Tyson & Ashley

About a month ago my buddies and I went on our annual camping float trip. Along the way we ran across this neat little road side attraction that looked like it had all but been forgotten.   It took some convincing but I manged to get my friends to pull over so I could snap a few pictures.  The  place was pretty run down with everything being boarded and locked up.  I was able to get a few pictures through the windows but there really didnt appear like there was much to see. It looked like a big rock room that went around in a circle.  It was cool looking but didn’t look like anything more than a cheap tourist attraction.

A few days ago a ran across the pictures and decided to Google the attraction name:  Truitt’s Cave.  I was amazed at what I found.  Turns out the cave was discovered in 1929 by a man named John Truitt who happened to discover 6 other caves in the Ozarks area.  Truitt’s Cave opened to the public in 1940 and had 60 years of life under its belt before it closed in 2000.  It was purchased by new owners in 2002 and remained open for another 2 years before being closed and put up for sale once again. In fact, for a mere $375,000 dollars, you can buy this gem off of craiglist!  Click Here for the Ad.

Here is a little bit more information that I found regarding this mysterious attraction.

TRUITT’S CAVE
Featured in “Ripley’s Believe It or Not.” Cave restaurant of yesteryear, with Underground River, Trout Reservoir, Root Canal Wall, Underground Geode, Endangered Salamanders and many rare formations. Learn of John Truitt, “Caveman of the Ozarks” who was the discoverer and developer of six area caves. Visit the Rock Shop, where amethyst, onyx, crystals, fossils, etc. are available. Walk down Waterfall Lane, Cross the Cedar Bridge, and pan for golden goodies at Truitt’s Frontier Flea Market, or just bring a lunch, and enjoy the Picnic Area. See one or all of three caves. Price Range $4.00-$6.00. Call for off season schedule. Have a super safe summer! 417-436-2299. Source – http://www.ozarkcaving.com/comcaves/truitts.htm

After seeing this, I really wish we had a better means in which to explore this forgotten memory. I would have loved to been able to go deep into the cave to check out its wonder. But, alas, boards and locks kept us away. Maybe someone will buy this one day and return it to its 60 year glory.

[View with PicLens]

A-ism

On the way to school this morning I was trying to have a conversation with my youngest daughter. After repeating myself 3 times I got fed up and told her that she needs to clean the wax out of her ears. The following conversation took place.

A: I don’t have wax in my ears.

me: I shouldn’t have to repeat myself three times when I talk to you. If you don’t have wax in your ears then why is it that you can’t hear me when I am talking?

A: Don’t know Dad. Guess its just part of life.

So young and already setting herself up for a life of ignoring Dad. sigh….

T-ism

Walking through Wal-mart last night before an eye appointment, my oldest daughter asks me this question.

T: Dad, how many days have you been alive?

Now I could probably sit down and calculate it out but I thought it was a pretty funny and random question. Most kids ask in terms of years. “How old are you”. This is the first time I was asked to break it down in days. Guess I should work on an answer for her. She would get a kick out of knowing. I wonder if I need to account for leap years in order to obtain true accuracy. Hmm…This could be harder than I thought.

The tooth fairy made another visit last night. Second trip this week for the youngest (once by me and once by her Mom.)  She lost this one with a little help from dear old Dad.  She was trying to eat corn on the cob and noticed some blood on it. We went to the bathroom and after a little persuasion, she let me grab it and  pull it out.   Didn’t cry. Not one bit! She made me proud.

Every time the tooth fairy makes a visit, I am afraid it will be its last.  I am afraid one of the kids will see me sneak in or out and put two and two together or I am afraid the other kids at school will let them in on the “secret” and the fun will be gone for them (and me). Being a kid is awesome and my girls are the most awesome. They have that innocence that only a kid can have and to hear them talk about mythical beings makes my heart melt.

In relative terms, my time as the Tooth Fairy may be short lived but I will do everything in my power to walk softly and make sure that they enjoy this time as best they can.  Sweet dreams girls.

Lately I have been trying to wrap my head around the process that my kids have to go through week after week when their Mom and I switch “custody” of them. What goes through their minds as we sit in the parking lot of Target? What do they think when I drop them off at school and they know that they wont see me for another week? I speculated but that was about the best I could do. Or so I thought.

A few months back my wife and I picked up a book called The Switching Hour: Kids of Divorce Say Good-bye Again. It sat on the shelf like so many other books that we have, waiting for our “after wedding” life to settle down so that we may take some time to enjoy life with a little reading. A few weeks back I was looking through our books and I saw The Switching Hour. I immediately picked it up and started reading.

Each chapter in this book starts out with a child’s letter to a family member. I will tell you right now, they are tear jerker letters. If you dont feel a sense of sorrow for these children, then you have no heart. Now I will readily agree that I think the author probably went through a huge stack of letters and found the most profound, emotional letters she could to help drive her point across. I get that. It worked. It kept me reading and thinking about my own situation. Point well taken.

This book goes through the process as a child sees it as they switch from one household to another. As they say good-bye to a Mom or Dad, friends, step-family, and material possessions. The world as they had known it is gone. They now need to re-adjust to a whole new world. New expectations, new responsibilities, new friends, new churches, new beds, and possibly new parents. They hope and pray that the life as they knew it will return, but in almost all cases, it wont. This is their new normal. Two houses. Two sets of parents. Two lives. Being with one parent but missing the other. Evon O. Flesberg takes us through their journey with  7 wonderfully written and captivating chapters and at the end of each one, gives us a bit of advice on how to help our children deal with the situation at hand. She keeps it real and she keeps it to the point.

