The Working Man's Words

E Pluribus Unum by Hunter Schenewark

Here are some highlights from Christmas vacation:

-being together as a family. Sometimes (usually) its the simple things that mean the most.

-Wedding for Robin and Moriah. This happened on on December 28th. An unforgettable day. Robin quickly won me over, and I hope to be able to spend more time with him sometime. The wedding was at the Green Acres Baptist Church, and I thought the ceremony was wonderful. The pastor did a fantastic job, the location was set-up well, and the ceremony and reception mixed some German traditions in nicely. Truly a wonderful day.

-Sawyer's basketball game. Over the last few years, I've tried to stamp out some of my competitiveness and have done quite well. I almost didn't recognize the feelings I had while watching Sawyer play. It was hard to stay calm. Basketball is such a physical game. Here's my coach's report: Watching Sawyer was quite different than watching Miller. Sawyer will go head on and drive into you. He'll dive for the ball. He'll go up for the rebounds. I struggled because I wouldn't do any of these things. Miller still does it better than me, but the contrast is obvious, as he'll still try to go around people (more work, requires fanciness to pull off) instead of being more physical like Sawyer.

-Tarleton Basketball. This was Phi Slamma Jamma. Well, for one team. Officially labeled an exhibition, the game featured the Tarleton (D-II) team going up against a small university that was part of a D-II christian university league. Watching the warm-ups I felt confident I could play for the opposing team, and sure enough, by halftime Tarleton was up by 30, and on its way to over 100 points. On our way there we ate at Grumps and enjoyed their burgers.

-Tradition! This word demands to always be said like you're on the set of "A Fiddler on the Roof." Whether its the Yule Tide logs, or caroling, or simply opening up Christmas presents, I love participating in Christmas traditions.

-riding a horse. I really wanted to do this, as its been years since I've ridden a horse, and that was on our camping trip to Gettysburg, and ended up as a very contained trot more than anything. This was freedom. This was speed. This was sunshine and samba. I loved it. Sure, my thighs were sore and worthless the next day, but in the moment, I could have gone for hours longer. The Gammons were very kind to facilitate that. Here's some pictures of me and Pumpjack:

-frisbee golf. We went and played the local course, making it through 16 holes. The dog came too and we went frolicking around. I'm appreciative of being able to do that in December.

-darts. If you asked me if I would like to play darts, before Christmas break I would have said of course not. Turns out, I do. As part of the overall change of pace, I did like throwing darts. It's also fun because it's a game where we were all on the same basic level. Breyer came close to beating me, and it's not complicated, allowing for conversation to continue.

-food. Ah, yes. It was good to be back for Mom's cooking. Inevitably, I put on a few pounds. I weighed myself the first day I got there, and the weight was correct at 189. I mention that, because I found it hard to believe that when I left it was 196. Running a little with Wagner wasn't nearly enough to help prevent that. I'm glad I could snag some Texas brisket too.

-movies: I save them up for the holidays and on some cold nights we watched White Christmas, North by Northwest, and Notorious. Not sure how Hitchcock trumped the usual It's a Wonderful Life, but I enjoyed all three movies. I have a list of 7-8 movies that I genuinely want to see, and North by Northwest was on there and did not disappoint.

-burning a Christmas tree with Luke. This is kind of self-explanatory. We took our Christmas tree out after the New Year, and given that it spent weeks inside drying out, the tree went up in flames crazy quick. It's therapeutic watching it.

-Glen Rose dinosaur tracks. Aunt Janel and Luke visited Granbury and we went to a state park and hiked around. I stayed with Waggie most of the time, and we forded the river (like 100 times) and hiked up to a small peak. The tracks were very underwhelming, but being in the park was fun.

E Pluribus Unum. Out of many, one. The old adage, you can count the number of seeds in an apple, but you can't count the number of apples in a seed, rings true. All of us are at once a seed, and an apple. We are part of a family, and we can start a family. We act kindly towards others, others act kindly towards us. We teach or influence someone, and that persons influence carries a part of us much further than we would ever go otherwise.

I am not entirely sure of the point of that last paragraph. I just think life is beautiful. Life echoes the sound of the waves as they wash up on the shore. Back and forth. Much seems fleeting. Yet all play a part. There are seasons for everything. I am grateful for the Christmas season, to have spent time with family and to remember our Savior Jesus Christ.