Dearest Eliana and Gehrig,
Well, it has been almost a week since you left Texas and I miss you
both so much. It was just wonderful
having you down to Camp PK
for a month and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Let’s say we can make this an annual event,
what do you think?
You are both so impressive.
Not only are you both just beautiful and perfect but you are SO
intelligent. Eliana, you dig into
everything you see and just seem to figure it out. Gehrig, you don’t miss anything and quietly
appreciate all you see. You both changed
so much in your four weeks here, growing and becoming more delightful with
every passing day. It was such a thrill
to witness. Now you are back home and
still have your Granny to visit with you.
I hope you are starting to sleep through the night so you can send her
back to me not too exhausted.
One of the things I noticed when you were here, which was so
cute, is when you two were close together in the “baby pit” and one of you
would pick up a toy, the other would almost always stop playing with whatever
toy they had and reach out to grab the other’s toy. Trust me, this is something which does not
change with age. As human beings we tend
to covet what other people have. So
strong is this feeling, God, in his infinite wisdom, thought it was important
enough to make it one of His commandments…”Thou shalt not covet…..” Even so, it is a force which is hard to
control and to deny.
When I was in the early years of my business career one of
my promotions was to the home office of Owens-Corning Fiberglas in Toledo , Ohio California where we owned a nice
home in Anaheim Hills, a prestigious Orange
County Ohio we searched for housing all around the Toledo area. Most of my counterparts at O-C lived in
upscale suburban communities like Sylvania ,
Old Orchard or Ottawa Hills. We selected
the small rural community of Maumee . We found a modest Ryan-built home on Dussel Drive just
down from the Lucas
County Recreation
Center
But there was always this little bit of longing when I saw
the larger, more lavish homes of our friends in the “popular” communities, some
of them adjacent to country clubs and golf courses. I had occasional envy for their
lifestyle. You could say that I coveted
my neighbors property from time to time.
Which brings me to my twelfth pearl.
Twelfth Pearl
We didn’t belong to the Sylvania
or Brandywine country clubs. We didn’t have the prestigious address or
live next to major company CEO’s. We
didn’t send your mom or your Aunt Bits to the exclusive private schools like
some of our friends did. We chose,
instead, to raise our family in a lovely neighborhood called Floral Valley
(nicknamed Fertile
Valley
Did we envy? Did we
occasionally covet? Did we look across
the fence and admire what we thought looked like a greener yard than ours? Yes, we probably did. But what did we get in return? We got a peaceful, safe and wholesome
community for our children to grow up in.
We got a good education for them.
We got a place where lasting friendships could be forged and strong Midwestern
values instilled. We got doses of
reality reinforced as we watched friends struggle with their inflated house
payments and escalating country club dues while our savings continued to grow. And, after 11 years in this place, we had
enough money saved to move to Texas, build a custom home and start a business
which provided not only the fulfillment of a life-long dream of ownership but the
wherewithal for an advanced education for our children as well as a secure
retirement for ourselves. Whose grass is
greener now?
Granny and I have been very blessed in our lifetime. God has granted us most of our wishes and
fulfilled many dreams. What He taught us
was that patience, perseverance and careful planning can ultimately produce the
greenest grass….and that coveting what others have is a fool’s game.
I pray that God grant you both the boldness to dream along
with the patience and perseverance to achieve those dreams.
I miss you and love you,
Grandpa Jud
