a bit delayed

...I was away with the fam & couldn't post on the computer that was available... I'M BACK!!

the tour has come to an end and the holidays burn into full steam. I'm writing from 30K feet... small cramped quarters where strangers sleep closer than lovers... mouths gaping... elbows invading... invading what little space is bought and paid for with a hefty exchange... both in time and hard earned cash.

I'm beginning the first of ten sun-filled days in San Diego... my experience once a year where past & present collide in a frenzy of insecurity and maturity gained. We (my siblings & Mother) tiptoe around my Father who tends to bring a large bag of coal with him each and every year. It has become somewhat of a tradition... if complete lack of communication can be a tradition. He feels the need to impart religious wisdom to three completely individual thinkers... who, because of his failure to communicate outside the realm of "faith", have and are having an interesting time coming to terms with their own spiritual journey.

12/21/06: Something happened last night that brought my childhood rushing back with a furry. I was raised the son of a preacher man... strict and stern... told the path was straight and never allowed to think otherwise. We were raised without movies, dancing, "secular music" or anything else that would lead to the demise of our faith.

I can remember the rare occasion when a movie was rented... which was a painstaking event all on it's own. 99% of the time not worth the torture endured to get from the opening sequence to the credits. The routine would go as follows: We would go to the video store and spend FOREVER picking out a lame, PG rated, waste of film... only to get home and make it about 32 minutes... that's when shit would hit the fan in large amounts. It would start with either a very MINOR sexually suggestive scene (which usually meant women where in bathing suites, in the water but the strap of their bikini tops were visible... straight up porn) or the words "damn" / "hell" had been uttered. What followed directly after is what, still to this day completely baffles me... and again happened last night. At the moment either of those two events occurred my Father would promptly turn to us, as if we had wrote the script. Every single time!! We were somehow responsible for the moral degradation that had just flashed before our eyes... a lengthy scolding concerning the ways of the world usually followed. This is but a glimpse of Christmas past & present... some things will NEVER change. This weekend should be interesting... my brother & his family arrive. GOD BLESS US EVERYONE!