Incepted

I have a lot of real things to tell you, but it's very late and I have to get up very early to get a lot done before the superheroes leave town for Labor Day tomorrow after lunch.

Instead of doing some of that work tonight, I watched Inception. 

For a while, it was innocent enough.  I was folding laundry for the first hour.  And everyone knows all your laundry has to be folded and put away before you can pack.

But then it was just me, sitting there, watching a movie I had seen in the theater.  Because it's amazing, that's why. 

And because Drew, one of our People, had suggested that the totem Cobb carries around--his wife's pewter spinning thing--is not really his totem.  His real totem is his wedding ring.  Drew said that he fiddles with it conscientiously in some scenes, and in other's, it's not even on his hand.

So in the last scene, we should not be staring at the pewter thing, we should be studying whether he's wearing his ring. 

This blew my mind.  This rocked my world like an explosion from the third layer reaching down into Limbo.  No way could this be true. 

So I watched for it, in that first hour when I was folding laundry.  And it's not true.  Nope.  The Director totally and completely sets up the story around that pewter totem and how Cobb uses it now and then we'll learn later how he used it to plant an idea in his wife's mind. 

I had the answer.  An hour into it.  This little theory about the ring must be just an internet rumor.

But I couldn't turn away!  I had other things to do--still do!--yet I had to watch it through to the end.  It's like Drew planted that idea in my mind.  Inception! 

Darn him. 

Off to Wyoming tomorrow.  Plan to be home Sunday.  We're feeling pretty clever about getting ahead of the traffic on both days. 

I'll be back Sunday evening to blog all about it, and about other half-remembered dreams of these past missing months.

Down With People

A few more notes on the People with which we were recently Up.

• Was never sure where this name came from.  "Up" with people?  What?  Down With People, I would get.  You know--"I'm down with that. . ."

Then I learned that it was started in 1965 by hippies, though I don't know if they called themselves that.  And there's a lot of language from those days that isn't around anymore and that I've never heard reference to.  It's the nature of language.  Only the few phrases can survive.  "Up with. . ." wasn't one of them.

•  These 3 guys ate a lot of food.  I bought a ton to stock up for their stay, all the while with my special paranoia hovering.  If we don't have enough to feed them, Gramma will be so disappointed as she watches from Heaven. 

So I bought plenty.  Plenty.  Plenty.  And then had just enough to make it through the week.

This was great, of course.  It was just a reality check: normally, I'm cooking enough to feed 2 small children, 1 woman who eats light in the evening and 1 man who eats like a 40-something and not a 20-something. 

•  We played a game with them called 10 Days in Africa.  The Superheroes play this together and a game takes about 15 minutes.  Bryan actually likes it (which hardly happens when it comes to games) because it's all about planning.  When we play together, Joshua is on Bryan's team.

This time, there were 4 players with the kids on teams with 2 of the guys.  Something about that 4th player. . .The game dragged into 45 minutes when Hans asked, "Are we allowed to have 2 plane cards together?"

I consulted the rules.  There was no statement about 2 plane cards together.  So I ruled, 45 minutes into what should be a 15 minute game, "Go for it."  And then Hans and Josh won.

Drew was looking at the rules, too.   Then he whipped out his smart phone to dial the number provided.  "I'm going to call to ask them."  And as he dialed, he started laughing and said, "This is going to be epic!" 

It was 9:45 in Wisconsin where the answering machine picked up.  He left a message, including his phone number. 

Something about this I love.  When you're 36, you don't think to call in this question.  And if you do think to, you don't actually call.  You might say, 'It would be funny if we called,' but there is no dialing.  No message.  No thinking about it ever again. 

When you're 21 and armed with a phone, you call. 

It is epic.

Josh and Gemma asked him each evening when he got home, 'Did they call you back about the rule yet?'  Nope.  They never did. . .

•  The kids and I went to the performance.  Bryan did not because a) there was a lot of work we had to get ready for a Cubbies training session later that weekend and b) his capacity for enjoying live theater is about 2 or 3%. He doesn't complain when I ask him to take me to these things.  But I, uh, have more fun without him. . .

It was a fun show.  The cast and crew had spent the week on Ft. Carson, both doing service in their schools and spending time with soldiers.  A bit of boot camp action, even.  The show was staged in one of the Ft. all-purpose buildings, which is code for, "We do a lot of stuff in this space, and so the space is designed so that nothing we do here can be done well." 

Is there a way to run sound inside a wooden-floor gymnasium lined with bleachers that's going to sound really terrific? 

No matter.  We got there early and sat in the front row and had a lot of fun picking out our 3 guys whenever they were on stage.  After the second song, Gemma asked, 'So are they, like, going to tell a story?'

No.  Not that kind of show.

It was a collection of song and dance.  The general message was, "Be a positive person.  Have a positive impact on those around you.  If everyone did this, the world would be a much, much better place.  So go out there and sing your song." 

