rotunda for former President Gerald Ford’s service. He didn’t look too good…). Now, Alaska is back on the map.

I’m guessing I’ll be seeing more of Mrs. Palin in my local Charlotte newspaper over the next 67 days. Imagine my surprise when I saw the name of Andrew Halcro, who went to my high school for a short time in the early 80’s. I remember his sister more; she was really cute! I was about 5 years too young, though. Oh well, my Amy is happy for that.

Andrew is a force in state politics in Alaska. He has a blog href=”http://andrewhalcro.com/”>http://andrewhalcro.com/ where he keeps up w/ local politics. He’s not very fond of Mrs. Palin, so I’m told.

Guess I’ll have to go and check it out myself. Nice to connect again w/ you, Andrew. Say hello to Damon when you talk to him.

This week was a shocker and a sleeper.

The shocker was my admin, Melissa, has taken another job w/in BGEA at the Billy Graham Library. It’s a promotion for her, and I’m glad that she is able to move up in the organization. The library is getting a great admin, and a great person. We will all miss her work, her personality, and her great cooking (she always brought lots of goodies!)

The sleeper was that I didn’t get much, but I’m not too upset about it. My brother in law Eric Boutieller and his family were visiting, and they love to have a lot of fun…. all the time. I’m not a night owl, and had to still work each day.

One fun thing Eric and I did was attend the Church Basement Roadshow, hosted in Charlotte by my friend Steve Knight. Doug Padgitt (who is really tall!), Tony Jones (who went to seminary!), and Mark Scandrette (who lives in San Francisco!) were entertaining and thought provoking. As I’m not an articulate writer or even an articulate thinker, that’s all I’m writing about it so far. Thanks Doug for letting me shine on the trombone. Mark, I’m probably a traditionalist that wants to be a creative thinker. Tony, I liked your comments best; especially the idea about coming down from 30,000 ft and touching the ground.

Oh, I went shooting w/ my dad and son at Uwharrie National Forest outside of Albemarle. We enjoyed a great 100yd range. I’m glad my dad taught me about firearms at a young age.

that’s all for now. Two weddings this weekend, and I love weddings…

Yesterday, my in-laws said goodbye to their cat of 16 years: Sonny Boy. He was a Himalayan cat w/ sass and attitude. Over the last years, his life became a series of spit up, late night whining, and a bladder that couldn’t hold its water. He gave my father in law a great deal of company, and was greatly loved.

Good bye, Sonny Boy.

I have cleared my comments awaiting moderation, thanks to Nick Ciske. Nick, you rock. Thank you Askimet.

My dad and the family are doing well. thanks to everyone for your prayers. We know that God is with us.

“on the road again… just can’t wait to get on the road again…” The strains of that old Willie Nelson song beckon me from time to time. I do love traveling: meeting people, going to unique places, enjoying new experiences, seeing my great God at work around the world. But even an old road guy like me has doubts about loving the road from time to time.

My new job has me staying home alot more, which I do love. I like seeing my beautiful wife and kids more often. It’s been good to enjoy them, and let them even enjoy me (i guess they do). I’m able to be at church each Sunday, which I’m cherishing more and more. And, I’ve finally been able to join some other men on a regular basis in my hometown, and encourage each other. I haven’t had that since about 1999, when we lived in Baltimore.

Once reason I do enjoy traveling, however, is because of the guys that I get to travel with. I have been working on the road with most of these guys for at least 12 years, some of them for 15 years. When you know people for that long, you miss them. I think my Amy understands; I love her, but I do like my buddies too.

Ok, I was talking about traveling. This weekend, I’m working for a former freelance crewer in Baltimore, MD at Towson State. I was flying up from my hometown of Charlotte tonight. Left work in a rush, got to the airport, got on the plane, was ready to take off when the flight attendant asked if anyone wanted to give up their seat for a free ticket! So, I did it! They booked me on the next flight, set to leave about 2 hours later.

Well, that 2 hours has come and gone…I am at the airport, and we are scheduled to take off in about a hour and a half. It just means that I’ll get to bed a little later tonight. So, I’m enjoying something to drink, and the Yankees/Indians game.

Bottom line: while I miss the road, I don’t miss the delays, the security lines, and the headaches. Let me have my warm bed and my soft, beautiful wife anytime!!!!

Wow, how time has flied! It’s nice to have some time to myself and relax a bit.

We had a nice time w/ my birth mom, Miss Patty. I hope she enjoyed her time in Charlotte; we nearly ran her ragged! But I think she enjoyed herself. We were able to get some nice photos, and they are on my flickr account. (see the link on my home page.).

Will talk more soon.