Great weekend and a good week ahead

Well, I thought I'd write it and see if it comes true. It was a great weekend, one that included poker, golf and football. Sprinkle that in with some quality family time and it is an ingredient for a great weekend.

Darla's brother, Steve, has gone into full middle life crisis mode and moved he and his wife to Hawaii. He retired from the bread route that he worked for ten years or so and will try to scratch out a living in Hawaii. He's not sure what he'll do, but his wife has a job in the psych profession and he will turn over some rocks and see what he can find. His oldest daughter, Shae, moved with Steve's wife, Kirsten, to the islands and spent three months trying to acclimate herself to the locals, but it just didn't take and she came home over Christmas and will not return. One of the problems is that she is 18 and in her senior year of school. She had to leave all of her friends in Sonora and tried hard to make a go of it in Hawaii, but the schools are pretty laid back and all of the kids have their long term friends and she just couldn't fit in. She came back to the mainland and refused to return. There is a drug culture in Hawaii that is pervasive in the schools and she never felt comfortable. So, Steve has packed up his wife, his dog and cat, a couple of cars and his furniture and is on a flight to Hawaii this morning. He leaves behind his old job, his old friends and his two daughters. I don't get it, but it sure smells of a major midlife crisis. I hope he doesn't wake up in a few months or years with a deep regret that he left his kids behind. Shae is 18 and his other daughter, Taylor, is 15. They live in Willits with their mother and step-father, who runs a mortuary.

The girls, Taylor and Shae, stayed with us this weekend and saw their Dad on Saturday for a final goodbye before his retreat from sanity (is my bias showing?). We had a great time with the girls and they joined us for church on Sunday. David was able to pry his way away from his father and join us for dinner Saturday night and for church and breakfast out on Sunday.

Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day and I was able to do some chores around the house and clean my golf equipment from the mud and sludge of a sloppy Saturday outing. The sky was clear and the sun was almost hot as it pushed the upper sixties yesterday. I pulled out a beach chair and sat on my front driveway idly enjoying a sunny Winter day and drifted off to sleep. I must have slept 45 minutes and woke up with a slight sunburn and mildly refreshed. It was great.

Friday night was poker at my house, the first game of 2006 and the first in about four months. I had ten players and we had to break off into two tables. It was great catching up with the guys and I had my entire foursome for Saturday's tournament at the game. Rain was forecast overnight and sure enough it blew in about 3 A.M. although it was gone by the time I awoke at 7:30 in preparation for my 9:44 tee time. Conditions at the course were wet and wetter and it was a sloppy, muddy round of golf. The balls were plugging in the fairway and roll was simply a theory on this day. I shot 46+42=88 and don't know where I ended up in the tournament as I left early to catch up with Darla, the girls and Darla's parents at our house. I had two birdies in the round and won some skin money, but I'm sure finished out of the money in the tournament. I'm an 11 now and a net of 77 is nothing to get excited about.

Sunday was church and football and nap time in the front yard. This week looks to be sunny and in the low seventies all week. Spring fever will be in full bloom as we slog through the week. I have a new receptionist starting today. The last one was a temp and she never seemed to pick up the nuances of the job. She was such a nice lady and cried when we let her go, but I have 13 people in the office and I need a file clerk/receptionist/claims person/loss run specialist, etc. with some get up and go. I'm hiring temp-to-permanent through an employment agency and it is amazing how few qualified people are available. Unemployment is at less than 5% and some of those don't want to work and the others really ought to be unemployed. The replacement will be here this morning and we will be back to training. I've asked Gail in the office to take over the supervision of the new employee.

Jennifer's friend, Jason, continues to struggle with his cancer and treatment in the hospital. He has been in UC Davis Medical Center for 2 1/2 months and is now expected to remain in the hospital for six more months. He has a hole in his windpipe caused by the cancer and the growth of the tumor. The doctors did a temporary repair, but have to wait for the tumor to shrink to do the permanent repair. Jason has regained some strength, but the biggest concern now is his mental health as he is so ready to get out of the hospital. The cancer has subsided, but he had to stop chemo therapy when the latest crisis occured, so he will have to start up chemo treatments again, shrink the tumor and then get the throat surgery. 25 years old and going through all of this. Pray hard for Jason.

Darla bough herself a new bedroom set this weekend. She has never liked the bedroom set that I brought into the marriage. According to her, it is too large and bulky. We will finally be able to move our old bed into the study and set up a real guest bedroom, so that Dad and Shirley will feel comfortable in coming to visit us in California and not always have to run off to Texas when the rain in Vancouver gets to be too mind numbing for them. We will move the bed and the bookcase into the study and move the desk and computer back into our room. We'll also now have a soft landing for Jennifer when she finds herself in Sacramento/Folsom/Roseville and wants to stay with us.

David did buy the stereo, a Pioneer deck that will allow him to manipulate his MP3 player. Nice, but he hasn't been able to get in to have the deck installed. He still needs to get speakers and a subwoofer for the truck.

That is the news for this week. I hope all are well and looking to the LORD for help with decisions in your lives. Stay well. Ciao.