Primarily

This has to be one of the prettiest springs we’ve had in a few years. Primarily that is because it has rained constantly. We’ve had our breaks here and there but for the most part we’ve been getting a good soaking. No drought problems here!

What have I been up to? Been quite busy actually. I’m close to finishing a project in the garage that has nagged at me for years. It’s almost done and when it is you’ll want to hang out in there. Darts, music, cable TV and other fun stuff.  Finally have my “man space” coming together.

This past Saturday Kate and I received a guest. Many of you know that I am fairly involved in the Rotary Club of Charleston. Well, our District hosts what is called a Group Study Exchange team each year. Basically we send a team of people to another country to visit their Rotarians and then they send a group to visit us. Well, the team this year is from Japan. There is five altogether and we are hosting Yuki Yashiro. She is a fun, intelligent and happy school teacher. Yesterday the team and their host families visited the Governors Mansion and The Clay Center, which is our big beautiful expensive new arts and performance center. After that we attended a cookout in which we got to visit with the entire team. One of the ladies, Chizuro, wore a Kimono and played a traditional Japanese drum. It was quite fun. Today, Kate’s friend Stephanie hosted us at her third grade class. The kids had a chance to ask Yuki questions about Japan and her culture and then she taught them origami. I understand it as the art of Japanese paper folding. The kids loved it and we had a great time. Everyone had their own hat that they made themselves. Those kids were so proud of themselves.

After that Yuki wanted to spend some time shopping at the mall so I dropped her off and then Kate picked her up after work. Then we went out for Yuki’s favorite meal. Pizza. Margherita pizza to be exact. The team leaves for Japan tomorrow and we’ll miss them. Imagine having to fly over 13 hours to get home. They’ve been in WV for a month so I anticipate they are probably ready to get home.

Well, things are great here.  Hope all is well with you!

Love,

Chip

P.S. Happy birthday Dad!

Daze off

Sunday’s are great for me. It’s the one day that doesn’t feel like an obligation. Church is fun and engaging to me. Some of you know that I’ve been attending the same church for many years. I just don’t feel at home there anymore. Many wonderful friends still go to that church and many more are joining with each passing week. It truly is a great place to worship. Just not a place for me though.

I was invited to attend my friend Diana’s church this morning and I really enjoyed it. There are two major things that I really love about the Methodists. Three actually.

First, the message of the methodists, as I understand it, is a message of love. Think about that for a second. If love drives your decision making or feelings what outcomes are you more likely to produce? Love. Right? If you are working to take care of love and are doing it effectively then by my reasoning you will experience love. That may be a little broad because you can love competition and love your job and some folks interpretations of love may be different than mine. Ultimately it depends on your definition of living a quality life and I think that most would agree that people who feel and know love are generally happier in more aspects of their lives than the population in general. I did and did not mean to take my interpretation of how I view the Methodist way off center. I think love of God and Jesus are the foundation. I hope you get the point.

Second, equality. Being that it is the first Sunday of the month there was communion at the service this morning. To acknowledge a belief that Jesus lived and then died for our sins is powerful in itself to me. So taking communion is a very special event. Here is the sticking point. The fact that the pastor was flanked by two women serving the blood of christ had an impact on me. By the way, the third thing is that my Momma is a Methodist Pastor. Very proud of her for many things but this is one of the most significant. Back to what I was saying. I can’t recall the last time I took communion and there was a woman involved in the ceremony. To me gender does not predetermine whether or not someone can lead in religious ceremony. Which leads to the overall topic of equality and acceptance. Some traditions and generally accepted cultural norms are not acceptable. So, to say a ritual’s administration is limited to your gender, race, etc. is unacceptable. At least to me. I cannot, in clear conscience, align with an organization or belief system that is in essence, discriminatory. Have I veered too far off the original subject? I don’t think so because it still is relative to what I love. Sitting in the backyard on an absolutely beautiful sun drenced day and speculating about what’s important to me in life. Love of family and friends. Taking a stand for what I believe in and spending time in nature. Sure it’s not Kanawha State Forest, Stonewall Jackson Lake or any beach on the Atlantic Ocean but does it have to be to enjoy God’s creation?

Love God, Love Yourself and Love the other inhabitants of earth,

Chip

BE SURE AND CHECK OUT THE PIC PAGE–added some pics of our trip to LA, a reunion of fraternity brothers in Wilmington and our trip to Myrtle for a friends wedding…via Wilmington.

 

The latest

I received a call late Friday afternoon that the latest test results had returned. The results from the Genzyme lab were the same as before (zero signs of leukemia). So, according to that lab the CML is under control. Of course that was a relief but not as big of a relief to me as you may think it was. The other lab results still shows CML present. That doesn’t mean that I’m upset. It just means that a part of me has learned to accept this in a new way. It has me looking at my future even more differently than I did before. If you can imagine that. I’m thinking that what matters now more than ever is that I do what makes me happy. If I get caught up and focused on tests and things like that then I’ll never really be able to see beyond every three months. According to the norm way to treat CML I will have these PCR tests two more times this year (every three months) and then only once a year until (?). 

So. What have I been up to? Heh heh. Well, I can say that I’ve been enjoying travelling VERY much. Last week Kate and I left for Wilmington, NC, again. We stayed there Wednesday night, had breakfast with my good friend Kip Damrow and spent the rest of the day at Kure beach (our favorite). From there we took the ferry across the Cape Fear River to Southport, NC. That was pretty cool. Arrived in Myrtle Beach for the beginning of the wedding festivities. Kate lived in Myrtle for a while and a girl she made good friends with asked her to be her Maid of Honor. So, it was four and a half days of Myrtle Beach wedding festivities and fun. We had a great drive back and can say we were at the beach twice in April. Nice, eh? Stay tuned. I’ll be adding some pics to the pic page.

Love to all…

Chip