Gone fishing

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OK, I really haven’t gone fishing.

I don’t know the regulations about fishing around here and I don’t have a Washington fishing license yet. I think that exploration may be left to the fall or maybe even next year. I don’t know where the time is going, but it seems to be rushing past.

We have family camp, creation care camp (our version of Vacation Bible School), and we need to be getting going on planning for fall programs. It seems to be a busy time at work even though we don’t work full time. Part-time ministries are always hard to define.

Last night, however, we had a sleepover at our camper with our grandchildren. We didn’t even go anyplace. We stayed in the camper parked in the yard at their farm. But we tried to do up the fun things of a sleepover, with a campfire and s’mores, sleeping in the camper, and blueberry pancakes for breakfast. We had a great time. I’m not much of a person for playing games, but I try to remember my mother and all of the hands of “go fish” she played with our children, especially on one camping trip when it rained and they were stuck in the tent for quite a while. I figure I owe the universe a lot of hands of cards with my grandchildren, so I played Uno.

One of the treasures of my life are the memories we have. I want to share a similar treasure with our grandchildren. We are focusing on experiences with them this summer. We’ve already had the visit from their cousin and aunt. This week our oldest will start a pickle ball program at the recreation center within walking distance of our house. The two girls will be attending a ballet camp. After that there are more experiences, and we hope, more opportunities to have experiences with the camper. We live close to several State Parks and North Cascades National Park is just a few miles down the road. We want to ride the ferries with our grandchildren sometime this summer. There are way more possibilities than there is time.

This morning I received an email inquiring about something for Sunday, July 24, and for a few minutes, I was in a panic, thinking that July 24 is just a week away. Once I figured out that I have two weeks, my mood changed and it seemed possible to accomplish that task by the 24th. Maybe I have one more week of July left than I had anticipated.

I’m sure that I don’t feel any more pressure than my sister, who is moving the first week of August. I remember all of the things that went into our moves. They take a lot of energy and getting ready to load the truck is a huge task. She hasn’t lived in her present location for 25 years as we had in Rapid City. Still, moving is a big chore and I know that her “to do” list must be pretty long.

Who knows? It might take me a while to get around to learning about fishing and gathering shellfish in our new home. It makes sense, however, for me to learn. This place is very abundant with sources of food. It has been home to the Coast Salish people since time immemorial. They thrived on the abundant seafood, nearby game sources, and rich soil for growing crops. We have a few food crops in our garden. The kale and lettuce are producing lots of salad greens and we are getting an occasional pea from the vines. The tomato plants look healthy, but are just starting to bloom. We are weeks away from having our own tomatoes. The cherries, however, are another matter. We can’t pick them fast enough. We’ll have plenty in the freezer to last for a while and we hope to dry a few as well. This is a good place to live with the rich soil producing a lot of crops on small amounts of land.

Lest you think that I am getting lazy by publishing my journal so late today, I will share that grandchildren, full of sugar from roasting marshmallows and eating chocolate for a bedtime snack, weren’t particularly quick to go to sleep last night. We had them up well past their bedtimes. Then they surprised me by being wide awake and ready to go at 5 am this morning. I stalled them and had them read books and play until 6:30 before serving them breakfast, but I feel like I’m about 3 hours short of my usual night’s sleep. I’m pretty sure the kids will have time for naps today - I’m hoping I will, too!

Days like today remind me of how incredibly fortunate we are to be able to live so close to our grandchildren. I think that their ability to disrupt my routines and schedules is a blessing for me. As I grow older, I become more set in my ways. However, I don’t want to become an old man who has lost the flexibility to go on an adventure on short notice. I have long been a person with certain disciplines and habits, but my work life was filled with interruptions. Sometimes I was late publishing my journal because a phone call in the middle of the night led me to be with someone who was experiencing a crisis. I learned to adjust my routines and it was good for me. Now that I am retired, I need the presence of our grandchildren, the complexity of our son and daughter-in-law’s schedules, and the occasional work deadline to keep me on my toes and help me retain some flexibility.

Exercise has many benefits. Among them are increased endurance and increased flexibility. As I grow older, I know that I need both of those. Having our grandchildren so close gives me plenty of exercise, even if my watch with its fitness application doesn’t always recognize it.

So, no, I haven’t gone fishing. Still, the picture and the title somehow make sense at this point of my life.

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