more normal than not

We watched this movie last night on the TV set.

The TV set? Who says that anymore?

We couldn’t sleep….for small reasons….so Jenny and I and Sparrow were all up….and we found this documentary on the Roku.

If you have a Roku, look for an app called “Docurama”….and you can watch this for free.

It’s a great story about this New Zealand family, the Karena family.

If you do a little further research, like any story there’s more to it than meets the eye.

The relationship with the rest of Peter’s family is maybe a little different than what’s portrayed in the movie.

There is more to this story…but taken on face value, it is one of the more interesting things that I’ve watched for quite a while.

I think that this movie is probably pretty easy to find (it looks like it streams on a bunch of sites….surely one of them is “legit”)….and worth finding.

Check it out on the Roku (and use your TV set). The app is called “Docurama” for the Roku. I think it might be available on other platforms.

It’s a good one.

If Sun Ray came around the house….just popping in for some dinner….I might tell Jenny, “Hey….Sun Ray’s here again. No….you tell him….you tell him. I’m not telling him. Well, if you’re not going to tell him, then I guess that he’s going to eat with us again. OK, I guess that’s settled….Sun Ray’s going to eat here tonight.”

I don’t know what I’d think about him coming around a bunch.

I guess it’d be OK….maybe he’d help me design a cob sauna or something.

There are some cool people in the world….and Sun Ray’s one of them….walking around with a hand rolled cigarette and a cup of coffee….barefoot…creating some amazing buildings.

I think that’s what I imagine myself like…..except for the hand rolled cigarette part.

A hippy….building some interesting stuff out in the woods.

That’s me….inside my head.

That’s what my compass would point me towards if I hadn’t grown so good at resisting the magnetic pull of true destiny.

And the only thing that keeps me from doing what I want….in addition to a well-developed sense of responsibility to protect and sustain my family….is the starting.

I think that we can be whatever we want to be.

Most of us are adults, anyway….right?

Don’t “adults” do what they want?

Whatever happened to dreams?

I’m listening to “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” again while I drive around delivering the mail.

I’ve done that before….but I guess that I pick something new out of it every listen, so the repetition is probably alright.

This last time, right at the beginning of the book, he said something about “making good time”…..not making good time….like “getting to your destination in a hurry….in the most efficient manner” but “making good time”….using your time in a way that’s good.

That was a nice point to hear first thing at the beginning of another mail route.

It kind of set me off on a good foot.

What’s my option but to be “in the moment” when I’m doing something like delivering the mail, anyway?

It’s kind of funny to realize that when my friends (the Gandy’s) were first reading this….and introduced me to the book….it hadn’t been out very long.

This would have been in the late 70’s, I guess.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was published in 1974.

I bought a copy of “Lila”… his second…and last…book at a library sale for a dollar….and the librarian said, “Oh….he was pretty popular in the 70’s. I remember him….”.

I don’t think that he’s really “only” tied to an era, though.

Anybody who encourages me to “make good time” is welcome in my life.

That’s a good activity to encourage.

This interview is from a period before the book became a bestseller….shortly after its publication.

 

I was going to write about the Duggar family, but couldn’t imagine how I’d do it or what I’d say.

I’ve heard that if you don’t have anything good to say that you shouldn’t say anything.

Maybe if you don’t know how to say nice things in the correct way….you shouldn’t say anything, either?

That’s a hard thing that family is going through.

It’s tough to be judged because of the actions of one member of the family…and it’s pretty horrible when things fall apart “in the public eye” like that.

Luckily, we fly kind of “under the radar”….nobody pays a lot of attention to what I do.

I could build a big treehouse without a building permit if I wanted to….and if I didn’t wake the neighbors on Sunday morning, no one would ever know.

And besides…..Jenny says that I’m too cheap for something like that Ashley Madison thing.

Josh.

What the heck were you thinking?

You should have been building a treehouse.

You had a good thing going….nice family, nice wife.

That’s some major craziness….pulling a bunch of stunts like you did.

Enough about the Duggars.

I don’t know them.

They sure do have a lot of kids, though.

Back to this treehouse thought….

Treehouse…..and a dog.

Those are the two promises that I made a couple of years ago.

I better get on it.

So…..treehouse, dog, car for Zoe, fix up our house, fix up the house over at the property, build a cabin in Idaho, start a highly profitable publishing business, get a dog….no, mentioned that already….get a new minivan….replace the gasket in the refrigerator door….put new labels in my mail case….um….get a dog….build a treehouse….finish my coffee.

What else?

There are always things to do that are important.

Winter is coming….right after Fall.

I better cut some wood.

And….as far as the Duggar family goes….this is the opportunity for the real ministry to begin. THIS IS IT!! I have a feeling that they’ll be alright….but what a hurdle Josh put in that family’s way.

He should have kept busy with that tree house he promised he’d build.

Should have built the house up in the tree.

“HAH!!! LOOK AT THAT HOJO WITH THE PADDLEBOARD WIGGLING ALL OVER THE BACK OF HIS PICKUP!! THAT THING IS GOING TO FLY OUT ANY MINUTE!!! I WONDER IF HE’LL NOTICE? MAYBE I CAN SCOOP IT UP IF IT FLIES OUT….HMMMMMMM…..WHAT A FREAKING HOEDAD!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!! FREAKING FUNHOG.”

That wasn’t a kind way of thinking about someone else’s awkward situtation….but, you know, it was all inside my head. It was in my head.

Do I need to apologize for the things that people don’t know that I’m thinking, too?

By the time that I got closer, the guy in the pickup was out of the vehicle and securing the gear…..and, embarrassingly, to me, he looked kind of familiar.

Of course, it’s my blessing in life that most of the “funhogs” look kind of familiar.

That’s a kind of life that I leaned up against for a while.

Being a faux-funhog is ….kind of fun.

Anyway….the point of this is that I was aware of how much my attitude changed towards this paddleboard dude when I thought that there was a chance that I knew him.

I was a lot more benevolent feeling towards his situation when I thought that he might be a long lost”bro”.

I wonder how many situations might turn around if I remembered who I knew….or, even….made the mistake of believing that a stranger was a friend?

That’s a good kind of mistake to make….to believe that someone that I don’t know (yet) is already a friend…and deserving of the kind of “kind consideration” I should be giving to all the people I already love.

The dude yesterday didn’t need my help.

He had some rope and some common sense.

He knew how to secure his load.

His stuff didn’t blow away or wiggle out of his truck.

I still might like to find a paddleboard or a decent kayak out on the highway, though.

If I didn’t know who’d lost it in the hurricane, I might like to put it out in my shed….along with all the other gear I’m not using right now.