the glory and the horror

I don’t do what I want to do, and I do what I don’t want to do. The sin within me is great, and the struggle, constant. It’s quite frustrating to know that you’re about to do something stupid and wrong, and then rush headlong into it anyway, just because you want to.

Yes, I am a sinner, and I’m really good at it, too. Too good.

So Kathleen has left, and now I ought to be getting ready to spend some time with the family in Vancouver. The thing is, mom and dad told me to “find out what there is to do.” With about that much direction. But the kicker is that all 5 of us will be there, AND my grandmother, which basically makes a lot of stuff not viable, like museums, hiking, etc. And my parents haven’t given me much direction as to what they want. So they’re not getting much, because I don’t know what to tell them. There are gardens, there are parks, there are art galleries, there are restaurants, there are boats, there are eco-tours, there are historic sites. But I also don’t have any details as to what is good, what is bad, what is ok. Personally, I’d go camping, hiking, boating, and the like. However, with mom, sister, and grandmother, none of those are very good for their enjoyment. Also, since grandmother does’t read english, museums aren’t such a good idea. Art galleries don’t fly with most of the family, I don’t think.

Sheesh. I wish they’d just tell me what to look for.

I also never got to hang out with the great people from the Smith-McCune lab at UCSF. I kinda wish I had made time to do that, but with all the craziness with getting over to SF and taking care of stuff with the family and familial obligations and all, it just didn’t work.

It was a very good trip for Kathleen and myself. There was a lot that we got to talk about, to see a little more of each other’s strengths and weaknesses. It was good for talking about different things, about family, expectations, things we liked, things we didn’t. It was also a nice time to get away and not think about school, but to go and enjoy food, company, the sights, different people in different places. The worst part was probably all the LA traffic when we were down there 880 traffic up here in the bay area is pretty crummy, too.

I wish the summer were longer. I want to hang with the Snellers, get down to Houston at least once, and do a bunch of stuff around Dallas, but it’s not looking so possible.

So in the years since I’ve left home and been off at college, STINT, and now medical school, my parents have invested in a neato little phone system thing, with a main base with a corded phone, and 3 cordless phones around the house. However, if you answer the phone on another corded phone elsewhere in the house, you can’t just pick up one of those special phones to get the call. The original call MUST be put on hold at the original phone before another extension can pick up the call. Unfortunately, one of our phones doesn’t even HAVE a hold function. So I tried to get one of the cordless phones to my grandma (the call was for her), but I couldn’t put the person on hold so that the cordless phone could be used. Because of that, I accidentally hung up on someone this morning. I think I won’t answer any calls on that phone anymore.

Free book.

So I’ve been back in CA for over a week now, and it’s been really nice to have Kathleen here. I think everyone was a little nervous, with this being the first time either of us have spent significant time with the other’s family. To put it lightly, God has been gracious, and given us a GREAT time. It’s been a blast to be back with the family, and the weirdness that could’ve been there has been kept to a minimum. You can’t help a certain level, just because of the nature of things, but it has been a lot of fun to share my family with her. We’ve had a great time talking and praying and preparing for SCF for the coming year as well. I’m so thankful that God has given me such a woman as Kathleen – one who reminds me to pray for SCF, and pray before we even talk about SCF stuff. I don’t deserve her.

We’ve hung out in San Francisco a couple times, doing some standard stuff, like Fisherman’s Wharf, the Cable Car, and Alcatraz, and some less standard stuff, like Zachary’s Pizza on College Avenue, random stuff around Castro Valley and Pleasanton like Val’s Burgers.

We’re going to head to Monterey/Carmel, wine country, LA for Andrew’s graduation, and Muir Woods. I think we’ll also do some more hanging around Castro Valley. We’re pretty pooped. We’ve done a lot of running around lately, both for fun, and to help the family out. There were many errands to be run for Lydia’s graduation party. I was charged with the balloons, and I didn’t know how many we wanted to get until I got to the store. Then I realized the car I drove was too small to fit the balloons and drive safely at the same time, so I had to call home, recruit brother to bring the minivan, and transfer some balloons over. Oh well. It was interesting. I now know that three dozen helium balloons do not fit in a Toyota Camry very well.

I had a great weekend! It was exactly what I needed. I had lunch with Blake, and shared a lot of what has been running around and around in my head, and we had a great time. And then I headed up to Lake Ray Roberts to go camping with a family from church, and we got to hang out, go fishing, play around on the lake, and just have a good time. Ahhhhh. And I head home tonight!