Ho’oponopono

Ho’oponopono is a Hawaiian forgiveness prayer that we just learned about last night during an episode of a show. In the show, an elderly father was in the last hour of his life and the doctor told the man's children that he heard of this prayer or mantra and it helped him.  It was so moving and impactful that I looked it up - and yes, its a real thing.  Ho’oponopono consists of four parts:

I love you

Thank you

I forgive you

Please forgive me

Simple and elegant. On the heels of our trip to Hawai'i it seemed to be perfectly timed. We are going through a lot of changes and challenges, new schools, TJ leaving for college, family dynamics shifting, and life being unpredictable as always.  This prayer came along at the right time.

I love you. I love my family and the joy they have given me over all these years. My family makes me a better person and calms me at my core.

Thank you for loving me back and growing up to be good people. It makes me so hopeful for the people you will become one day.

I forgive you for those times you hurt me, either intentionally or by accident. Never think that there is a score card where I am keeping tally. Things happen, I let them go.

Please forgive me because I have never been a perfect husband, father, brother, or friend.  In those times where I have not lived up to being my best, please know I never wanted to hurt anyone.

There, I feel better already.

Old News

 

I had a reason to buy a copy of the New York Times over the weekend. 

The last time I bought any newspaper was over ten years ago when I used to play a game with Lisa to clip coupons and then add the savings to our vacation fund.  It was not a game we played for very long.

I brought the newspaper and showed Grant who was in total amazement. He had never seen -or at least comprehended what he was looking at - a print newspaper.  The New York Times. 

The New York Times - all the news fit to print - one of the longest-running newspapers in the country. Domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews - a testament to journalism and the First Amendment. With a million hard copies in print and millions of digital copies online, the Times the second-largest newspaper by print circulation in the United States. 

Grant seemed genuinely fascinated by the paper. He started an article "above the fold" on the front page and learned he had to go hunt the rest of the story on page A13. When he opened the paper, all of the sections fell to the ground and he exclaimed, "why don't they staple this together?!"  

Grant is very up on current events and the way of the world. It suits him to know what's going on and even have an opinion about it.  He gets his news from Tik Tok(?), Instagram (?), CNN(?).  Quite frankly, I have no idea where his generation gets their news.  At 14, he is an old soul who listens to The Eagles, AC/DC, and Rush in addition to Kendrick Lamar and the current music scene.  Nevertheless, he said, "all this is news?!" as he pulled apart the various sections and then promptly put the whole thing down and left the room with his phone in hand.

Analog news. A dying medium in the 21st Century. 

It Turns Out, We Can Have Nice Things

We moved to North Carolina fifteen years ago. We drove from New York to a temporary rental in Fuquay-Varina, sight unseen.  Having been on the road for two days with a two-year-old and all of our personal effects, I pulled off onto Johnny Baker Road, a dirt road, and thought, "where in the Podunk, backwoods, bullshit are we?"  At the time I could not fathom that we were only 12 miles from the state capitol and that Wake County was actually in the 21st century.

Over the past decade and a half, our town of Fuquay-Varina has grown significantly. In fact, it "the Quay" has almost tripled in size. We now have two sizeable High Schools, a new and larger Middle Schools, and several new Elementary Schools. We have new places to eat and drink. Downtown is getting a facelift. There are plenty of outdoor events for three seasons! Sometime next year we will get a new shopping and entertainment center with a Target and a movie theater.  Our little town is on the map as a hot place to live in North Carolina and the U.S.!  

With all of this expansion - and the people that come with it - the town floated a bond for a new Community Center on the site of an old golf course.  The Hilltop Needmore Town Park Community Center is a brand-new welcome addition to the existing one on the other side of town.  The old center was small and always packed.  It appeared as if every available minute of the operating hours were filled with something, basketball, volleyball, rec ball.

Yesterday, the town officially cut the ribbon and opened the doors to the new center. It is a fantastic two-story structure with three separate basketball courts, racquetball courts, weight room, classrooms, and a 1/7-mile indoor track. The smell of the lacquer on the hardwood courts is fresh. It bright and wide open and a new gem for the town.

In a cool turn of events, Grant's make-up basketball game was in the gym. We found out about the game about four hours before tipoff and couldn't figure out if it was going to be at the Middle School or the old Community Center. We were happily surprised to find out we were in the new center. It was a come from behind win with Grant scoring game winning basket from the foul line!

Our town maintains a fine balance of new and old. We have the amenities of modern progress combined with an early-mid 20th century feel, modern day Mayberry.