Pizza has dinner with three teen girls...

[Pizzaguy]

... and learns a LOT. I helped two other adults at Camelot theater today. We worked on getting stuff ready for our next play, in November.

Well, they brought their three teen girls (it's actually two separate families). We almost got thrown outta IHOP, no - the adults were not the problem, it was the girls! They were not being bad, just laughing too loud and talking loud (like, I think, teen girls do, right?)

It is amazing to me how different girls are - I raised two boys and I enjoyed it greatly. But I wish I'd had at least one daughter.

Oh, and one of them rode in the little car with me to the restaurant, with the top down - that was fun.

Kids whose parents are involved in their lives like in Camelot have a great advantage. I made great career sacrifices years ago for my boys. I am seeing the confirmation now just how right I was to do that. These kids (all of "my" Camelot kids) are of above average character.

 

[Pizzaguy]

I was actually looking for a DIFFERENT thread of mine, when I found this one.

I made the above post to comment on the delight that teenagers can be. Specifically, the kids of Camelot Theater Company. I was also commenting on the fun it was to be around teen girls, as I had raised boys and missed out on experiencing the mindset of girls as a parent.

I have more to tell you... two of the three girls above are Melanie and Stephanie. Their Dad, Tim, is primarily a sound and lighting technician for our plays and is also a board member. He also builds a LOT of the sets used in the plays. Tim is a wonderful person and became a good friend in short order. Tim's wife was not seen around Camelot as much as her husband and daughters. The love of the theater was something that Tim and his girls shared.

They now share something else. Tim's wife died without warning on Tuesday. Deonna was 41. THey had been homeschooling the girls and were a very close family, I envied Tim and his wife for what they had.

I leave now for the visitation, about 50 miles from here in the direction of my old home and job. I will also return for the funeral tomorrow.

Please pray for Tim and the girls. WHile they all four shared a solid faith, it is still a terrible time for all of them. Stephani posted on Facebook Wednesday: "1-31-2012, the day my heart stopped."

This has the potential for being the saddest funeral I have ever attended.

 

[Pizzaguy]

I was right. It was the saddest funeral I've ever been to.


But the guy who did the service was pastor of their church. He had pastored that church since she was 13. When she married, she and her (then) new husband stayed in her church..... and THAT meant that he knew her very well.

He spoke without notes, held a bible in his hands, but never opened it - he knew the Word of God like her knew her life. I was very impressed with this simple, southern preacher. It was SUCH a sad time, but he still managed to get us laughing - he told of his time there when he first was placed in the pastorate. She was 13 then and he told of what she was like as a teen age girl. Full of life and full of ........ trouble ;)

His message was multifaceted - he presented the Gospel but also spoke of her life and his interactions with her over the years. It was a time of both laughter and tears... he took us from one emotion to the other and back several times.

I sure felt closure, but not sure the family feels it this soon. As we left for the cemetary, I realized it had turned out to be over 70F and partly cloudy - warmest day so far this year and quite beautiful. Not sure if that contradicts the sentiment of the day or not.

I know this, I am glad I went. But the family is SO badly hurting right now.