Old age has its moments

Alan has really made me think. What else about old age is a matter of taking the path of less resistance?

Many times I have noticed that older people can behave boldly differently because they are not concerned about what others might think. At this point I am not all the way down that road, but do frequently think about the reality that my future is not nearly as big a part of my life as it used to be. That, frankly, is more motivating to be productive than to sit down and give up. Dreaming of how things can be better is still fun for me.

I feel tremendously blessed to have a wonderful legacy of younger warriors in place to carry on when my time comes to relax and be more of a spectator. Traveling with Alan yesterday and today was a lot of fun. Being part of the Legacy board meeting with Cary firmly and confidently in charge was also lots of fun. That was just yesterday and today! Every day my kids and their mates give me joy and satisfaction.

Seeing Bailey so all grown up and making her way in the world of 'responsible' big people both makes me proud and, to some degree, pleased to think that she and her generation will do better than I and mine have done. I commented to Rose last night at the MCS game that it is a bit strange to see Hutton so close to being a 'man'.

There are some really good things about getting old.

Love you all,
Dad

I'm getting old

I got home on Monday after a busy day at work and an unfamiliar thought came to me. I was changing out of my suit and into some casual clothes before sitting down to eat with the family. As I laid my suit on the bed I actually considered whether it would matter if I left my dress socks on with my sweatpants and Nike shoes. I reasoned that I wasn't going anywhere and it would help Holly for me not to get another pair of socks dirty. And then it hit me. This is the thought process that many of the old men I had chastised in my youth had gone through before they wore shorts and dress socks to a Little League baseball game. While I had only contemplated the famed fashion statement in my own home, it could only be a matter of time before I was flaunting it in public. I knew such sartorial splendor would come with old age, I just didn't realize old age would come so soon.

Here's our annual Harvest Party picture. We had fun as the Wonder Walls. Olivia even kept her cape on all night--dancing around the tennis courts and charming everyone she saw, of course! (Just like her older siblings...)

We had a great turnout, although we had no idea what to expect. Since more churches than ever had parties this year and we moved to a new venue (our new "country club" building), we just didn't know if people would come. We had more people than ever, and we're praying that God will use that event to His glory in bigger ways than just allowing us to give cute kids a bunch of candy.

It's always fun to see what comes from these things!

Halloween in Fort Worth (actually, Weatherford)

Well, we didn't have a fall festival this year, so we headed to Weatherford and hung out with the Gravitts - I think we must have hit at least 20 houses (the funny thing about this is that we've got 16 more days of "no sugar" so they did all that work for ONE piece of candy!) McKenna and Josiah raided the Brown Family dress-up box and came up with their own costumes?! We're still not really sure who Isaac was, but he was the friendliest trick-or-treater you've ever met! The tall Dallas Cowboy in the back is not some strange 14-year-old...it's just Denver!!

Browns gone Blue!