Digital Cowboy

Athor Pel posted some great comments on that last post I did about home education. I agree with him and realized that my reply was too much and too valuable for the comments. So thanks to Athor, I have to do a blog post tonight!

First I want to point out that I made a couple of minor edits to that last post, just now. I only point it out because it bugs me when other people edit long after publishing. As a matter of principle, I don’t do it even if I made some embarrassing mistake. I’m both a perfectionist and an extremist by nature and “published” should mean irretrievably made public. Proofread before you publish!

But that post was rushed because of many distractions related to Christmas festivities and I’m also half delirious right now, so I decided to break my own rules because… I can. The only edit of substance was the second sentence that I changed to read, “I’ve known her since her birth and…” I did that because it’s more precise and it’s also tangentially relevant because I was reading before she was born and didn’t even know what a teacher was.

My mother taught me to read. She did it initially by reading to me a lot, from birth, and later by helping me to learn the way she was taught – she taught me the sounds of the letters and how to sound out the words. By the time I was four, I was wearing her out with trips to the library at least every other day. But she did it because she valued reading and knew how important it was. As an adult, I’ve gotten teary-eyed while telling her that it’s the greatest gift she’s ever given me and everything worthwhile in my life grew from that. I absolutely believe that and that’s that.

The good news is that my girls and I are safe at home in Texas. A little over an hour ago I finished “The Great Christmas Adventure.” Ever since I moved to Texas many years ago, Christmas travel has been a challenge. It almost immediately became more challenging because the wife and first child came along only the second Christmas after I moved. It became even more challenging when Mommy decided that Texas and I were evil and Christmas should be in Georgia.

But I’ve never had to do anything like I did this year. Not quite two hours ago now, I finished the last leg of the Christmas gauntlet. I already told the story of the trip to get my daughters and then to Ohio. But that’s still 1200 miles from home. I didn’t mention it then because my time with my family at Christmas is so important, so short and so difficult to accomplish, that I refuse to think about the drive home until the day before we leave Ohio. If I did, it would ruin Christmas and my time with the people I love. I could begin dreading the trip home almost as soon as we arrive if I let myself.

That’s what we just finished. I’ve been up for over 33 hours as I type this and spent 23 of those on the road. The trip’s only about 17-18 hours if I do it by myself. (In fact, a buddy and I once left a bar in Columbus, drunk, at closing on Thursday night, drove to Dallas, spent Friday night partying in Dallas and then made it back to Columbus for Saturday night to tell the story and drink for free. But I digress. I’ll have to tell that story some day.) When I’m doing it alone with two young daughters it takes a bit longer. I can still get it done in 19-20 hours, but I’ve learned that it’s far easier on me and the kids, if I relax and take our time with it. So starting last year, we get there when we get there. Last year we took three days and stopped off for some educational field trips in the process. I didn’t have that luxury this year, but still figured we should have good meals that weren’t eaten in the truck.

This year was 4000 miles in a 9 day period.

So we’re safely at home… and now Athor’s forced me to do a blog post tonight.

One last thing….

I’m not spouting statistics about hours and mileage and sleep deprivation for either praise or pity. I’ve not been clear about it, but I’m laying out the numbers to glorify Him. No human being could do what I’ve done this past nine days. If I had His help like I’ve had it the last two weeks, Navy SEAL training would be a piece of cake. He carried me through that grueling initial trip spiritually, emotionally and physically in ways that I can describe but cannot explain. I intend to attempt neither describing or explaining here, but it wasn’t me. He is good all the time. But the truth is, I feel rejuvenated. After three years of almost continuous hell in my life, yesterday began the best year of my life ever. I know so because He told me so a few weeks ago and then confirmed it through a third party last week.