m e a d o w l a r k

Renee’ and I were able to slip away last week for a very lightly scheduled business trip to Washington D.C. (I think the term, “Boondoggle” may have been used more than once)

By day, I sharpened my public speaking skills on salesmen and my engineering peers. By night, we dated, shared complete thoughts (doesn’t happen often with teenagers), and enjoyed each other’s company while sampling the culture, food, and scenery of our nation’s capital.

I can only imagine how long a person would have to be there to see all of the “must-see” monuments, exhibits and events. We walked the National Mall until our joints ached. We visited many sites, including the 9/11 Memorial at the Pentagon. The lighter shade of the new bricks on the exterior wall point  you to the exact crash site. Even though I was standing there, I still struggled to comprehend how a tragedy like this could occur. It is beyond me.

I am thankful that not everyone thinks the like me, (too boring and too many bicycles)  however I cannot understand how anyone could think that freedom is not a good thing. At the White House we saw a protestor (whom I smelled way before I had seen). He had set up a tent, sang folk songs and barked to both of the people in his audience about how we need nuclear disarmaent now! (umm, ok…)

This, on the heals of our visit to the Holocaust Museum (the biggest must-see of them all) where we learned of Hitler’s skillful use of terror to persuade entire villages when one villager chose an opposing world view.

I have to admit that the Holocaust Museum changed my perspective on life. I was taught in school that it was a madman who was bent on extinguishing a race of people, which it was, but I never learned how much world-wide culpability existed. There was plenty of shame to go around.

Renee’ and I decided that the entire city is a must-see for our whole family. The history, the government, the monuments, the museums are all are too much for us to not experience together before growing up gets in the kids’ way.

Tentative plans are for late May. Interested? Seeing family there would only make it that much more of an event.

chuck

I did not realize how sad and pathetic I am as it has been almost a year since I last posted my last blog.

My last entry discussed my return to college life, so I thought that I would start there.

I am currently on a 3 week break before starting the fall semester. Since my last class was Statistics, I thought that I would write in that context.

1- The number of years that I have been at this “school” thing

1 ½- How many years I have left. As much as I wish that time would generally slow down, this is one area of my life that I wish would go a little faster than normal.

90- The percent of statistics that Travis says are “made-up” on the spot.

816- The number of miles that I have commuted to work by bicycle this summer. I would like to get to 1000, but the days are starting to get short. Technically, I don’t know if I am “sticking it to the man” by reducing my carbon footprint while commuting to an oil refinery, but it sure feels good.

65- The number of miles that Onjya and I biked last weekend on our Father-Daughter camping trip. (Way to go Onjya!) It was extremely fun. We camped, swam, canoed, fished and ate smores…good times!

3- The number of teenagers in our home that are helping out so much while mom is away. No fighting, the work is getting done, everyone is staying fed. Yeah!

1996- Driving distance in miles from Farmington, MN to Napa, CA. It seems like an awfully long way away, but I know that is where Renee’ needs to be, and where our thoughts and prayers are all directed. Get well soon Shari and Fred.

5- The result of 4 + 1; also the number of people that I will look forward to sleeping in their own beds again soon.

3- The number of days that are left in the kids’ summer vacation! Yippeeyeah!! I hope that my cell phone can get used to not ringing continuously from 9am-4pm daily.

My first class in the fall will be a professional writing class. I’ll have to figure out a way to make that the theme of my next blog.

Chuck

New addresses always signal change, hopefully change for the better. Kristen’s posting reminds me of our first home in Kewaunee, and how exciting a new address can be.
Changing an email address rarely translates into that same swirl of emotion as changing a hard address, unless your new email ends in “.edu”, as mine now does.
My new address, cwpedl07@smumn.edu, represents my first foray back into academia since Renee’ and I met at NVC a LONG time ago. (Reagan was still in office)
I wouldn’t classify it as a mid-life crisis, such as a Corvette or a motorcycle, just one of those “things that I want to do before I quit walking this Earth” type of goals.
I have found that it comes with costs, some smaller than others. I’ve had to abandon my goal of biking 2000 miles this year. (It doesn’t seem all that important) Hopefully at this stage of life, the bigger costs will not be all that significant; balance of schedule, lost sleep, etc.
There will be no immediate benefit at work by having a degree, although I am hoping that it will better prepare Renee’ and me for a transition back to the coast someday. If all goes as planned (it never seems to) I will graduate from St. Mary’s University the same year that Travis graduates from High School. (I’m really looking forward to that grad party!)
So if you’re ever bored, or in the neighborhood feel free to drop by my address. I’m sure that I can use the encouragement, and more importantly any tips, especially from my nieces and nephews, that will help me survive my college years, and prepare me for life after school.
Now, about that motorcycle….

I wish that there was a clever or witty way to begin this post, but there is none-

Sam’s cancer is back.

