Sister Mackenzie?

I look back in the rear view mirror and see Mackenzie's smiling face. She's so beautiful. I could be biased mind you, but I think she's going to break some hearts. Of course her heart will get broken too. Just like every other parent the last thing I want is for my little girl to get hurt. Maybe I should send her to a nunnery.

The unfortunate reality is that I can not protect her from everything. Not only can I not protect her I shouldn't. It is through the difficult parts of life that we grow. Without something to struggle against we will coast through life and never come even close to our full potential. I am stronger today because some of my thirty-nine years have been difficult. I've never gone without a meal or lived on the street, but my heart has been broken. Several times. The pain is only vague now. Seen through the fog of time and my happy marriage / family the pain no longer has the same bite. It is there though and it did make me who I am.

This subject reminds me of one of my favorite lines from The Princess Bride. ”Life is pain highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.” We can wish for things to be different as much as we want, but it will not change that life is hard. If I completely shield that fact from my kids I will be doing them a great disservice. So while I don't want to see them struggle I must remember to let them. The teenage years are going to be hard.

Oops I Did It Again!

I'm back.

Again.

For the last few years I have had every intention of writing a blog per week. I will accomplish this for a few weeks then go through a long stretch where I don't write a word. So here I am again, beginning again.

I'm not sure it comes through in my blog, but I am a very particular writer. No matter how simple the subject I go over it again and again to make sure I'm saying what I want to. A simple email for work can take me upwards of twenty minutes. So some of my blogs take me quite a bit of time, and that is something I don't have a lot of. I'm a husband and father of two young children. I'm running my own business which consists of one full time job and two part time ones. While the blog is good for my mental health it is pretty natural for it to fall to the bottom of my priority list.

I will always come back to blogging though. As I've said before this is my creative outlet. I've been philosophizing since I was probably fifteen years old when Marc Jenkins and I discussed the nature of God at great length. So this is just how my brain works and it needs an outlet. My mood is directly proportional to if I've written a blog this week. Even though I am engaged everyday with my family and work I just don't feel like I'm doing anything with my life if I haven't written a blog in awhile. I have no delusion that my words are changing the world or even affecting anyone, but they are out there and that is enough for me.

To those of you that read my intermittent words, thank you. From the bottom of my heart thank you.