You know what?  I was glad to hear it.  Glad to see it.  When you're 36, you see the cynicism of nearly every other adult.  You see it in yourself.  It creeps in when you're not watching out for it. It makes your dreams and hopes sick if you don't guard your heart closely.

But when you're 21, and you're going to spend your money to tour with a cast to share a message of hope and you actually believe what you're singing, that in itself is a hopeful thing.  Good for them.

What a great way to experience this country and others, by the way.  Worth every penny they spend for the privilege.  I would be delighted if Gemma or Joshua wanted to pursue it one day.

•  About that message, though. . .  It's a call to be an effective person.  I want that.  I believe I have found the keys to the kingdom of being the most effective version of the best version of myself.  I don't believe anyone can get to this version of self without the power of the resurrected Christ.  That's the song I have to sing.

•  These People, I noticed--and I was around more of them one evening when a different host family hosted a BBQ--are collectors of experiences.  Stories of what they had done, where they had been, or even just the statement that they had done and been, were a currency among them. 

Not in an ugly way.  Maybe a little one-up-manship here and there.  But mostly in the way any collector displays his collection. 

You might be a traveller and so would prefer hotels and blocks of time in one place.  But if you're a collector of experiences, touring with Up With People is probably the way to go.

I realized that I'm a collector of stories.  I really didn't know that about myself until this past week.  I'll have to tell Bryan, as he's been hounding me for 12 years now to start a collection of something. . .

•  On they go, to increase their collection.  Here I stay, where I can still grow mine.

Onward Trails, Upward People

Well.

That was a nice break.

I hadn't thought it would last for nearly 4 months.  And to the extent that this blog is a journal of our family exploits, these past 4 months were the wrong ones to sit out.  We were plenty exploited this summer.

But good writers know not to start out with apologies, right?  So I'm not sorry.  I'm just back. 


And I'm up with people!

This past week, we hosted 3 cast members/students from Up With People.  Long-time readers will be relieved to know that they were not Chinese nationals, so Bryan's security clearance remains clear.  But I read in our paper that Up With People was coming to town and that they needed host families for 40 more people. 

I called right away and placed an order for some Americans. 

They placed 3 men with us, Hans, Taylor and Drew.  They slept here for 7 nights, I drove them to where they needed to be each morning at 7:15 and Bryan did the picking up at 6:15 each evening and their goal, as they live with host families all over the nation and unto the rest of the world, is to "live as we live."

That means no cable, guys.  When I broke that news to them on the car ride home there was a. . .certain kind of silence.

Later in the evening when I took out the password for our wi-fi internet access, their look of relief was coupled with a passing glance of, 'Why didn't you say so?. . ." 

It was a delight to have them here.  I wasn't at all surprised by how much I enjoyed it.  And since dropping them off this morning, I've been puzzling through why I wanted to host in the first place and why it was such a great week.  Yes, yes, they were very good guests, very nice men, very fun to be around--especially for the kids. 

(Joshua and Gemma engaged them in a light-saber battle that careened into mayhem--Jedi against Jedi, Syth against Syth--it was the Center Falling Apart in the backyard that night. . .) 

What I've come up with is this:

1. We have an enormous home.  "Nice" by American standards.  A palace in comparison to almost all other people worldwide and across time.  Generally, we live in every room every day (except for the guest bedroom).  But it is satisfying to see the home be used even more.  Good for the kids, too, to have to share their space, if even in a little way like this.

But mostly:

2. Homeschooling is an insulated experience.  This is a good thing.  This is one of the chief blessings of the lifestyle.  We have lots and lots of friends.  Lots of them are also homeschoolers.  Some are not.  But all of the families we make an effort to be around regularly are very similar to our family. 

It's a good thing for all of us--especially the children--to be around different people with different perspectives.  These guys are performers, all in their 20's, one from DC, one California, one South Dakota.  Their voices and hearts and eyes were a giant burst of different, fresh air for all the superheroes this week. 

It was time well spent.

There's more to say about Up With People.  Check tomorrow's blog.  (Yes! For a while, anyway, we're gonna hit it daily.)

For now, photos from our hike on Sunday, designated as "Family Day," whence the host families have their guests to themselves.  They elected to hike and we were glad to oblige.

My first hike since breaking my ankle in October of 2008.  That sounds ridiculous. . .3 years with no hiking?  But that next summer was the cancer thing, and last summer, we were out of town for all but 2 weekends.  And this summer?  Well, you don't really know what we've been doing for 4 months, do you, so don't judge me for not hiking. 

For my triumphant return to the trails, we selected the very one where I broke my ankle.



I don't know why this pic is sideways. This hasn't been a problem for me before on blogger.  Nice one of us all, though, no?




Drew, Hans and Taylor against a lot of Colorado.



The law says I have to feed them, and they keep sleeping almost half the day, and so they keep growing.  It's both perfect and horrible.

Overlooking Cheyenne Canyon

This looks more dangerous than it was.  I swear.

If this tree doesn't have a geological-landmark name among people who names things like this, it should.  Plenty of the soil it has grown through has been washed away, but the roots remain.  Now more beautiful than ever.