TRIPPIN' AG'IN

We just got back from Mesquite---yes we---Inklings went with me to a training session for the first time in our married life. We went to a Forest Service Family meeting in Mesquite, Nevada. It has been five years since we have had a family meeting so we did it even though our budget is bad.

Was it worth the money? I believe it was. The things that come from these relationship building meetings never show up immediately but later on when the relationship is really needed to get through something really, really tough. That is the time when good managers have the relationships to fall back on and the bad ones don't---hope I am in the earlier group.

We had two tremendous speakers tell us some things we should be working on to make our lives better. Lenny Meece, a retired Doctor gone public teacher, talked to us a lot about how to reduce the stress in our lives and give our hearts a break. Randy Frazier, one of the best speakers I have ever heard, talked to us about the relationships we need to build and gave us many examples of how to do it.

Five years ago Randy taught us at the last meeting, he had written a poem titled "My Daddy Was a Farmer" which he read to us. I loved the poem and could identify with it even though my Daddy wasn't a farmer. It made me reflect on my life and the love I had from all the folks in my life as a child. This time he had written a poem titled "My Mamma Was a Farmers Wife". It was a great poem and I sat there with tears running down my face thinking---"I have to get up there as soon as he is done and close this meeting out---How the Hell am I ever going to be able to do that with my throat tied up like it is and the tears streaming down my face." He made a couple of other comments then finished up---by then I had recovered enough to go to the front and have both speakers stand up and we gave them a standing ovation for their time and efforts with us.

After we were finished up I told Randy how impressed I was that he was able to read that poem so well---at which he broke down and cried just like I had been. I am way impressed that he could control his emotions through the presentation---I didn't learn how to do it but I learned that it can be done.

LIFE IS GOOD!!!