Friday, May 23, 2008

Playin' Hooky- Part II


Yesterday was my dad's 70th birthday. He lives in Toledo, but he was traveling back from Tennessee where he was vacationing and he was planning to stop in Cincinnati to have dinner with my sister Julie who lives there. They were then going to spend the night there and return home today.

While I was at the Mud Hens game yesterday (see yesterday's post), my very spontaneous sister, Katy calls me at Noon to say, “How would you like to do something on a whim and go to Cincinnati today to have dinner with dad?”

Totally out of character (spontaneity is not my strong suit), I said, “I’ll think about it and call you back soon.”

Believe it or not, I was leaning toward going right away but I had to think about what I had on my schedule since I didn’t have it with me. A half hour later, I called Katy and said, “I’m in!”

She said, “That is so cool! Julie just told me that there was no way you would go so she will be so surprised.”

As a result, I found myself comfortably perched in the front seat of Katy’s car heading south at 3:30 yesterday afternoon along with my two sisters from Toledo and my wife Connie.

We did make it home around 2:15 AM this morning so I am not running on all cylinders this morning but it was well worth the trip! We had an awesome time and my dad was so surprised. The picture above shows my Dad with my three sisters and me.

As I get older, God has been working on me in helping me to be more spontaneous. He is helping me to realize that relationships and building memories matter a whole lot more than stuff on my "to do" list.

Note: for those of you who think I'm getting out of control, don't worry, I still have a long way to go! But at least this is a start.

2 comments:

Rick said...

That is SO incredibly COOL, Jim! Way to go! I'm glad you went and even more glad that you received the blessing of spending that time with your dad, sisters, and Connie!

You make me smile.

And... knowing you... you probably got up at the crack of dawn to go to mens' group!

Have a blessed, and restful, holiday weekend, my friend.

Jim Lange said...

Rick, thanks so much for the encouragement (which you are really good at by the way!)!

I hate to dissappoint you but I missed men's group this morning. I had full intentions of being there at 6 but it just didn't happen.

I did make my 7:45 breakfast meeting though!

I hope a nap is in my immediate future today!