Symmetrical, Ceremonial

In your part of the world, what do you see? I want to see out of your eyes right now and learn how a different landscape view changes a person. My view of the world outside the window is a still life painting in three dimensions at 08:08 in the morning. Just as well...

My time with you this morning lasts but a moment, for the past two days and the next days occupy my thoughts, so that this moment holds nearly no memorable events to share with you. Being with you is all I can offer.

You are my life. Every one of you. Your smiles, your laughter, your tears, your joy, your sadness, your running and playing around.

I spent time with some of you yesterday and the day before, first attending a wedding rehearsal in the chapel of a local church. I saw the head guy, the big cheese, Dr. "Brother Jimmy" Jackson, take a small skip down the aisle and reveal the boy in him that still likes to have fun and see the innocent joys in his world.

I watched the movie, "Synecdoche, New York," on BluRay disc - imagine "The Truman Show" as written by Woody Allen and you get an idea what the movie is about - real life observed and neuroticized.

The wedding chapel is probably five times the size of the church around the corner from me - it serves as an intimate setting for weddings and funerals at a church that boasts five thousand members. Three stained-glass windows - one to the left of the altar, one above the altar and one to the right - detail the Biblical ideas of FAITH, LOVE and HOPE.

Despite the size of the general congregation, I have come to know and recognize many of the church members in the center of the church's administration as well as those who circulate through the lives of my wife's brother's family members, Pat, Jonathan and Jana. Some of them I know by face only, including ones like Mark and Kathy. Others I have my own idea what they're like, such as the Spains and the Freemans, and I like them, even love them, because of my belief. [I love everyone I meet but I don't like them until I meet and get to know them.]

Yesterday morning, I spent a couple of hours at the technical institute meeting the new crop of instructors - I sensed a higher caliber of instructor "material" for the institutional administration to rely upon and the students/customers to learn from. Let's hope I'm right. Again, I heard the administration stress numbers, no different than organizational goals anywhere else, and cringed, asking myself why we tend to reduce humans to statistical anomalies. They can worry about numbers - I'll worry about opening the hearts and minds of the people I contact and hope the ones in my classroom learn more about themselves while picking up some details about the course material at the same time.

I have three minutes to wrap up this blog entry and two hours worth of tales and tidbits to relate to you about my niece's wedding. Of course, she was an angel, a beauty, up there on the stage/altar, a real-life Pocahontas giving her pledge to spend the rest of her life with her handsome man. Her mother seemed to be in her own element, too, shining with a glow that makes her youthful. Their son/brother performed his duties well, filling roles of brother, son, father, photographer and videographer. His girlfriend and parents are slowly merging into the family circle, it seems.

I saw my semi-nieces, Sarah Becky and Holly, one a college student and the other a new mother. I am happy and pleased that they grow up in good health and seek broad horizons, celebrating the vistas that spread out before them, bumpy as the road may be that they travel.

My wife's extended family joined us in this affirmation of ancient rituals. Oles, Judy, Margo, Maurice, Fay, Dan. Pat's family, including her parents and brother, sister in-law and niece, also shared hugs and smiles with us, telling tall tales when we could. Fay asked me to read, "My Name is Asher Lev." After discussing it over dinner at the Schnitzel Ranch last night, I'll add the book to my list.

My niece's new family enjoyed the festivities. I had the privilege of getting to know many of them over the past few weeks, including her father in-law, mother in-law, and sister in-law. Their lives are similar to Uncle Ralph's so that time spent with them is like time spent with my mother's family, with whom I'll mingle later today (and thus, the title of this blog entry).

Overall, yesterday was like a walk back through time, revisiting the friends and family of my niece's life. Her pastors, Brother Jimmy and Brother Dick, have tied the bow on the package, having blessed her birth and now her marriage, handing a gift to the world that was conceived and nurtured by her mother, family and friends.

That is the view outside the window of my thoughts today - I can see no view more perfect than that but still I wish I could see more lives filled with the sole purpose of having kids and taking care of family. If we treated each other as family, putting the past behind us, could we overcome most of the tendencies toward liars, cheats, crooks, and murderers that lurk in our collective souls? Today, I believe so!