This book opened my eyes to their world but its not the end of my journey into theirs. It has shown me that I can do so much more to ease not only the switching hour for my children but their whole experience with living a double life. It has taught me that I can make the difference for them. That I can make their life as “normal’ as they expect it to be. It has taught me not to stop here. Not to take their lives for granted. To reach out and listen to them and their cries for normalcy. I can make the difference for them. I will make the difference for them. I promise.

Thought I would share another funny story from the weekend up in Council Bluffs.  My youngest daughter who is 5 (known from here on out as “A”) fell asleep on the way up to C.B. Friday night. We finally rolled in around 12:45 in the morning and she awoke along with her sister “T”.  After we were all situated and had the car unpacked, we put the girls to bed in their very own bedroom complete with little TV, VCR, and DVD player.  Thinking they might need a little something to help them fall  back asleep, Ashley’s Mom put on a cartoon for them to watch. We all proceeded to head to bed.

Now you would think the story ended there…but it doesnt. About 2:30 in the morning, “A” goes and knocks on Tom and Carol’s door.  ”Hey, the movie is over. Now what should I do?”  Can you believe her?  2:30 in the morning and she is wide awake!  She proceeds to give Carol a tour of her own house showing her all the rooms and who is sleeping in what room.  She then says “last time we were here, we had popcorn. I think we should  have some popcorn tomorrow.” What a stinker!  Carol  proceeded to get her back to bed about 3 a.m. in the morning and the rest…was a sweet dream.

Tonight the kids and I went for a walk around the block. On the way back, a little “yapper” dog runs across the street barking up a storm.  The owner walks around from the back yard yelling for “Mia” to come home. Mia didn’t listen and continued to bark at us. The owner apologizes and said that Mia got loose from him and wouldn’t return home. My youngest daughter yells back to him while she continues to walk “Maybe you should use a leash next time!”  Oh how I love her, even when she can be so inappropriate!

We are on a mini vacation up in Council Bluffs this Labor Day weekend.  I really enjoy my trips up here. It gives me a chance to unwind with family, take in the sites, and be lazy!  Council Bluffs is where my wife grew up and I love being able to see the things that helped shape the awesome woman she is today!

I am going to sign off now and go spend some time with the family. I hope  everyone has a happy and safe Labor Day weekend.

A co-worker was rummaging through my desk this morning an came across and old pair of glasses that I had.  He forgot that I used to wear them while on the computer and thought it would be funny to see me put them on again.  I complied, we had our laugh and I proceeded to turn around and start working with them on.  I realized what I did and went to take them off. Imagine my surprise when I noticed how blurry the text on my computer suddenly became! I put the glasses back on and everything suddenly became clear again!  The headache that I had been fighting all morning also started to fade.

I only got these glasses when I needed to use up some end of year insurance money.  I never really intended to wear them on an ongoing basis.  Now that I definitely notice a difference when wearing them and not wearing them, I guess I should wear them more.

I have managed to avoid glasses for 31 years.  I think the time has finally come to recognize that I am getting older and things just aren’t as clear as they used to be.  Wait a second… maybe…just maybe…I am tired and a bit stressed and that is causing my gentle eye strain.  Yeah!  That’s it!  I am not getting older!  I feel great! Forget these glasses.  I don’t need them anykljaf…oops.  Sorry about that. I took the glasses off and suddenly was unable to see what I wrote. Crap.

For a while now I have been trying to find a way to tie my faith into my health and fitness world. I have always felt that we need to respect the body that God has given us and do everything in our power to keep this gift runnings at its best.  I knew that such a relationship existed but I never really took the time to try and find the correlation…until now.  One day my wife and I were at Mardells and I was looking through the discount books. Crammed among the books I found an audio-book called “The Great Physician Rx for Health and Wellness” written by Jordan Rubin.

Product Description

At 19 years old, Jordan Rubin was a healthy 6’1″ and 180 pounds. Shockingly, his weight fell to just 104 lbs. in a matter of months. His immune system was at an all-time low, as he suffered from Crohn’s disease, food allergies, anemia, fibromyalgia, intestinal parasites, and a host of other conditions.  After seeing over 70 health professionals, using both conventional and alternative medicines, Rubin was sent home in a wheelchair to die. But his story didn’t end there. Through determination and a powerful faith in God, Rubin refused to give in to disease. Instead, he educated himself on natural health (eventually becoming a doctor of naturopathic medicine), and applied its principles. Now, ten years later, Rubin is fully recovered-and he desires to share the keys to his own good health. These keys aren’t just for the disease-ridden; they are for anyone desiring to live an abundant life of health and wellness.

I found this book to be fascinating.  Hearing what the Bible lists as foods we should and shouldn’t eat was truly eye opening. For example, pork is a food that should not be eaten because of the manner in which a pig eats. A pig is unclean.  A pig if kept in an unclean environment (such as a mass slaughter house) can and will survive off its own fecal waste. That waste gets absorbed into the muscles and eventually in the human that consumes it. This is just one of hundreds of examples John gives in his book.

John preaches many times in his book that we need to eat as close to the source as we can. The more processed a food is, the worse it gets for us and our bodies. Eat clean, eat lean, and eat often. That is my motto and it should be yours too.

What is the first thing you do when you buy a car, new TV, or computer program?  You look for and read the manual and determine the best and most efficient way to use your new product in a manner in which it was intended. You wouldn’t buy a car and put diesel fuel in it would you? The Bible can and is a great owners manual for our bodies.  I highly recommend this book for everyone that wants to get their bodies to run at the potential that God has intended for us.

I have posted an article called “Too Much TV?” on startbeingfit.com. Check it out here.