I sat down by the seawall watching the sun rise. Angus and I had been at The Lake of the Ozarks for two days. Our hosts, my brother and sister-in-law had headed back home the evening before and we had the large lake house to ourselves for a few days.
I was content and happysitting in the quiet morning light, trying not to notice the hulking frame of concrete and steel rising off to the Southeast. We are on Ship’s Point. The point just to the East of this one… the one that this house faces, has always left us with a beautiful view of a lovely, grassy point with small trees… no house, no people, not even a dock.

The original house had burnt down over 40 years ago, leaving only the brick chimney standing, and nothing had ever been rebuilt. “Chimney Point”. Years ago the “For Sale” sign went up but the asking price was high so it remained the same year after year. Several years ago it finally sold. The rumor was condos. And sure enough we began to notice changes when we went down. A sea wall was built. Trees were bulldozed and the grasses scraped away. Construction began a building was erected. Now, this year, the condo is taking shape.

In only a few more minutes I knew that the clanking, groaning and grinding of the heavy equipment would break the silence. The banging and shouting of the workers would begin and last ‘til 4 pm when the construction crew would leave the giant steel skeleton behind as they crawl into their pickups weary from their hard work in the July heat.

I was drinking my coffee, watching the sun appear above the mist and later disappear into the clouds. Enjoying the peace and the solitude. Not wanting to think about the changes to this peaceful point once the condo is finished.

It occurred to me that it was Thursday and that Jetty Betty would be writing her “Thursday Thanksgivings” and finding wonderful things to be thankful for even in the midst of whatever turmoil and disappointment is in her life. She’d be looking at the good side of things. I started thinking about all the good in my life. I starting thinking about all the good times we’ve had down here over the last 29 years with friends and family.

Angus and I took long weekends in the incredible peace and solitude of the lake house in winter. Reading and watching the view and the rare speedboat pass by the picture windows. We cooked elaborate meals, ate slowly and did the dishes side by side. We were undisturbed by the temptations of TV and computers and telephones. The decisions were whether to put on Eric Clapton or Jimmie Spheeris as we sat by the fire in the evenings dreamily watching the flames and sipping a glass of wine.

We’d go to bed early and sleep late. And because it was The Lake House it was especially romantic… like a fancy secluded resort, yet as familiar as home.

When the kids were little we spent a Fourth of July watching the fireworks put on at the Four Seasons Resort across the Lake. We had a perfect view from our lawn chairs by the water and we didn’t even have to be a part of the flotilla of boats out there watching, too. The kids giggled as they drew golden circles in the black night with their sparklers and after the fireworks they watched to boats pull away one by one.

One year Angus’ family decided to have Thanksgiving at The Lake. We all sat together at the long Ponderosa-style table laughing and enjoying one another. No late arrivals or fast escapes... just acceptance.

The Lake is where I first really got to know Angus’ family. What’s to do but talk as you sunbathe and watch the kids, cooking and eating together? It’s where I first learned of the Mc’s “10 O’clock Rule“. The men would get up early to fish and do any yard work before the summer heat set in. They’d keep an eye on the time for at 10:00 a.m. it is okay to have your first beer of the day. I don’t know who made the rule; it preceded my entry into the family.

The boys floated in life jackets in the waves from the passing boats pretending they were in the ocean while we mamas laid in the sun on the rocking dock. They picked wild flowers along the gravel road. In later years they jumped off the roof of the dock into the deep water. They jet skied in the cove ‘til their legs ached. They’ve blown leaves with the powerful backpack leaf blowers onto a tarp to be pulled to the water’s edge and dumped, jumping into the ice cold water to cool off and to prove they were men.

They caught lightening bugs with their cousins who are grown now. They caught fish with their grandfather who is gone now.

Everything changes.

I contemplated the sunrise and my memories, feeling both happiness for the beautiful past and regret for what never will be again. The looming mass of condo reminded me that change is always coming and a lot of times it is out of our control, it‘s not what we want... But life goes on.

It made me value the “right now” a little bit more, appreciate the past a lot more and look forward to whatever happens next with hope. The unpredictability of life is what makes it both scary and fascinating. It makes us work harder, dream bigger and love better. It pops us out of our ruts and into the sunshine or into the mud.

This day, I’m in the sunshine and will take advantage of today. I know the mud is there waiting to pull me down so I’ll look up… trust God to get me through it when the time comes.

Life is good… and I believe that with all my heart.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Life will bring you pain all by itself. Your responsibility is to create joy.”
~Milton Erickson, M.D.

