Harbor Life Ministries

This has been a day on the road.

With having two locations, the house in Norwalk and the pregnancy center in Celina, we often have to make that 2? hour drive (one way) to the other site. We had some other things we needed to do in Celina, so we went there and got our personal stuff done, as well as all the work.

We picked up food items, clothing, files, and things for the Sharing Banquet. We only had one minor issue today with girls. Getting enough school work completed before we needed to leave today was an issue, which made us drive as quickly and directly as possible to get there.

Because of the length of the car ride it became an issue as to which girl got to sit in the front, or “ride shotgun.” I had to ask: When we don?t get our way, what is the proper attitude to have regarding riding up front? You would think with 17-, 16-, and 15-year-old girls would not have this as an issue. But they are still children, even though pregnant and about to be moms, something to keep remembering as well.

Whatever happened to boredom? I lost it along with my childlike innocence at some point in the faded, distant past.

Here’s a conversation I had with my youngest son Kavin after he made this observation:

“School work stinks.”

“Do you mean it smells bad?” I asked.

“No, I mean it stinks.”

“Why do you think it stinks?”

“Because you do it every day, then, ‘poof’, you’re dust in the wind.”

“Poof, huh? I hope i go out as a poof.”

“Homework stinks too.”

“Don’t you see the value of an education, though?”

“Yes I do, and it’s not very high.”

“Did you tell this to [your teacher] Mrs. Baugh?”

“No.”

“What do you think she’d say if you did?”

Kavin’s eyes got wide but he didn’t respond. I decided it was time for him to take his morning pills. As I went for them I thought of something that might make school more appealing to Kavin since he hates handwriting.

“The K-12 computers in the garage. Or maybe we can get the old one that’s at the office working. Do you do keyboarding?” He shook his head. “It’s more education for you but definitely worth it, because no matter how bad your handwriting it, knowing how to keyboard will level the field.”

Kavin thought about this, then asked, “Why did they call it ‘hand-writing’ before computers? What other kind of writing was there?”

“Penmanship,” I replied. “People had to learn how to use pen and ink without having ink spots or ink running down the page.”

“But why did they call it ‘hand-writing,’” he persisted. “Wouldn’t it just be writing?”

I handed his pills to him but didn’t provide him an answer. My mind had gone off to think about a different word, “penmanship.” I’m sure there must be a gender-neutral version of the word but for the life of me, I just couldn’t think of what it would be. Can you?