Vacation How I Loved Thee ...

The wife and I got back from a week of vacation yesterday. We actually arrived home a little after noon, but I was not due back in the office until today so as soon as we unpacked we took off to a bigger town about 20 minutes away. Just to be gone, relax a little longer and catch up on emails. I actually stopped and visited someone in a nursing home while I was there, so I guess my vacation ended there, but the rest of the afternoon was just for us.

My Associate Pastor, my secretary and other leaders must have done a wonderful job while I was gone because I did not return to a pile of work or messages "that only I could answer". That was almost as refreshing as the vacation. Maybe I will use all of my vacation time this year, that is something I haven't done in ... well I don't remember when I have used all of my vacation time. I know that my family is smiling at this one and thinking they will believe it when they see it.

We rented a cottage (more like a house) on a small lake about 2 hours from home. We could see the lake from the house and deck, but had to walk down a small hill and then down 40 steps to get to the dock. Going down was not so bad but coming back up hauling fishing gear and the trolling motor battery was a different story. Exercise is not all it is cracked up to be, at least not on vacation. We fished most mornings and then late afternoons, but there were a couple of days we couldn't due to weather.

We both enjoy fishing, but I believe my wife enjoys it more than I do. That might be because I generally tie all the lures on and take off all the fish no matter who catches them. My wife tells me it is a "boys job". We just have an aluminum row boat and it is interesting to step into and out of the boat. Thankfully there were no video cameras around as entered and exited. We laughed a lot, slept more than normal, ate well (come to think of it I did most of the cooking because it was nearly all on the grill) and enjoyed being away from stuff. We had dinner with some friends in the area one night (which I also grilled) and enjoyed catching up with them. This was our first time to use our boat, a friend gave it to us a big thank you to him, so it was my first time lauching a boat and backing up with a boat and trailer. Again no video cameras, thankfully. I will just let your imagination go with that one (just make sure it includes me grabbing the trailer and moving it by hand often).

We got the opportunity to attend another church on Sunday, that was fun. To be able to soak in and observe with no responsibilities. Attending somewhere else nearly always makes me miss my own church and congregation, this was no exception to this pattern.

It is good to be back. I will write again soon.