I am sure that some of you already know this, but I want to make sure that everyone is aware. Obviously, our hearts are heavy. Sam and Carol have been fighting so hard and for so long. The news of the relapse here has been totally deflating. I can only imagine how life on Meadowlark Ct. is going right now.

If there has been anything positive to have come out of this darkness, it would be this website. It was after our trip to Napa last summer that Renee’ had seen how far apart our family had become, and what it might take to stay as close as possible. With much help, the family website was born.

Some of you have met our good friend Karen. Jason and Karen are our best friends. She is a nurse in the Twin Cities. She shared a story w/us a while ago that I have never forgotten, that I shared with Sam and Carol Last summer.

As part of staff development, she attended a seminar for doctors and nurses on effective tools for patient healing. The lecture focused on the role of the doctor in ensuring that all available resources are utilized to help their patients get well. The focus of the seminar then shifted to the documented healing power of prayer for the sick.

The results were overwelming and extremely conclusive. The vast majority of patients that were under the care of a physician experienced both a greater likelihood of recovery, and also a shorter recovery time. This was irregardless of who it was that praying for the patient (stranger or friend) nor was it tied to whether the patient even knew that they were being prayed for. The power of prayer in recovery rivaled the very power of medicine itself. Understand that this conference was not held in a church by a minister of any particular faith, but was held in a public hospital by an objective medical community without a specific bias. The conference concluded with the obligation that a doctor has to use all available means necessary to restore those under their care to full health per the hippocratic oath.

For those without a faith, this should at least be compelling. For those of us that do profess a faith, this should be obvious, if not forgotten. It seems to me that even in church prayer is treated as more than of an afterthought than as a sharp tool.

I know that Sam has been prayed for daily since his first round of cancer with the confidence that he would completely recover. Prayer alone has not given him 2 rounds of victory over the killer, but I can boast that Christ has heard those prayers and has responded in kind.

Just as doctor that is worth anything would never authoritatively say that they are 100% positive that a complicated and delicate treatment will be totally effective; I would never be so brazen as to name this cancer and claim that Sam will be 100% rid of this disease. However, that doctor will use all of the tools that are available to him, and I believe that we should be using ours.

So, more than the general, “Please pray for Sam” request, I am hoping that we would be just as methodical an diligent as are those who are working to care for Sam. I am thinking of a schedule that is set so that Sam is continually prayed for. I don’t know what the mechanics of this looks like, so I will simply start this post and seek your reply.

chuck

Although I have tried to stay as current as possible with new technology; especially the human element of new technology, I have not yet been able to get my mind wrapped around why or how web sites such as myspace, u-tube, or any other site that allows us commoners to post anything and everything about ourselves becomes popular. Even the idea of blogging seems strange to me. I honestly don’t consider my thoughts and daily goings-on to be interesting enough to be worth publishing. So with my lack of understanding of this phenomenon, here is my first ever blog for the world (or probably just my family) to read. Please try to overlook any protocol that I violate, or any boredom that you may feel as a result of slogging your way through my ramblings.

Today was a typical Sunday in the Pedley kingdom. Some of the higher and lower points, in no particular order-

We woke up too late for church, then squeezed ourselves, and stressed each other out by trying to get ready on time. This is something that we are not used to. Renee’ and I have been going to church on Saturday nights for the last few months, then sleeping in with the rest of the non-church going community on Sunday mornings. After this A.M. I am reminded of why it was such a brilliant plan. With our master bathroom out, we have been reduced to 1 1/2 bathrooms for the 4 of us. I am trying to think of a relevent analogy to sharing a bathroom with a 14-year old boy and a 13 -year old girl (mostly a 13-year old girl), but I can’t come up with one; maybe getting pecked to death by a duck comes close- slow and torturous. Funny that the Pastor included a bit about getting in the proper frame of mind on Sunday mornings before going to church, and how stressing each other out is probably not the best way to get there. Lesson learned- It’s back to Saturday nights for the Pedley’s, starting…umm..NEXT Saturday!

Today was the nicest weather that we have had for quite some time- Sunny and 50 degrees; time for one last bike ride with Renee’. For some reason, though I was having a hard time getting excited about it. I shouldn’t have. In terms of all of the things in this life that do not matter, biking is probably the thing that I enjoy most. Travis and Elaine both think that I’m a tad over-focused, bordering on obsessive when it comes to a bicycle.

whatever.

So today when my emotions were flat, it was my lovely bride who helped me to realize that I was lamenting the change of season. I am not ready to don sweatshirts, eat comfort food and then try to lose all of the winter weight next March, as if we were some species of hibernating bear that needs to pack it on for the long winter. We agreed to be intentional about staying active, even when there is less than 8 hours of sunlight per day, and to resist the urge to gorge on meatloaf. To seal the deal, we agreed to march up and down the hill on our street (not a small one) once every day for the next 21 days. I love renee’. Dumb little events like this help keep 16 years of marriage seem like we are still dating.