Changes

August is going to be a very strange month. Tom and I both celebrate birthdays toward the end of the month, and we won't be together. Or, rather I should say, we'll sort of be together for my birthday but not his.

When Tom accepted the appointment to this church, he also committed to attending a new church start up boot camp in Plano Texas. Did I mention his new church is a start up? I didn't know Methodists were into that sort of thing. So, on August 17 he and I and two of his lay members will jet down to Plano Texas (Texas in August!?!)for three days of, what? Marching and kp duty and sleeping on cots? I really don't know what to expect of a church boot camp.

Tom was telling people that my attendance as the clergy spouse is free! I guess having the clergy spouse there for the induction is very important. I thought he told his new church they weren't hiring me!

However, it's not really free. I get to give up my birthday and the opportunity to take Richard, my youngest son, to Cedar City to start at Southern Utah University, and three of my very precious vacation days. Richard did his own college tours last spring and wouldn't let me go with him! So you can see that I am really giving up a lot not being able to drive him to school. I am determined to be gracious at boot camp, however.

Richard is funny. He's my academic child. When Mick, his older brother, was in first grade and trying to do math papers at home, 3-yr old Richard would hang over his shoulder and tell him the answers. He really had no academic trouble all the way through school. We should have paid more attention to his other characteristics, I guess. He "attended" SLCC (pronounced Slick and formally known as the Salt Lake Community College) for 3 semesters after high school, but was more excited about living on his own and partying than going to class. One evening he was wrestling with some buddies late at night and dove head first into a hard arm of a futon and busted out one front tooth and the one next to it. Well, he's paying for the numerous procedures to repair the damage himself, so perhaps he won't do that again.

I don't know, though. When Richard was about 10, he did a flip off the diving board and hit his teeth on the end of the board and broke off half of both front teeth. (I told him he could at least have broken the same teeth in this latest episode - but no.) How in the world do you hit the board and break teeth and not get another scratch on you? He must have been smiling really big. The reason he was doing flips into the pool is because he had previously done a flip off the jungle gym in our backyard into a pile of leaves - landing on his back and scaring everyone, including himself. I had suggested he try those stunts into something softer.

Then there was the incident when he was about five when he kept asking for items while I was trying to put dinner together - some string, an old sheet, a fingernail brush. Our friend Jenny finally asked him what he was planning to do with all these things, and he responded that he was building a parachute. When she suggested it wouldn't really work, he became offended and said he was only planning to jump from the roof.

And before that, there was the time when he was about 18 months old and was using a desk chair as a walking aid (he didn't think he could walk yet) and he pushed it over to the edge of the backyard deck, climbed onto the chair and onto the rail and made a flying leap into the backyard. This while six adults just sat there and watched agape (his mom included).

So anyway, Rich has decided he is well and truly ready for college and his dad will take him down there on Sunday. I plan to go down the following weekend, after my boot camp experience, to bring anything he may have forgotten to bring - after all it will be him and his father trying to get him packed up, and to have him show me around campus.

August is going to be very strange. Pray for me.

An Accidental Clergy Spouse