Winterfest

Posts coming, but I am too unenergetic to think with focus.  Plenty of reading suddenly came up over the horizon as well.

Kyle is safely back from youth retreat in upstate NY, with video of the body-boxing that led to the possibly-but-ultimately-not-broken collarbone and thumb.  Such things are deeply spiritual experiences for the testosterone-poisoned highschoolers.  But the legacy of Austin Schilling, who was asked to please, no longer be a chaperone for retreats a few years ago, remains intact: most boys set to hospital, two years running, still the champ. 

In discussing all this, several mothers of the church insisted that they would rather be dealing with the boys at these events, as the girls can deteriorate into weep-fest accusation weekends.  This apparently continues into early adulthood.  I have heard this but not witnessed it myself.  Yes, the men quickly deteriorate into urinating off the porch within hours of going off by themselves*, but it's still more tolerable than the women.  Apparently.

My daughter-in-law was a chaperone, so my son flew solo in parenting his daughters.  Son #2 has long been the wittier FB poster, but First-born, smells-like-a-field (see Genesis 27:27) rapidly rose to his standard with the weekend updates of the trauma.  I am proud on both counts.

*Including Dartmouth med school professors, apparently, at their yearly retreat.  Though college professors of any type may not be a good sample for "adults."