Author: Wick

So one of the things I didn’t think of much when we were in the house-buying process, was the fact that along with a house comes a yard. Probably because we were looking within city limits, which means our yard size was not that formidable, and it would probably consist of MAYBE a tree or two, and some grass. Piece of cake, right?

Apparently, it becomes a piece of cake once you retire. Which is cool with me…at that point, you’ve reached the sabbath of life, and have earned the right to kick back, stay healthy, and keep a beautifully pruned garden. (although even when I retire, I think I’d rather not care)

When we bought this house, the front and back had already been really well designed. Complete with a row or two of bricks, different levels of plants and shrubbery, and even some colorful blooms in both Spring AND Summer…we were impressed.

But when you have 2 kids under the age of two, a full time job that includes weekends usually, and no experience or desire in upkeeping such things (probably the most important aspect of the 3)….several levels of shrubbery quickly become several levels of weeds. And oh man…weeds aren’t just dandelions anymore. We got weeds the size of small trees.

My weedwacker takes some mysterious blend of gas and oil that I can never remember, or care to mix….so I don’t use it. My lawn mower is from the 70’s…but at least I can chomp down the first level of weeds with it. But the upper levels in the back yard have begun to look like a small rainforest.

For now, I think it’s okay. There’s a dog in the yard behind us that always jumps a little too high, and barks a little too loud for us to be comfortable having Addison greet it. We’d thought about putting in a solid wooden fence back there to replace the chain link one in place. But for now….a small rain forest will help seperate my daughters from the beast on the other side.

When I retire….well….we’ll probably be rich and living in Forsyth by that point, right?

Tonight, we knew there was gonna be some Blues goin’ on downtown Decatur. So we went.

To you, the reader, that may seem like any old statement. But a shift has occurred. We can now do anything. Well, almost anything.

Last week, we took 2 daughters under the age of two on a week-long vacation to Hawaii. We stayed in an amazing resort, ate incredible food, went snorkeling, toured a coffee plantation, and flew over 10 hours to and from the island.

Before the trip, even taking both girls to the mall at the same time seemed like a task. We subconsciously limited ourselves socially based on the effort required to “do something”. Now, it’ll still be nice to have a babysitter once in a while. Also, this may be more related to my mentality than my wife’s (she’s a natural).

But seriously….tonight we wanted to go hear some good live music, we didn’t have a babysitter, and so we just took both girls. It went great. Almost natural. Sidenote: the guitarist was stinkin’ awesome. And not in a “I have to jump around, or look all dramatic, or be all flashy or cool looking” awesome. But more in a “I’m so stinking awesome I can look like any average guy at the mall before 10am, and still rock more than all of you combined” kind of way.

I hope that I can become as much of a natural at this parenting thing, as this guy was a guitarist. I think I’m a small step closer…thanks to Hawaii.

ps. NT Wright was on “The Colbert Report” tonight. I’d assumed the focus would either be on his “Hope” themed book (comparisons to Obama), or on Jubilee (political movement to forgive debts)….but was excited to see the topic was actually on a rethinking of Heaven (discussed in his newest book), and what comes after Heaven. Although it was obviously tough for him (only 7-ish minutes to begin with, and you have to banter a bit with Colbert to be entertaining)…I think he did a great job at saying enough to pique the public’s interest. People will be wondering what this prominent New Testament Scholar meant when he said “Life after life after death”, and exposing Plato’s influence on current beliefs of flesh and soul. Let the fun begin…