Is This Real Life?

In July, I was a bachelor.

My wife was able to get a head start on our vacation and took the boys to visit friends and family over three weeks before I had time off work. 

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Repost: Losing Grasp on My Dominion

Every other week my blog will feature a reposted work. I had been a contributor on two different sites that have since closed or no longer include blogs. I will be reposting pieces that had originally been featured on one of these two sites.  

This was originally posted May 30, 2011

For the last day or so my lovely wife has been gently reminding me of the things I need to be doing.  One of those things is this blog. 

I didn’t really have any amazing inspiration so I had been stalling, but that’s not the whole story.  The other half of the problem is that I’ve recently become obsessed with a particular game.

Dominion is a card based strategy game by Rio Grande Games.  It was bad enough that we played it with some friends of ours, then bought it and an expansion, then bought three more expansions, then played it with more friends….but then I found that I could play it online.  No set up time. No counting cards.  No double checking rules in the rule book.  No getting anything else done.

Oops. 

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Knowing Louie

It’s no secret that Louis CK often speaks insightful truth, albeit sometimes in the midst of off-color comedy. His comments on the influence of technology on the human condition have gone viral on two separate occasions. He’s outspoken about racism and white privilege. He’s honest, though perhaps exaggerating for comedic effect, about his flaws and foibles.

A few lines in particular of his stand-up have stuck with me for a few years. I have reproduced them below.

I just want to ask you, have you ever done something or lived a moment that you afterwards said,

“yeah, I don’t think I’m going to tell anyone about that. Yeah that’s going to my grave with me, that one is.”

Either because it’s stupid, embarrassing, or horrible you just think…

“yeah that’s staying with me. I’m not telling any people about that.”

I would say that probably 40% of my life is made up of moments like that.

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Repost: On Loving Isaiah

Every other week my blog will feature a reposted work. I had been a contributor on two different sites that have since closed or no longer include blogs. I will be reposting pieces that had originally been featured on one of these two sites.  

This was originally posted May 4, 2011

While in my MA program I learned about Bernard of Clairvaux and his work On Loving God.  It seems that we start our journey in the faith loving God for our own sake, then we grow a little and maybe we learn to love God for God’s sake.  According to Bernard of Clairvaux, the final stage is loving self for the sake of God.  I have a long way to go on that journey. 

I’m not even very far on something a little more tangible: my journey of loving my son, Isaiah, as he ought to be loved. 

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