Quick Update

Been too long since I wrote here...

I think partly it's because I've been settling back into the non-routine of the teacher during summer vacation, and partly because I wasn't sure what I should and should not post.

That isn't to say that I haven't been writing.  I wrote several pieces.  I wrote something poking fun at a friend of mine, but he has done me a couple of good turns of late and I felt it ungrateful to have a laugh at his expense (though in the end that piece held him up in a good light, honest).

It was good to be back home from my trip to the other side of the world.  That trip gave me much to think about.  I brought back many stories and have shared most of them with family, friends, and even a few on these digital pages.

I could write more of that now, but I think I'll give it a rest.

I've been spending time with my sons.  They are both doing well, settling into more independence than I expected of them.  Ambiguous feelings there...

One other reason I haven't written is because I am unsure how to write of the larger changes in my life... matters of heart.

I'm a very great distance from where I was a year ago.  I have traveled farther than the 7500 miles to Bangkok, or the temporal distance of once around Sol.

Brenda is far from my heart now.  I am not just relieved of being on a new road, a direction other than hers, but I am so much happier than I would have believed.

Over the past year I began a little dating... I tried dating a bit to just get out of myself, out of my funk, meet new people, smile a bit.

I've found someone in particular who makes me smile quite a bit.  And there's the awkward part to writing lately.  There is a huge part of this that isn't mine to share.  Though there isn't much there in terms of what is a secret, not known by friends and neighbors, it still isn't wholly mine, and therefore not something I feel comfortable in freely sharing.

But... I am free this much... she makes me happy.

OK... that's all I wanted to say there... for those of you who have been following this sentimental soul's little journey of heart break... there's been quite a bit of healing.

My gardens have grown wildly.... I have my vegetable garden.  The corn and pumpk

in have outstripped the weeds, but not by much.  The bees buzz happily between the purpled artichokes,well past being edible.  The strawberries are sweet and too plentiful for Isaac and me to eat by ourselves.  The other garden, what I call my metaphor garden, is a wild combination of flowers, shrubs, and even vegetables.  There is a sunflower there that rises over ten feet from the ground.  A mole is circumnavigating it with his tunnels, and so I am waging another small war between the clever little beasts.

I've been doing a lot of reading in scripture, placing my summer's experiences in the context of my recent travels (of asia and my heart) and though I have difficulty articulating what that means, there has been growth there.

I've made some new friends as well.  People of kind hearts and similar faith.

I've tried a lot of new things this past summer... and it's been, on the whole, very good.

The largest change has been my smile.  It is larger and more frequent than it has been in a long time.

I return to work soon.  I am so looking forward to it!  I will be teaching a class of language arts this year.  It has been five years since I taught that subject.  I know this year will be the best year I have had in a long time.  I am already biting off a lot of new responsibilities so it will be a busy year... robotics, local access TV, study skills training, probably teach a class at church, and I'm ushering back an annual event that has been missed for half a decade, "Untalent Night" (a conglomeration of silly skits, awful musical performances, and pretty much anything that might illicit more groans than applause.

So... a quick update on the strange journey of the curious servant.

Life is good.

My Metaphor Garden