Sam -- from India!

Dad,
Missed the mail this week… I guess I’ll just have to re-read your letter from last week about how well Obama is doing.
My companion and I were attacked with more anti-american sentiment than I’ve felt since I left New Delhi on Saturday morning as we talked to an old man in front of his house. I walked up with a smile, and the next thing I knew we were in deep trouble. “Where are you from” came first out of his mouth. Followed by a feeble “He’s from Nepal and I’m from usa” I purposefully dropped my voice and tried to smooth over the on-coming berating I knew would come. “Your country is a christian country right?? So tell me this, did you elect that president of yours? Is it right for a Christian country to be doing what you are doing in the world? Can you really come into my country and try and teach me how to be more loving and good when the people in your country can’t get it right?” He let us have it Dad, I kept my mouth shut, and wondered how it’d be if we didn’t hate each other, if we learned to trust others, and put away our own selfish desires once in a while and helped somebody in need. That seems to me like it’d be much better than shooting missiles and guns at each other. But what do I know?
Love you dad, good hard week ahead and behind of me, and I like what I do.
sam


Dad,
I learned (from a 19 year old from Dakota) that only 4.5 percent of the whole world’s population (I don’t know how accurate that is or how even they could begin to calculate that) is over six feet tall.
Think about my surprise when I walked into the gym this morning at 6:15, my little run-downer gym that I’ve been working out in for the last three months, and was approached by a short fair-skinned and nicely bearded man. The first thing he said was “I notice that your skin is very white, where are you from?” “I’m from the United States” “Are you mormon??” and that’s how it started. Ha ha, I laughed, and we talked for three minutes about our backgrounds and lives. His name is Jay, he’s doing a work for a non profit organization that helps young children get an education at a cheap school with good teachers. “Let’s do some reps man,” was the next thing he said, and we laughed at each other’s inability to really do anything productive with the complicated machines. He asked if I was sad about Romney, I said no. He was surprised, and I asked if he’d be voting. His reply was that he’d be on the e-vote on the internet, but it didn’t matter much because something about his state being last or small or inconsequential or something. I told him that in my state if you didn’t vote republican you’re condemned as a sinner. Funny guy, and I enjoyed his attitude about life. Not to mention we’ve got a new gym buddy and I’ve never had a friend from the Dakotas before.
The week was sweet. I don’t think I can contribute to your blog. BUT, if you want to put any of my mails onto it, you’re welcome to edit and cut and paste what you’d like…
Love you dad
Sam

Tim's flower he made in Unified... wow huh?

Tim's glass flower!! So beautiful!

Tim... after!! :)

Tim... before :)

at 10:05 We were in our basement diong some laundry and cleaning some plaster off one of our putty knives when the phone went off. Our old rotary black phone. "Hurry run outside the moon is turning red." Carolyn, Ellie's mom, wanted to go and see the eclipse. So Ellie and I ranb outside in shorts and tights and shivered in the sigle digit cold and watched as the moon slowly turned orange and red. Saturn and some other planet glowing close. It was an amazingly cold and clear night night and it seemed to heighten the senses and give them a a focused crisp feeling. We pulled out our camera and turned it to manual so that Ellenoir could show me how to work a real camera as we tried to find the correct f stop number and shutter speed to capture what niether of us had seen before, that is according to our faulty memories. After about half an hour of running inside and out we returned to our computer and enjoyed sifting through the dozen or so photos that we had taken in order to get one that we enjoyed enough to put on the family bog. the next eclipse should be in 2010 if the radio connected correctly to my ear.

blues

(see bottom of this for a resolution!)

I just read Ben's honest and revealing and funny posts, and want to write about something real.

Two of my best and oldest friends have, in the course of a single week, blown up in my presence, once at another friend, once at me.

They're both wonderful human beings and I owe them more than I can ever imagine. But now I'm left picking up pieces, wondering just where we stand.

How much do you give before you say no more?

How accommodating can one be without encouraging bad behavior?

How can a friend act so aggressively?

How much does knowledge of sleeplessness and depression and past experience weigh on a balance against anger taken out on another person?

How much account should one take of alcohol?

Doesn't friendship endure through bad times and good?

What's more precious than friendship?

How lonely is life without friends and family?

All real questions.
All with the understanding that most real questions don't really have answers.

And, as a true friend would -- the friend who got angry with me came by and apologized and we talked and except for a slight wariness that will last for a while things are good again. Where would any of us be without apology?