Tales from the Underground November 30, 2005

Before I begin, I should probably give a cast of players so as not to confuse:

The Nanny: Lindsay (moi)
Child 1, Age 12: Morgan
Child 2, Age 9: Josh
Mother: Renee
Father: Jeff
Pooches: Max and Molly

In the midst of my almost perpetual frustration with my job (for those of you out of the loop, I’m a live-in nanny), there are moments which make me forget any dislike I might carry with me from day to day.

I was sitting at the kitchen table helping Morgan with her homework while Jeff sorted through bills. I don’t remember exactly what it was, but something triggered Morgan into telling me about the sordid history of her dad’s side of the family. It went something like this:

Morgan: I have a cousin who is 19 and is about to have a baby and she doesn’t know who the father is.
Lindsay: Really?
Morgan: Yeah, she’s 19 and doesn’t know who the father is and her mother is a LESBO.
Lindsay: (stares increduously and laughs)
Jeff: (laughs)
Morgan: And she always brings her “partner” to family stuff.**
*enter Josh*
Josh: What are you guys laughing about?
Lindsay: Morgan was telling me about your cousin that’s going to have a baby.
Josh: Oh yeah, her mom’s a lesbian! And she always brings her friend, I mean her “partner,” to stuff.
Lindsay: (cracks up)

** Morgan did, in fact, use air quotes when she said the word “partner.” It was hilarious.

So even though my job seems to have more downs than ups, it’s moments like these that make me forget the downs and take the time to laugh. And let’s face it, it’s always comforting to know that I’m not the only one with a weird family.

5 Things I … November 10, 2005

I started this blog claiming to be a conforming non-conformer, and I am resuming that title yet again. So all others who went before me, I salute you.

*****

5 Things I:

Like, and Should:
1) Dark Chocolate
2) Good Literature
3) Traveling the world
4) Autumn
5) Journey (the band)

Don’t Like, but Should:
1) Summertime
2) Anything written by John Milton, including “Paradise Lost” and “Paradise Regained”
3) Country music
4) Coffee
5) My job

Like, but Shouldn’t:
1) Flirting with my 18 year old brother’s best friend
2) Math
3) Ludacris
4) Excessive amounts of Diet Coke or Diet Coke w/ Lime
5) Barbra Streisand’s “The Mirror Has Two Faces”

Don’t Like, and Shouldn’t:
1) McDonald’s
2) Mayonnaise
3) The Southern Baptist Convention
4) Pre-adolescent/teenage girls
5) My freshman roommates

And … scene.

Ode To Autumn November 8, 2005

I greet thee, Autumn, with open arms and eyes
Which absorb your colors with wonder and awe
Your reds, purples, oranges, yellows, and greens
All brilliant in their grace and splendor

Which with each stroke Bob Ross captured
Along with my imagination
Thank you, Autumn, for your graceful entrance
And your slow exit into Winter’s embrace

The Truth November 3, 2005

For me, she said, the question is not whether or not God exists. It is whether or not I care.

On Grief November 2, 2005

I follow in the footsteps of my fellow bloggers who have relayed and discussed the tragic death of Kyle Lake, pastor of University Baptist Church in Waco. His life ended while preparing for another’s new life (in Christ) to begin. How cruel irony can be.

Although I did not attend UBC or know Kyle personally, his death affected me in a major way. I was sick to my stomach and couldn’t fall asleep, and when I did my dreams were consumed with how I could have prevented his death – a kind of sick nightmarish fantasy sleep.

I was able to reason that it was partly due to the recognition of how life is unpredicatble and fleeting. My best friend suggested that it was because I was a part of the Waco church community and Kyle’s death could have just as easily been my own pastor’s. Whatever the reason, my heart still grieves for wife and children, and the community he left behind.

In the midst of all this, I have been relieved to see the media handle the situation in a – for lack of a better word – classy way. However, I have also seen some of my peers twist the situation into something it’s not. This was not a result of the problems of the “Contemporary Church,” nor a moral to a story. This was an accident, a tragic one, and to classify it as anything else is presumptuous.

While it seems as though nothing can offer significant comfort at times like these, I have to believe when Kyle arrived at the gates of Heaven he was greeted with, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Well done.”