Bohling Family Sites

Isn’t it great to be alive? We have so enjoyed all these years of parenting. What a variety of personalities God built into the six kids that he loaned to us in these past 29 years! And now we are getting to meet the next generation and see another round of personality traits appear. It is so cool! If I ever figure out how to stop long enough to read and even make entries more often, I could really have fun…and who knows what I might learn MORE about my adult children. Yes, they are ALL adults now. Neal, I think you are beginning to understand what drove your Dad and I to take that “risky” step into missions….and you can probably see why some thought we were totally out of our mind! Seth, you are now getting a glimpse into the 6 ring circus that we enjoyed for so many years. Matthew, you haven’t a clue….yet! Laura, I think I can almost read your mind. I’ve been there. Lily and Leah, Daddy and I DO remember what it was like to be your age….believe it or not!
We are so proud of each of you and excited to see what you will choose to do with the life God gave you. We’ll continue to cheer from tlhe sidelines! Love you all so much!!!

I want to completely lose it.

I’m not talking a casual flirtatious dance with disaster. I’m not talking about just thinking about it. I want to jump in whole-heartedly and lose control in my desire and passion. To completely be sold out day in and day out.

I want to work for myself and run my own business, successfully.

However, I’m sensing more and more that the only way I can do this is to completely lose my mind.

I have a great job with a great future. My paycheck pays my bills and lets me do what I enjoy. Why would I muck that up?

What would happen if I don’t succeed? Where would I live, what would I do? How would I provide for a family, or even just my own big mouth?

These are the things that stop me. My stupid rational mind weighs risk and potential gain and tells me it’s not worth it.

But the other part of my brain, that part that yearns for freedom and creativity, screams at me daily to get off my tuckus and prove myself. This and other desk jobs will always be around. Your ability to create may not. Get out there and use it; take risks; be genius.

So this is my new goal : lose my damned mind! and become so entrenched with desire that it becomes ridiculous to not follow through.

And then, prepare.

Hey.  I made up a word cloud based on the text of most of the posts on our collective blogs.  Anyway check it out.  The bigger the word the more often it happened.

Since our last series of posts, we have sealed the deal on our home, completed some low risk maintenance on the Jetta, received 9 months notice from The Stork, secured a used Golf, and planted a lime tree and various herbs on our property.

Water thermostat, cooling fan, secondary air pump mounts.

Are you certain? You can be, with “Be Certain!”

Our little lime tree. It has not yeilded fruit yet, but trust it will begin to contribute to this family soon enough.

Unwilling to settle in for the day, I got on the motorcycle Easter morning to do a little exploring, and, with hope, some thinking.

I saw great sights, rode great rides, and had a smoke. It was glorious. It was Easter.

A few of the more notable notes from that morning:

1.) Many churches are distinctively empty on Easter morning.

And there are a lot of churches on Tanque Verde, including the infamous “cool church”, which still intrigues and frightens me.

However, I drove past probably 10 churches and only saw cars in about 3 of them. I wonder if they all go to the same sunrise place. If not, there are a lot of random people in the desert staring at the sun on that Sunday morning.

Right next to the cool church was a large Lutheran church, however, and the line to get into that parking lot was about a block long.

2.) All the really cool places to ride in north-east Tucson are blocked off by ‘security gates’. Seems the rich don’t like sightseers on their driveway.

Nonetheless, I was able to see some really cool publically-available spots, such as this one:

This is at the top of a ridiculously steep hill on Snyder just off N Kolb road. The view was fantastic, and trying to get to the top was an interesting adventure on the motorcyele. Even more interesting was not rolling down the hill while taking pictures. I had driven past this road hundreds of times and had never taken the time to see the top. A sadness, really.

I also saw a decent number of folks wondering where the blazes I was going as I navigated my way straight to the end of several dead-ends and had to turn around, only to pass them yet again, causing some laughter in their hearts.

To me, it just reinforced the idea that life, like exploration, leads you to a certain number of dead ends. But if you don’t look around, you’ll miss some of the most intriguing sights.

3.) Easter is the time to be outside in Tucson

It was 65 or 70 degrees (F), and there was a slight breeze. The sun was shining, and the fauna was blooming just enough to give a slight smell to the air.

There were people everywhere. Everyone and their dog were outside walking or biking or shopping or pulling weeds.

4.) I need thinking time.

Except that I don’t remember the details about what I thought. I remember thinking through relationships, life goals, personal problems, religion, and the-life-less-ordinary, but none of it stuck through till today, Wednesday, other than that I thoroughly enjoy the quiet time to let my brain process all the info that had accumulated over the months.

I was watching home videos with my parents when I realized they were thirty-five during the filming. I am not slowing in my progression toward that age, and I felt quite old.

Then I thought about how my dad must feel sometimes to have a kid that’s closing in on 30.

This is the one week anniversary of my 4 a.m. phone call. Have you ever been awakened by the ringing phone in the wee hours? First I had to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. Second, I had to move toward the noise. Third, I had to make my dry mouth speak. Fourth, I had to make my brain think. Etc. Kind of slow motion. It was Laura. She was up and wanted to chat. She was up questioning whether she was in true labor. That’s a good thing to question when you are almost 9 months pregnant. We chatted. I asked a few questions. She answered. We decided that it was probably time to make a few important decisions about babysitters and labor coaches. Plan A was not going to work because sickness and travel had invaded the plan. So, we hang up and Laura made a few calls. Babysitter? Check. Ride to hospital? Check. Call Mom. Check. That much accomplished….and in less than an hour. Contractions? Check. Go now….my best advice….and the Drs (after another phone call). Fast forward, but only about an hour….another ring of the phone. Another chat with Laura. Confirmation that this is the day. Admitted to the hospital with the news of dilated to 5, fully effaced, and having a bulging water bag. Good news. Call me back. And she did. About an hour later, the call revealed that her bulging water bag had ruptured. Splash! Right on schedule. Casey was definitely coming. We go off to church with cell phone left audible. Sure enough, right in the middle of the sermon, the phone rings and I exit to take THE CALL. It was Laura. She had Casey about an hour and a half ago. All was well. Amen. At almost the same instant that I had requested prayer for a safe delivery that hour and a half earlier, she had delivered a healthy baby girl. Now that’s timing. God is so good at perfect timing. I must remember that as I grandparent another individual in this world. AMEN.

SO glad she's arrived!

Wow! Time flies! I’ve missed some really good posts in my busy-ness. So this is where I go FIRST next time to see what my kids are up to. The e-mail seems to be bringing in less and less personal notes. FB tells me lots of one liners and lets me fill in the blanks with pictures. But here, yes, HERE is where I can really find out what my family is thinking. Thank you Neal for keeping at it. Now I must keep at it.

If a movie has any of the following people in it, I’ll watch it no matter how bad the movie looks (probably a work in progress):

Pierce Brosnan
Bruce Willis
Simon Pegg
Tony Jaa (for now)
Richard Dean Anderson
Jason Lee
Jim Carrey

These are almost there. I’d watch most anything these kids were in:
Hugh Jackman
Hugh Grant
Hugh Laurie
Rachel Weisz
Gyllenhaals
Anthony Hopkins
Jessica Biel
Jackie Chan
Penelope Cruz
Michele Yeoh
Donny Yen
Bruce Lee
Jet Li
Christian Bale
Johnny Depp

There’s probably some huge psychological analysis to be done on the fact that nearly all of the above are male.