Engineering Based Reality

Jordan's daily postings has somehow motivated me to be more current. I decided that the previous format was a little too dark.....so I am going with a brighter drab beige. I intend to post some pictures if I can ever take the time to figure out how to do it. The advantage I have is that my readership is limited even though accessable world wide. Which brings up my next diversion. We recently went to a family friend's daughter's wedding. We found that the new fun activity is photo booths. Yes, those curtained booths that you may remember from the mall or in my case, P.O.P. There was a line of guests all night. The participants and wedding couple each get a copy of the pictures.

Now the engineer in me thought "I can do that", words that strikes fear into Gayle's heart. So my new diversion is creating a photo booth for the wedding. Engineers do tend to be cheap and slightly in touch with reality. The Internet only encourages the delusion and the cost of creating one often exceeds the cost of renting one. I already downloaded some software, looking into the printer, modifying the computer setup and drawing up plans for the booth. At least I have 5 months to create, test and get approval from Jeff and Tiff. My budget is set, not including the cost of the photo paper and ink. As if I didn't have enough projects to do at home.

Now that Jordan has settled into his new living situation, we can relax a bit. Jeff continues to play basketball once a week. I mention this again as he is still adjusting to physical limitations. He also went running last night with Tiff. These are good signs.

Canes

I came across Jeff's assortment of canes tonight. As discussed in an earlier post, Dr. Long got rid of them to keep him from being dependant on them. It was a reminder to me of how far he has come. During Christmas, Jeff and Tiff's church, Lighthouse Community, has a Christmas Eve service. We attend every year as it is a simple celebration of Christ's birth. No blaring music, just a time to reflect and listen. The church usually has 4 members share their testimony. This year Jeff shared. He shared about his surgery and how he felt it was God teaching him his plan rather than Jeff's plan for his life. As a parent, it was a comfort to hear.

But as he spoke, I still felt the pangs of guilt. Could we have done something earlier, did we wait too long, could we have lessened severity of the injury. As I reflect on it now, Jeff's' message still has not sunk in. Resolving my guilt with the acceptance of Gods' will, will take a while longer than one night.

The Rate of Change

Changes are coming a little faster than I had anticipated this year. Yesterday we went with Jeff and Tiff to see the wedding site and taste test the reception food. As you might imagine, it was driven more by the female participants than the male ones. One tell tale sign was when they were discussing the color of the napkins. Tiff kept asking Jeff for his opinion. How do you tell between three shades of purple, what is the difference between pale yellow or poppy yellow? He did have an opinion on the food. I am actually excited for the wedding day. It is more of a comfort to see how Jeff and Tiff interact and care for each other. I am excited for their future.

It was a good time to get to know our future in laws. Howard and Bing invited us over for tea as they live close to the wedding site. It was interesting to hear about their conversion to Christianity and the influence they have had on their family and the numerous conversions. One of the topics that came up was on Asian culture. They are coming from a first generation Taiwan Chinese background, while we were trying to describe ourselves as more American Japanese vs Japanese, otherwise known these days a JA. that came up when we were trying to explain the thousand cranes as somehow being a cross over to being more of a JA tradition than Japanese. Tiff and Jeff are using cranes in their decorations. Just don't ask who is folding all those cranes.......

Lately I have been going through some sleepless nights. Last week I took Jordan to the airport for his trip to Paris, France. Since he just graduated from UCSD last month, we had anticipated that he would need to extend his health care by staying in school. This was in response to Jeff, my insurance cut him off within two weeks of his graduation. Since Jordan decided to apply to study abroad, Obama's health care plan went into effect where he gets covered until he is 25.

Gayle had figured Jordan would apply to the UC study abroad where they essentially take care of everything. They house you, set up the course work, and group you with other UC students. Well, Jordan decides to study one semester at Sciences Po, a French university with an emphasis on political science. This university provides little in life support, Jordan essentially shows up in France with his luggage in tow, little knowledge of French, a few euros and no where to stay. He has to find his way to the university from the airport and figure out temporary housing. I have not felt this helpless since Jeff went through his surgery. It started the moment I left him at LAX. I became one of those hovering parents tracking his flights to Paris. The problem was the flight tracking dropped off once the plane left the confines of the east coast. Hovering was replaced with a knot of anxiety, mine not Jordans.

On a positive note, we can follow Jordan through his adventures on his blog "Chance, Rants and Fancy Pants" http://jordaninfrance.wordpress.com/. Don't ask me about the title, but I discovered the neat comment feature on the blog. Everyday Gayle reads the blog and yells "I told you so Jordan!!!", goes to write a comment, then calms down. It has become her daily therapy.

Jared just turned 16. The significance of this event is not his growing up as a teenager (subject for other blog postings), or that he has two more years of high school, but that he continually reminds me that I am 40 years older than him. Read on......

My brother in law was recently admitted to the hospital for some work up. While there he was asked by the staff if I was his father. Not once, but twice, by two different people. Now, I know that my hair is grey and thinning (a Wada male trait, sorry guys) has made me look older, but I am only 6 years older than him. This has now become Gayle's favorite story. While I have never seen an entire episode of "Men of a Certain Age", the snippets I have seen ring true. You start dealing with aging parents, health issues such as cholesterol, colonoscopies, and high blood pressure. You start looking at long term care and essentially gambling that you will live to a ripe old age before your retirement funds run out. Being at the end of the baby boom does not increase my chances of any federal support being left. Gayle keeps reminding the boys that our retirement plan is...........them.

More changes to come, oh joy...........