Month: February 2023

Boy, it was a busy weekend.

Leave a comment at the bottom!

We were invited by our good friends, the Maness’, to go to the annual daddy-daughter dance, hosted by their church. For years, I had always been a bit jealous that Matt got to do a daddy-daughter dance with his girls at the country club so they could feel honored and loved, so this invitation meant a lot.

We had never been to this dance before, but knew a lot of people who had. My expectations were not the highest, simple because I have seen some church events that were put on in a gymnasium with a very small budget. Whatever the case might be, we were told to get corsage’s, as most girls would have them.

Rosie got her corsage, mom got her pics, and we met up with our friends for a fancy pre-date meal; the lady gets to pick the location, of course:

So we ended up at Moe’s.

This was not a standard church event; this was the 22nd annual dance, and there were literally hundreds of people. It was way fancier than several weddings we have been to over the years.

They had several “photo spots” around, where people had shirts that read “I can take your picture for you”. Several are on Brian’s phone, but this is one we got.

Each year they have a large heart to sign; this is Brian posing with last year’s heart.

It’s hard to get a picture that could capture the scale of this dance, but there must have been close to 400 people there. The picture above is early, when the dance floor was relatively empty; however it was packed the rest of the night; the must was pretty great too: it had everything from “Under the sea” to Rihanna and Jay-Z (the clean versions).

The dance was a blast. Thank you Brian and Meryl for inviting us; and I think Rosie felt honored as well.

Dance Dad Life

Dance competitions are a big deal. What I learned this weekend is if the words “Rosie’s dance competition” are on the family calendar, that means I need to:

1. Sleep well the days before
2. Have plenty of patience
3. have very few opinions
4. Not plan on anything else that day; or days.

They literally last all damn day. Rosie was there from 9:40 until 5:30 (or so). Since you are sane and only care about the highlights, here they are:

There were dozens of dance companies there, and hundreds and hundreds of dance routines, starting with the younger kids early in the day, and going well into the evening; I was told Evan and her girls were there until around 11.

Some of those performances were pretty awesome- I was told some of those girls can end up doing practice 4-6 days a week (Rosie does 2 days a week), and it shows.

They did great for their second dance.

See point number 3 above: have very few opinions. So I will do just that.

It was a long day, Rosie did great, and it was fun to hang with the fam during a chaotic day, with people coming and going as they could.

This was our cheering section; mom showed up a few minutes after, and I didn’t want to ask them all to smile for this quick shot; but, it was fun for mercy to hang with her cousins all day.

I hope Rosie chooses soccer though.

Would you call yourself an introvert? These days, I think I would. Taylor definitely recharges her batteries by being alone. But not me.

Years ago I would get this time by going on a short day hike in Greensboro- there are plenty of trails around lakes on the north side of town to hike a few miles.

If you go back even farther, I used to go on hikes along the blue ridge parkway during my years in college, a couple times even camping by myself. In hindsight, that was pretty stupid.

In high school, I would go on wandering drives by myself around the outskirts of town, in my 1989 dodge ramcharger.

These days, it is harder to find that kind of uninterrupted time. And Taylor was taking note of that (I married a good one). So for my birthday, she gave me a night away, at the St. Francis Prayer Center. If you have a minute to read the story about how it was founded, the story is amazing.

https://www.stfrancis.today/

It is 40 minutes north of town and is open to all; they serve three meals a day, have a library, a walking trail, fireplaces, gardens, and an outstanding, quiet facility.

It was the ideal place to be quiet, and pray through some of the craziness from this past year.

I’ll keep it vague- but there have been a few stressful things weighing on me, and I don’t quite know how to navigate them. The stress has been surfacing in different ways. And the only thing I know how to do is pray through it, and this song just kept coming to my heart.

That afternoon hike gave way to some great conversations with strangers at dinner who were visiting St. Francis for another event; they shared about the various ministries they were involved in around the Durham/Raleigh area, and an hour-long conversation passed in no time. It was delightful for two reasons:

1. There was no where to be. There was no schedule to be anywhere, and no kiddos that needed a potty break. I don’t remember the last time I was able to slow down this way, and just engage with someone.
2. It was great to get out of my own head and hear about some amazing things being done by ordinary people around the state. This lady was 70+, and shared about 4 different non profits she manages reaching underserved teenagers in Raleigh.

With that much silence and peace around, it is hard NOT to get a great night’s rest.

The next day I spent some time reading up on things NOT related to prayer (there is only so much reverent time I can muster in 24 hours), had a wonderful lunch, and made it home in time to watch UNC play (and lose) to Duke.

So what is the takeaway from this night away?

1. It is going to be ok. Just pray through some things, and let them go.
2. My family is special. Taylor is awesome, and I am lucky to have her.
3. It is good to re-charge my batteries every once in a while.

It is a great place- highly recommend.

Unrelated, but fun

Here are a few other pictures and videos from the week.