Goodbye, Irene!
I can decidedly go through another hurricane season with no visitations, but of course, it's still early in the season....
I used to have the vain idea that hurricanes didn't strike the Carolina coast while I was here (those who know me best can visualize my being egomaniacal with absolutely no stretch of mental capacity whatsoever), because the "big ones" always came when I was elsewhere, and always veered off while I was in the area.
Most notably among the former were Bertha and Fran, which came in 1996 (when I was in Korea). Among the latter was Hugo in 1989, which was heading for the Carolinas (when I was at Camp Lejeune), but battered Florida instead.
My egotistical delusions came crashing to their demise with Bonnie in 1998, where I ended up virtually babysitting scores of "grown" men and women in my barracks area at Lejeune, including pulling three knuckleheads away from the water's edge across the road from our building in 50-MPH winds, who "wanted to see how high the water had gotten".
It has always baffled me that Marines are the deadliest enemy to face for those who would threaten America, but the greatest enemy of Marines is usually themselves! That's not meant as an insult, merely part of the mystery of those beautifully unique creatures known as Leathernecks.
Dee left the house early this morning while I was getting ready for work to retrieve the three oldest of the Arrows (a new nickname for the kids, drawn from Psalm 127:5) from a lock-in. There's a church in Rocky Point that holds Saturday night youth services, where they have started attending (and the oldest two have joined the music team). At any rate, they had a lock-in last night, and came in bleary-eyed and wired.
For those unfamiliar with the term "lock-in", here's a word-association: lock-in is to teenager as blood is to shark. It's a fairly simple process of taking a group of teenagers overnight into a facility, plying them with movies, music and junk food, then releasing them (usually completely sleep-deprived) into the wild in the morning. I've always thought of adult youth workers who hold lock-ins as either really dedicated to their ministry, or clinically insane.
So last night, Dee and I just had the "twins". We watched "The Sound of Music" on DVD together. We got to the intermission, where the DVD simply has "Entr'acte" on the screen, while playing music and showing scenery from Europe. I looked at the word and said, "That must mean 'intermission'." Dee responded (in the deepest possible drawl), "Geeoh git gewbers" (Go get goobers, for the uninitiated). I about fell out of my chair laughing! Have I mentioned that she's a real gem??
I had a story about the new Michael W. Smith album, but I'd better end this for now. Blessings to all.
I can decidedly go through another hurricane season with no visitations, but of course, it's still early in the season....
I used to have the vain idea that hurricanes didn't strike the Carolina coast while I was here (those who know me best can visualize my being egomaniacal with absolutely no stretch of mental capacity whatsoever), because the "big ones" always came when I was elsewhere, and always veered off while I was in the area.
Most notably among the former were Bertha and Fran, which came in 1996 (when I was in Korea). Among the latter was Hugo in 1989, which was heading for the Carolinas (when I was at Camp Lejeune), but battered Florida instead.
My egotistical delusions came crashing to their demise with Bonnie in 1998, where I ended up virtually babysitting scores of "grown" men and women in my barracks area at Lejeune, including pulling three knuckleheads away from the water's edge across the road from our building in 50-MPH winds, who "wanted to see how high the water had gotten".
It has always baffled me that Marines are the deadliest enemy to face for those who would threaten America, but the greatest enemy of Marines is usually themselves! That's not meant as an insult, merely part of the mystery of those beautifully unique creatures known as Leathernecks.
Dee left the house early this morning while I was getting ready for work to retrieve the three oldest of the Arrows (a new nickname for the kids, drawn from Psalm 127:5) from a lock-in. There's a church in Rocky Point that holds Saturday night youth services, where they have started attending (and the oldest two have joined the music team). At any rate, they had a lock-in last night, and came in bleary-eyed and wired.
For those unfamiliar with the term "lock-in", here's a word-association: lock-in is to teenager as blood is to shark. It's a fairly simple process of taking a group of teenagers overnight into a facility, plying them with movies, music and junk food, then releasing them (usually completely sleep-deprived) into the wild in the morning. I've always thought of adult youth workers who hold lock-ins as either really dedicated to their ministry, or clinically insane.
So last night, Dee and I just had the "twins". We watched "The Sound of Music" on DVD together. We got to the intermission, where the DVD simply has "Entr'acte" on the screen, while playing music and showing scenery from Europe. I looked at the word and said, "That must mean 'intermission'." Dee responded (in the deepest possible drawl), "Geeoh git gewbers" (Go get goobers, for the uninitiated). I about fell out of my chair laughing! Have I mentioned that she's a real gem??
I had a story about the new Michael W. Smith album, but I'd better end this for now. Blessings to all.
posted by Lee Monical | 8:56 AM
1 Comments:
Minister or lunatic - you decide. I have, in the past, voluntarily planned and chaperoned numerous teenage lock-ins at church! Please don't let this get out cuz I ain't doing it ever again (unless it's in the confines of my own home with your wonderful daughters).
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