I will be away from the blog for a long weekend. Norma and I leave in about an hour to attend a Hull family reunion in Branson, Missouri. I have four siblings and two step-siblings, so that’s seven of us, plus kids and grandkids. It has become a large family. My biggest challenge at these events is remembering the names of all the nieces and nephews.

I don’t see my family often. It’s not the distance. I have a brother here in Oklahoma, and most of the others, including my dad, are in the Arlington, Texas, area. But between working at the law firm and pastoring a church on Sundays, I don’t get many opportunities to travel. Norma and I manage to get down to Arlington about once a year.

So an occasional family reunion is nice. It is not something we do with any regularity. Our last family reunion was five years ago. Before that, the last one I recall was in 1990 at Eisenhower State Park on Lake Texoma. We are not an outdoorsy family, and that was our first and only camping venture. The telling of that misadventure is hilarious now, but miserable then.

My dad will turn 80 next year. He appears to be in good health. He may outlive us all, as my grandmother did four of her five children. Nevertheless, as we all get older, it seems more important to get together occasionally.

Norma and I enjoy going to Branson. She likes the factory outlet malls, and I just like getting away. I always pack a few books, thinking a vacation is going to be a good chance to catch up on my reading. For this trip I have packed From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas Friedman, The Church at the End of the 20th Century by Francis Schaeffer (I’m about done with that), and Getting Things Done by David Allen. I have read the latter before, and it is excellent, so I want to review it. When I return from these trips and unpack my books, I always find myself thinking, I sure didn’t do as much reading as I had hoped.

I don’t mean to give the wrong impression about Norma. Norma loves to shop and she enjoys many other things, but her first love is reading. She always has several books going at once, and I’m sure she has already packed her books for this trip.

She gets all of her vacation reading in on the road while I’m driving. Maybe I’ll surprise her when we get to the driveway and hand her the keys and I’ll settle into the passenger seat with a good book. No, I don’t suppose that is going to happen. That might upset the delicate balance of the genders in ways I do not fully understand.

For the next few days your blogging needs will be met by Mr. Heggy. He is also filling in for me behind the pulpit on Sunday. I’ll see you sometime next week.