“It is never too late or too soon. It is when it is supposed to be.”

The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I love Mitch Albom's books. They make you think about life in a different way and appreciate what you have. It's been a while since I read his other books, but this one may be my favorite.
The story is about Father Time; how he became Father Time; and how he must now help two people, one who wants more time in this world and one who wants less, learn to appreciate the time they have. It's an interesting commentary on the value of life and time. 

Some of my favorite quotes from the book:

"There is a reason God limits our days. . . . To make each one precious." 

“We all yearn for what we have lost. But sometimes, we forget what we have.” 

“When you are measuring life, you are not living it.” 

As a side note, I went to see "Nostalgia for the Light," a documentary comparing two groups of people who are searching for the past in Chile's Atacama Desert. Astronomers look heavenward to find answers to the origin of life and a group of women are sifting through the sand of the desert trying to find the remains of their loved ones that were killed and disposed of during the regime of the dictator Augusto Pinochet. 
The documentary brought up some interesting points concerning time and the delicate nature of it. One of the astronomers said that there is no such thing as the present, because by the time you hear what he is saying, time has already passed since he said it (I.Q. reference anyone?). It made me think about The Time Keeper and just how fluid and fragile time is. 
One of the astronomers, who was also the daughter of two of the political prisoners that disappeared, said that the reason she loved astronomy so much is because observing the vastness of the stars and galaxies helped her feel like maybe time and space went on forever, and it wasn't all over for her parents.
If only she understood the full truth about eternity and the plan of God. 

All of these things make me grateful for the knowledge I have about our eternal potential. Knowing that life goes on after this life, makes it a little easier both to appreciate the time we have here on earth and live it to the fullest, and to understand that this life is but a small moment in the span of eternity and the best is yet to come.

Let's put it in today's terms. . .

My dad was telling my nephews Josef, Lasse, and Troy the story of David and Goliath. He asked them if they knew what a slingshot was. 

After thinking for a second, Lasse says, "Is it like a Angry Birds thing?"

Yes, Lasse. That's exactly what it is. 

(And apparently Lasse isn't the first to think of this connection.)

Sunny Florida

I spent a week with Joe, Heidi, Henry, and Amelia in Ormond Beach. Here are some highlights:Joe and Amelia and drip castle #1.

Joe and Henry and drip castle #2.
Me and Amelia enjoying the beach.

This lovely picture is in the jungle that we floated through at the Springs. It was gorgeous and way better than the flume in Dayton. There were tons of fish just swimming right under us in the clear water. We had a lot of stick races under the bridges after we floated down until the sticks, including a red ant-covered tree limb chosen by Henry, became so big we were afraid they would be a hazard to the other patrons of the Springs.
The Ponce de Leon lighthouse.
The view from the top of the lighthouse.
Inside . . .
Outside . . .
And in case you are incompetent, but by some miracle can read or interpret diagrams, or your first stop once you got out of the jungle you grew up in was the Ponce de Leon lighthouse . . .

Racing at the Daytona Boardwalk Speedway. Joe lapped us three times.
A little luck at Aunt Catfish. This is where I ate Alligator and my first real Hush Puppy.

Henry's Graduation from Preschool. All day, he told everyone we saw, "I'm graduating." Earlier he had told me, "Now I go to Noah's Ark School. When we lived in the brown house, I went to Challenger School. And before that, when we lived in the white house, I was home schooled." I had never realized the pre-preschool was considered home school. Congratulations to Henry and Good Luck to him as he goes on to kind-er-gar-ten at Pine Trails Elementary!
Henry only looks like he's training to become an alter boy because Noah's Ark is run by a Lutheran church. Really, he was graduating!

On the weekend, we took a little road trip up through Jacksonville, St. Augustine--the oldest town in Florida--and Amelia Island, finally ending up in St. Mary's, Georgia.
Henry and a shrimp in Amelia Island. That ain't no cocktail shrimp.
From St. Mary's, we took a ferry over to Cumberland Island, Georgia. Thomas Carnegie (Andrew's brother) and his wife Lucy built mansions on this island for his family, and while a few of them still stand as inns and private residences, the main attraction open to the public is the ruins of Lucy's mansion, Dungeness. After the Tycoon Age ended, and her husband died, Lucy stopped using the mansion very frequently, and it eventually caught on fire and was never rebuilt.
Now the island is basically home to wild horses that are everywhere, rangers who maintain the National Park, and some vacation homes of the people who own Coca Cola.
Some romantics choose to be married on the island, usually at the Grayfield Inn that was once the mansion of Thomas and Lucy's daughter Margaret. As I was waiting for the Ferry to take us to Cumberland Island, I struck up a conversation with a man who pastors a church in St. Mary's. I asked him why he was dressed in a suit and tie when most ferry goers were in swimming suits or hiking boots. Turns out he was performing an intimate marriage ceremony on the island.

After we got to the Island I couldn't help but take a picture of the intimate ceremony. Just the couple, the pastor, and the photographer, right in front of the ruins of Dungeness, with only the tourists and wild horses as witnesses.