Zeke stepped out of the house and called me out of the garden, holding the phone towards me. I stood up and asked “Does Beau need to go to the Emergency Room?“ I was joking... but Zeke paused and said ”…maybe.”

Working the Fireworks tent is like hosting a 3 week party. Beau and Zeke both worked it this year. Zeke stayed nights and days the first few days after the fireworks were delivered since both Beau and Ex were at church camp that week.

Beau was hired for days this summer. His friend, Ex, had the night gig but his mom put the big NIX on that. She didn’t want him staying there alone all night. I'd had similar concerns last year when Beau had the night shift but had let him do it. (Turned out he was seldom there alone anyway.) So Beau ended up staying, too, and they split the cash.

When there were no customers there was plenty of video games, movies, and the wireless internet from Carol’s house reached the tent so they could do that, too. Friends stopped by at all hours, often bringing them pizza or cookies. It became the local hang out. The kids are allowed to shoot off fireworks to see what they look like so they can tell the customers and if a customer asks about something they don’t know, they can just walk out back and give one a try for the customer to witness! A boy’s dream job… friends, games, food and explosives.

Fireworks are lucrative, as well. Carol’s only job is running the tent on the corner of their property and she makes enough for spending money for the whole year! There were no storms this year but in year’s past the tent’s blown down and all the fireworks got wet. The truck comes the next day, hauls off all fireworks and delivers dry stuff. They still make an incredible profit. Carol also gives the kids lots of free fireworks so they put on a lovely display here at our house every year.

They have a dirt bike, too. When there are no customers the kids take turns with it. Beau watched Hayden give it a go then took his turn. He had never been on a dirt bike before but, hey, looked like a blast. He rode off on the same route as his friend had but thought he was headed into the neighbor’s property so changed direction... but there was a tree ahead so he for sure did not want to hit that so veered to go between the tree and the privacy fence that separated their yard from the rest of the property. Only he didn’t quite make the turn. Somehow he slid right through the wooden fence! Luckily he wasn’t seriously injured and he had worn a helmet. He had a huge strawberry on his shoulder, a bruise on his thigh, but his pinkie finger was bleeding like crazy.

There were no adults around at the time so it was teen decision making time. They got the bleeding to stop but then did it need stitches? Hmmm? He called a friend’s mom who is studying to be a nurse (an LPN) but she wasn’t home. He called his friend, Brook, who kinda might want to be a doctor some day and she said, sure, come on over and I’ll look at it. He drove over there, she looked at it but didn’t know so they called the ER doctor that lives next to her. He looked at it and said , “Sheesh, YES, it needs stitches!” (a cellphone photo I saw later confirmed it.) He put in 6 and let Brook put in the last one. Seven stitches and they were oh-so-proud!

I got the phone call between Doc telling them he’d need stitches and then putting them in. As a mother of sons I’m always prepared for that phone call that may come saying he did something really stupid and the fear is always a bit deeper in July when fireworks abound in this rural community. Things get blown up… deer carcasses, sparkler bombs, stuffed animals, snapper bombs, bicycles, tomatoes, watermelons, etc.

So. A few non-fireworks stitches in a pinkie finger seemed pretty tame. Saturday, I gathered the alcohol, nail scissors and tweezers. I snipped the thread and Beau pulled out the stitch, one by one. It was gross a lot more difficult than I am making it sound but we both survived.

PS~ I wish I had a photo of their fence. Angus and I drove over one evening to assess the damage and it reminded me of a cartoon where someone has just run through and left a perfect bodyshaped hole in a very lovely fence.

I stuck birthday candles in a watermelon and brought it out at midnight. Zeke's friends had been coming and going all evening and these that were left were staying up all night. They were leaving at 4:30 in the morning for the Sonshine Festival in Minnesota... so why sleep? Sleep on the bus! This is the thinking of a just-turned-20 young man who would spend his birthday traveling on a church bus with 20 other kids for 9 hours.

They'd been shooting the leftover fireworks and were in the process of building the "sparkler bomb" and the sparkler "flame thrower". These homemade incindiary devices are common among the youth of our community and not without their danger. Last week a hometown boy, a teammate of Zeke's on the soccer team, tried to put a can over the top of his sparker bomb and it blew up with his face above it. It looks as if he will not lose his eye afterall... and with still have some sight in one of his eyes. This after plastic surgery, of course.

What is it about boys? The powers that be outlawed the M-80s and Cherry Bombs of our youth but the ingenuity of kids will prevail. They must have their big bangs! When I use the boy above as an example of why not to build a sparkler bomb I am met with a look of disgust. "Mom, he was stupid." Everyone knows when the bomb is lighted you run like crazy! It's a bomb for heaven's sake!

