Zeroing Up... and Other Thoughts

Had a two hour drive today… here’s a smattering of things that I thought about when I wasn't singing along to the radio...

Zeroing Up
When a soldier calibrates the scope (sight) on his weapon, it's called “zeroing up”. They correct even the smallest discrepancy because as the distance to the target increases, so does the error -- and the bullet misses its destination. I don’t know why I began thinking about that, but I mused that it was probably a good lesson to take to every day life: we should all “zero up” once in a while. Make sure we're on track… lest we miss our target (goal) altogether. In our professional lives, our personal lives, in our faith and in our relationships.

Every Relationship Has A Price
I have a theory that every relationship in life – with your parents, your children, your spouse, your friends -- has a price; you just have to be willing to pay the price. And if you’re not willing to pay the price, then the relationship has to change or end. Take for example, your relationship with your mother (or MIL) -- you have to be willing to stay on the phone with her and listen to her tell you the story of Uncle Hal’s 1955 appendix surgery one more time… or the details of all her current ailments after her trip to the doctor, or how appalled she is that you “allowed” your child to mutilate his/her body with a tattoo (sigh). It’s the price of your relationship. Your best friend is late for everything. It annoys the hell out of you, but she’s otherwise a great friend. Tolerating her tardiness is the price of your relationship. Now, if it comes a time that the lateness really starts to weigh on you, you have to decide whether the price of the friendship (always being late to everything) is too dear. Once you accept that IT (whatever IT is) is the price of the relationship, it sometimes helps bring things into perspective and makes it a bit easier to accept flaws. The price of my relationship with my soldier son (as with each of our children) is total commitment and unconditional love. Oh, and weekly care packages.

Running Away
Since when is an adult running away from a wedding a criminal matter? Yes, the phone call claiming that she was kidnapped probably qualifies as filing a false police report… but SHE wasn’t the one that called the cops and said the bride was missing and started the whole search and rescue thing. She bought a bus ticket (not a crime whether it was purchased a week or a minute before she left), she cut her hair (still no crime), she went to Vegas (nope, still not a crime). To hear the MSM talk about it, “We have breaking news!! She may have bought the bus ticket a week in advance!” To the MSM and the police in Georgia: It is not a crime to plan or take a trip and not tell anyone where you’re going! Why she just didn’t call her parents or the cops back in Georgia and tell them she was safe and stop looking and why she had to make up the kidnap story is beyond me, but it’s not a crime to not call home when an adult leaves of their own free will. Mostly, everyone should just leave this poor confused young woman and her family alone. Terrible way to get your 15 minutes.

Streetlights
Of all the colors in the universe, who do you suppose picked red, yellow & green for stoplights? And while we’re on the topic, who do you think thought up the idea of double yellow (solid), and intermittent road stripes to indicate whether you can pass?

Camping
Once they invented hotels and room service, who thought camping should still be called “fun”?

God’s Way of Telling You That You Have Too Much Money
Hummers. (Not the little ones.)

Are There Stars In the Sky?
In my most recent letter to my son, I wrote: “We can see a lot more stars here at night than in New York -- but I hear that you can see so many more there because there is no light pollution there… no lights at night... When I am looking at the stars here I wonder if you've looked at the same stars today.” I am hoping he looked up at the stars and remembers that I am looking, too. Sometimes, though, just looking at the stars makes me get teary-eyed because he is ½ a world away from us looking at the sky…

The Meaning of Life
The Meaning of Life is… Family. All the good, the bad, the fun, the worry, successes, failures, the love. It’s all about the love.

Copyright 2005. All rights reserved.