Merry Christmas from the Coleclan9!

Dec 23, 2008 at 6:21 AM

HOME SWEET HOME

He was 100 years old. 100 years old! I looked at the patient's chart and thought that the registration clerk screwed up the birthdate. But it only took one glance across the hospital room in the ER last night to check my thought. He was bald, wrinkled, and older than the North Carolina hills. I sat next to him and started throwing questions at him-not about his medical condition-but about his life. His work (he drove an 18 wheeler truck until he was 91 and he still drives a car) his loves, his religion, his diet and many others. My storm of questions probably aged him another year.

I then asked him "What was the most significant invention that shocked you over the last century?" It wasn't his answer that shocked me back. It was the small ingredient he mixed into the answer that marked my mental muscle with an impression about home. He looked me in the eye and said, "Son, my dad told me when I was a little boy that some day I might just see an amazing thing. Some day a man just might walk on the moon. And you know what? My dad was right. And when that day came and that man walked on the moon-that was something! That was something! Even compared to the air machine-that's what I call it- my dad was right. A man has walked on the moon!"

I was born in 1970 and I missed that man walking on the moon. What I didn't miss in his musings was the fact that this man's dad planted a seed of wonder in the mind of his son. That seed of wonder was planted in the field of the home.

FROM ALL THE COLES... MAY GOD RICHLY BLESS YOUR HOME!

Answers to our annual Family Trivia Game:

Who loves to spike his hair in imitation of his older brother? Samuel

Who loves going to swim practice to watch the team swim? Taryn

Who likes to eat all the chocolate chips in the bag without permission? Howard

Who takes pride in being able to crack his/her feet many times in a row and make a rythmn or song with the cracking noises? Stephen

Who has music or an audio book on at nighttime? Paige

Who insisted on buying a pair of nice cowboy boots to wear? Christopher

Who reluctantly shares clothes with other members of the family? Alleyn

Tags:

Carolina Coles: View my profile; We are the Christ-following Coles. There are nine of us, two precious ones in heaven that we can't wait to meet. Our family loves to learn, read, and create. We enjoy community, hospitality and conversation. We live in the suburbs of Charlotte, NC; a melting pot of people mixing in with long-time Southerners. We're California transplants living in the South now for 2 and a half years and basking in the adventures along with the trials. God is changing, humbling, and growing us as we strive to stay in the center of His will and rest in His amazing grace!