Hot showers are the blessing of our age. 

My mother is home after 3 days in the hospital following a total hip replacement. That is mind-boggling.

Tomorrow, AUDad and AUDaughter will join the family trek of seven cemeteries for Decoration Day. A quaint custom, still practiced in small towns, is the cleaning of the cemeteries where your dear departed are buried.

I prefer real books to ebooks. I like the heft of a book. Feeling seems to give it weight as well as importance. I realize this is a personal preference. 

I miss having real mail in the mailbox. 

I miss the manners of past times. Right now, I am back in my small home town.  Even though I still live in the South and know that we are more mannerly than most, I have still been surprised by the gentility of folks here.

Mark Sanford simply does not believe that rules apply to him if he has a good reason to break them. 

We're all just waiting to tell that story. Glad you were able to do it. 

Her children arise up and call her blessed; her husband also and he praiseth her.                                                                 Proverbs 31:28

What a glorious tribute to your birthday! You have done amazing things as well as raising an incredible daughter. 

I get the Daily Beast email twice a day. I am amazed by the world view. I would never have believed that people actually see the news that way if I did not. 

I don't know if this would help but I listened to David Burnstein of DoSomething.org on an Author's Tour Live podcast this weekend. He is the activist who slaved for Obama's youth vote in 2008 and 2012. He is brimming with hubris and youthful vigor. His film 18 in '08 is a supposed game changer. 

I wish the conservatives had one of them there Do Something guys. 

Thank you for praising your wife so beautifully and letting us all enjoy it. You two are blessed to have each other. 

I can only speak for myself. As much as I wish I could speak for my children, I cannot. I do not see the willingness to die anywhere near the willingness to kill.

I don't ever intend to pick up a sword (or my SP101, for that matter) in the name of Christ. He does not ask it. Those who have used the name of Christ to do heinous things were wrong. Do I think some of them justified themselves by doing so? Absolutely. Do I think some of them just liked to fight? Probably, and martyrdom sounds real good to the folks back home. 

This...

DocJay, I would not lie about my faith for my children, my husband, or my life. 

Faith first, family second, some friends perhaps. The truth always. 

I'd like to think I would be a righteous Gentile or a station on a freedom train. I pray that I am that courageous. 

Oh, please, Dave Carter so needs to be on any of the lists. 

After last night, though, I am not sure I want to do it at all. I attended a writer's lecture. The woman is not only famous, well-respected, and financially successful, she is a total loon. I think my brain atrophied some while listening to her Zen of writing. 

Thank you, Denise, for reminding us that the most important is not always the loudest or most urgent issue in our lives. You have blessed me as well as those girls. 

I remember the excellent Ilya Kuryakin from U.N.C.L.E. I still can't believe my father let me watch it. 

As far as administrations go, I only remember the end of the Kennedy one. Regular programming resumed on November 28, 1963. I thought it was my birthday present. I don't know why. I only got to watch Jack Lalaine and Quick Draw McGraw. 

The Princess Bride

We are instructed to pray for our enemies by the Scripture. This has been exceptionally difficult for me this week but I will continue. 

I have no illusions that this young man will feel the guilt I would. I also have no doubt of the fear he should have when meeting eternal judgment but I have no evidence he will. 

What I do know is that I am diminished when I give into blood lust. My life is worse when I want bad things for others. Do I want him punished? Yes. Do I want to prevent this from happening again? Absolutely. Do I want to do anything necessary to insure that? No. I will not become what I hate to get retribution. 

I am not a squish. Actions — all actions — have consequences. The bomber needs to face his. I need to face mine. 

One ugly bug.