Just blowing up a sparkler bomb is not enough though. They've all done that. They need to blow up stuff. Beau dug around and found some stuffed animals that they had won in one of those machines where you drop in a quarter and try to grab a toy with a crane. Off they went 2 miles down to the end of this secluded road. The nearest house was a half mile from their destination. They left with instructions for me to listen and see if I could hear it. I told them I'd better not have the sheriff at my door... or an ambulance racing down the road.

You might be wondering how could I let them go off and do that? If you are, then you probably have not raised four sons. There is alot of praying involved. Among these highschool and college boys were 2 valedictorians, 7 honor roll students, 4 members of the National Honor Society. They are smart kids, not out drinking or carousing or vandalizing. Sometimes one just has to trust them and trust God. (Besides, I had seen their bomb and knew they had used less than half the sparklers my oldest son and friend used while experimenting with their bombs 8 years ago when Sparkler bombs were the new thing.)

I sat in my rocking chair on the deck, said a little prayer for their safety and for them to use those good brains and awaited their return. Yes, I heard the blast. It was not loud but one of those barely perceptible booms that sound far off but you know something big just happened somewhere. I waited...and waited...

They tumbled out of the cars, laughing with delight as they all spoke at once and could hardly wait to show me the video. They brought back the bunny...or what was left of him.

I made them show me that they all still had all 10 digits on their hands and then we watched the video. At some point I realized someone (okay, it was Beau) had brought a little bottle of gasoline to douse the dolly with. I watched in horror. Zeke was cautioning but it was still frightening to watch. The group went way down the road to watch. I heard one boy tell Zeke to get closer with the video and he infromed him that he could see it just fine. The torch lighters ran toward the others like their pants were on fire.

There is no doubt, the Lord was with them on Zeke's 20th birthday.

PS~ Yes, I made them listen to me lecture them on the danger of lighting gasoline and the fumes.

Beau slept in a Fireworks tent for two weeks before Independence Day. He got paid $25 a night plus all the fireworks he wanted. If he came in early or stayed late she paid him for the time. It was a sweet deal for him. CJ had done it when he was a teen, too. I suppose it could have been dangerous had someone tried to come steal, it was on the main mini-highway between Smithville and Kearney. His instructions were that if someone after he had closed the tent and he told them that he was closed and if they indicated they weren’t there to buy fireworks, well, he should just take off. The tent was at the edge of the property of the homeowner with the house in full view so I wasn’t too worried.

I was more concerned that pranking kids would come and try to scare him or worse, sickos might think it fun to beat him up out there all alone. I asked him if Carol, the tent owner, knew that anyone could be come in a steal everything in the place while he slept soundly. He just laughed and shrugged.

One night about 11:00 pm someone did stop by to buy fireworks, noticing that the lights were on. The kid was pleased and surprised that it was “open”. Beau sold what he wanted and didn’t mention that he just hadn’t gotten around to closing the tent down yet.

It turned out he was rarely alone anyway. He had company almost every night. His brother Kevin, would often stop by on his way home from work around 11:00 and his Dad would stop by on his way to work at midnight. Girls brought him goodies and boys came for the to play the X-Box that Carol had set up out in the tent for the workers to play during down time.

One morning at 6:30 he was awakened by a “Pssst. PSSST. PSSSSST!” He groggily lifted his head to see a pair of eyes peaking in above the door of the tent. It startled him until he realized it was morning (almost) and it was his tall friend, Jared. His dad had dropped him off at the tent to visit with Beau while he ran in to pick up breakfast before they headed off to work.

Several nights it was an all night party with 4 or 5 boys showing up and playing games while he eventually slept. He had to get up and go to work at 8:00 in the morning! I was always surprised that these kids’ moms let them stay there with Beau all night or at least well into the next day. I guess it says a lot about Beau’s reputation and the way we trust our kids. Trust. We parents pretty much have that among this bunch of kids. They do stupid stuff like any kid but, so far, not stupid, stupid stuff.

It’s not that idiotic, blind kind of trust that some parents have that their kids are always right, truthful or good. Those parents are constantly making excuses for bad behavior and bailing their kids out and their kids keep getting into bigger and bigger trouble. I’m just saying that these kids are making mostly good choices and have earned our trust. When one of them starts to make dumb choices the others respond by trying to pull them back. We parents don’t have to do it much, their peers do it and they accept it so much better coming from them. They really are close. They really do love and accept each other!

Pro 18:24 Friends come and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family.