Cranky about Customs

For Thanksgiving Alyssa and I drove through Canada, as we've done in the past, because it's the fastest route to her parents' place in upstate NY. Everything went smooth as butter until re-entry near Detroit.

We waited in line for an HOUR AND TWENTY MINUTES!!!

Oh well. I'd be really angry if it weren't for the overwhelming sense of security I now have knowing that customs agents all across our nation's borders ask questions like the following: "Where are you coming from? Where are you going? How long have you been in Canada? Did you buy anything there? Any stops?"

I waited an hour and a half for that. We all did! Thousands upon thousands of people. The ONLY thing this process enables is racial profiling. The agent can look at you, and if you look Arab or otherwise suspect, s/he can search your vehicle.

Downright friggin' senseless.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The funniest e-card ever. Have a good one!

Artful Evenings

Sometime over the past several days I had this vision of Alyssa and me engaged in creative activities in the evening. It’s so easy for us to flip on the TV and veg the night away. Now I’m not saying that's always bad, but I’d like to keep it to something like once a week. This vision of artful evenings came, I’m sure, because of having some contact with Ryan and Holly Sharp, who moved their stuff into storage and began a pilgrimmage across the U.S. I talked to them Saturday night, and they honestly don’t know what will come of this. Ryan said the focus of Christian pilgrimages throughout history has been the journey—not the destination—so they’re focusing on the journey. Ryan’s a guitar player; check out his stuff here. And Holly’s a visual artist. I remembered reading Ryan’s blog entry in which he said he and Holly were going to hole up in a cabin in the Smokies with some canvases and a guitar and make some art together. It was such a beautiful image that it made me wonder about Alyssa and me doing the same thing.

So, of course, the next question is, what sort of creative pursuits should we explore? Well, I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I’ve always wanted to learn the guitar. We’ll see…

Anniversary Recap

I started this post a while ago and just finished it…

I’m on my way into Grand Rapids with good memories. The anniversary went well. Here are some highlights:

My grandma never had a wedding cake, so Mom saw to it she had one at the party. As I write this, a piece of carrot cake is in the overhead bin. I’m bringing it to Alyssa.

I saw cousins I hadn’t seen since I was just a kid. It was great to see them and hear about what they’re doing in life.

I’ll never forget sitting in my granparents’ living room after the shindig with grandma, grandpa, Mom, and Dad. We basked in the afterglow of the festivities and talked about all the love that was in that basement. Grandpa told me one advantage to growing old is you come to realize just how many people love you.

Got to kiss the newest member of our extended family, Liberty. What a sweetheart.

Hearing cousin Jason talk about what it’s like to be on the border patrol. He rides a horse!

Grandpa explained how to start and keep a vegetable garden. Alyssa and I are talking about starting our own!

Redemption from Shawshank...

Remember how Tim Robbins' character walks around on the prison grounds like he doesn't have a care in the world? He is utterly at peace, and it's all because he has this little secret that every night he is getting closer to his rightful liberation.

For some reason today I wondered if maybe we all need to have some sort of side project in hope, some dream we're nursing, some little piece of joy we're helping along. I think of a book project I have going and keep tinkering on now and again. I think of my grandpa and his garden. I think of Alyssa who just this morning while we were laying in bed wondered if one day we could buy her dad's lakeside cabin.

Sometimes all one needs is just a bit of hidden hope like this to keep going, to keep really living. So what about you? What's your little garden patch, your dream, your side project in redemption?