Today I'm thankful for...
Spending quality time with the whole family
Watching the family grow closer together
Feeling good about the future
See how much I truly have
The family made the journey down from Reno to San Francisco yesterday. It was mostly raining as we drove through the town of Truckee, but as we rose about 7000 feet the snow was coming down pretty good. The traffic was light and we made it to Fairfield in around three hours. Lulu has wanted to see the Jelly Belly jellybean factory for a while now, so we stopped for a tour of the process that turns sugar into candy. It was interesting to hear that during the Reagan administration, that Jellybeans were a staple of his life as our president. I'm not a big fan of the "jellybean" so during the tour when the nice young guide was handing out the beans (trying to get us all hooked on the sugary confection) I'm pretty sure that I was the only one that reframed from the treat? I did have to try the toothpaste favor jellybean at the sample bar after the tour. Let me tell you that was the best representation of crest toothpaste that you could imagine. Now if we could just make the toothpaste taste like jellybeans? I did learn that bribing the kids with the promise of jellybeans is an effective way to modify their behavior, and my four kids were well behaved for the duration of the tour. The best part is the factory tours of the Jelly Belly plant is free, except for all the candy that you "have to" buy once you end in the gift/candy shop.
Lulu returned home from San Francisco on Friday afternoon. She had spent the week getting daily radiation treatments and attending Physical therapy appointments for her arm. It was so nice to be together again as a family, and the kids were extremely happy that she was home (even though it was for only a short few hours). Since Lulu's mother has been with us for most of a month now, she was to be leaving tomorrow morning for Puerto Rico, so I played with the kids and Lulu and Grandma when out on the town to spend so time together. I have to admit that Grandma Nelly was such a great help during this most stressful time. I made sure that my wife know my feelings on this one.
We have woken to some fog this morning in the city. We are planning on taking the little ones to the San Francisco zoo for the day. Another place that I haven't been to since I was a little boy living in the central valley of California. The Zoo is always a winner when it comes to child entertainment, so Lulu and I are looking forward to spending time watching our kids gaze at the Lions, and Tigers. We are hoping to see the "Ripley's believe it or not" and possibly a cable car tour of the city for tomorrow, after the medical appointments that Lulu has?
I presently reading a eye opening book, a physiologist view of the meaning of life through his time in the World war II concentration camps of Nazi Germany. Viktor Frankl's; Man's Search for Meaning, gives you a personal account of the daily struggles of the Jewish prisoners and the their tormenting fight for survival during the late 1930, and the early 1940's. Unbelievably, Dr. Frankl states that even in this most horrid conditions where a minute could be the difference between living and dying, that the human being can make a mental choice of how to feel about their circumstances? Would you fold and crumble under the strain, or look for the "small extra ration of bread" and see the future that can still exist? I could only think of my own fortune to be born and raised as a believer in seeing the positive (no matter how small that piece of bread might be). My sun is always shining even on the cloudy days. Can you see the sun through those clouds?
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