You are receiving the email a bit later than usual.  That’s by design.  Saturday afternoon I attended the memorial service of someone I have known for a long time, Jodi Dennis.  I felt certain that “celebration” would cause me to be reflective and I would want to share some of those thoughts with you. I was right.

I woke up Wednesday morning, got a cup of coffee and turned on the news. I wanted to check the results of the Arizona senate race. Instead what a saw were 3 consecutive ads for “accident lawyers” who would “fight for me.”  I knew officially the midterm elections were over.

To me for almost 5 months Wednesday means a visit from Frank Switzer.  Frank serves as the lead pastor at Redemption Arcadia. Frank is smart, educated, well informed, thoughtful and articulate.  Our conversations repeatedly cover the topics of, family, theology, church, movies, books and the “state of the union.”  Recently we find ourselves returning to the current cultural challenge in holding an exchange of ideas with someone who holds an opposing point of view.  While we quickly affirm one another’s ability to successfully navigate those treacherous waters, we lamented the fact that is rarely the case with everyone else (my tongue plant in my cheek). 

“What would you do if you won $1.6 billon?”  Thankfully, over the last 3 weeks, that question has successfully muffled some of the political noise. 
 
I have heard the subject discussed on every local news cast, at restaurants, at the grocery store, even in church. I was struck by the lack of enthusiasm and imagination of the answers. I suppose that’s because we know the conversation is hypothetical, especially if you haven’t purchased a ticket. The answers I heard all felt predictable: 

Recently I made my annual pilgrimage to the cathedral dedicated to all things outdoors, the Bass Pro Shops. This store is in Mesa.  To the best of recollection, I have never purchased anything at the store other that something to eat.  Nonetheless, I am fascinated by the stockpile of merchandise. 

This week in anticipation of a future nomination to the Supreme Court, I felt compelled to pick up the high school yearbook from my senior year.  A side note--my 50-year High school reunion is tonight.  No, I am not attending.

Certain words and phrases suddenly appear in the culture, and their presence and usage becomes widespread.  Some of these expressions disappear as quickly as they arrived, like “groovy.” Others become part of the vocabulary for generations, such as “cool.”  During the last couple of weeks, the word “optics” has gained ubiquitous usage, especially among the media. With a visit to the dictionary we find 2 possible meanings for the word optics:

Recently I noticed what seemed to me to be an increased advertising for companies that will help you search your genealogy; your ancestry. I didn’t know if that perception was real or imagined. So I researched it.  I Googled the topic. Indeed, my impression was accurate.

Located on the southeast corner of the U.S. 60 and Country Club Road is a billboard promoting Grand Canyon University (GCU). The message is, “Find Your Purpose.” The obvious implication is enrolling at GCU will help you in that important search. Although I am not the intended target of the commercial, the assertion makes me think.

Last Saturday we staged what has become an annual tradition for Tyler, Braden, Yale and me. We are a small part of a much larger group. Reports tell us 59,300,000 Americans and Canadians will be joining us as we “wheel and deal” our way through the 2018 season of Fantasy Football. It all began a week ago with our league draft. 

It’s August 30th.  College football kicks off in two days. This is incredible: my grandkids have already been in school 4 weeks. 

Last week when we left, Jason rose to speak, “William is right. I do have something I want to share with you. This is new to me. And it is scary for me. I am trusting all of you. I want to share something that no one except Andy knows. And even though we are best friends, he didn’t know this secret until this afternoon.”