It's not your fault...

As I was dragging my dog out of the middle of the road, I watched as the girl (who hit Starbuck) and her mom (who had shown up within minutes) as they sobbed and held each other. Through her tears, the girl said, "I'm so sorry". Her mom repeated, "I'm so sorry this happened."

We exchanged numbers before we left the scene.

Creighton and I later relived the play by play of the accident, and we felt compelled to call the girl. Creighton talked to her briefly.
"I just want you to hear it from us, that this is not your fault." We do not blame you in any way."
She thanked him and said that it meant a lot for him to call.

Then we began to dissect the situation and found ourselves both trying to take the blame. We found all the blame we could muster up and beat ourselves with it for about 5 minutes.

Finally, we came to our senses and concluded that it was a tragic, freak accident of timing.

I think people obsess about finding fault. What is it inside of us that yearns for
someone to pin the blame on? Is it comforting? Does anger help take away some of the pain of loss and sadness?

My heart has joined the thousand, for my friend stopped running today. ~Richard Adams, Watership Down

Our dog Starbuck chased his last bunny this morning at 7:45 am. He took off after it (while out for a quick morning pee), and ran straight into the street. In a split second - the car pummeled him. He never knew what hit him. He died instantly.

Sweet Starbuck, Master fetcher, ball dribbler, protector, patient playmate for the kids, brave leader for his brother Apollo. We will miss you terribly.

We had a sweet funeral for Starbuck today.
Creighton led us in a liturgy. Some neighbors joined us. We all took turns giving Starbuck a special gift and bidding him farewell. We buried him in the backyard underneath a Weeping Cherry tree we purchased for the occasion.
















The thoughts that keep flooding my heart:
1. I am sooooo thankful it wasn't my kid running after that stupid rabbit.
2. In the blink of an eye, our lives can change forever (or end suddenly).
3. It sucks to walk around the house and see two of everything - two beds, two kennels, two dog bowls...
4. Apollo is pretty lost right now.
5. oh, and wow, we sure put a lot of money into that animal(totally worth every cent).

Photo ideas for staff pics

I need ideas for our department staff photos. The plan is to display framed pics in our office. I want them to look Cool-artsy-modern and a little bit tekky.
My friend Jeff is our fotog. We are trying to think of a unique way to shoot (ie. we experimented with a fish eye lens). Or something fun perhaps in post production.

Here is one of his initial ideas:
Don't mind the font - we will go with something different

It reminds me of the A-HA "Take On Me" MTV video.

Take On Me: Chris Griffin

Easter

When we began having children, we got serious about developing traditions for our family. Easter is one of my favorites. Well, until this year....
Creighton and I were involved in campus ministry which had us on the university calendar: Fall/Winter/Spring.
This year, because we both work in local churches, we are now on the umm liturgical calendar: Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Ordinary time, etc.

Since Canon was 1, we have spent Easter with my dad. The kids look forward to it every year because Dad takes them fishing, takes them for rides on the horse or the tractor or on the feed truck. Kimaw (his wife) hides what feels like hundreds of candy filled eggs all around the front and back yards. The kids spend half an hour at the break of dawn searching every crack and crevice for eggs. We attend worship at their charming traditional Methodist church and then come home to an enormous Easter feast.

we were unable, this year, to go to the ranch.

Here is what Easter weekend looked like this year:

Mom worked all day on Saturday.
The kids had a "play date" with our Jewish friends on Sunday morning.
Bethany (our nanny) fixed lunch and put kids down for an afternoon nap.
Creighton and I raced to the grocery to pick up some plastic eggs. Filled them with goodies and busted into the house shouting, "Who wants to have an egg hunt?!"

It was nasty outside so our egg hunt lasted about 3.5 minutes (living room, dining room, kitchen).

Improvising, we told the children that we were going to take them to a movie. What a great idea to tuck away for future Easter activities! We saw Aliens vs. Monsters. The kids loved it.

It is what it is, you know? We made the best of it. Turned out beautifully.

Facebook Song

Copy and paste this link (can't figure out how to make it active) to hear my Facebook song.
Enjoy!

http://web.mac.com/cr8onik/iWeb/Site/Podcast/BF9ADF6F-8492-4F88-A05E-F583F0DECDD3.html