Happy Father's Day, Now Get to Work!

Sunday:

I woke up tired after several days of inadequate sleep due to the amount of fun I’m having. Determined to not miss out on anything, I washed my face in cold water, just like Grandma taught me, and staggered out to meet the day. In Minnesota on Sunday, we go to church. I wanted to go this day because I was pretty sure I’d get to visit Aunt Lee and Uncle Ronnie, because it’s just part of the culture here, and because I love a good sermon! I was not disappointed on any of these three items. I got to see Aunt Lee and Uncle Ronnie finally and caught up with my old youth pastor who was very endeared to me when he asked me how long I’d been home now, referring to Backus of course.

The sermon was really great too and they even had a fun rock band for contemporary hymns. The pastor is preaching in the interim until the new one starts up next month. She spoke about the genealogy of Christ and tied it into his legacy, leading into a poignant speech about using one’s imagined legacy as a sort of barometer to measure one’s present morality, grace, or piety. What will people experience when you die? Will they be relieved, or might they remember you lovingly and with gratitude?

After the service, I accidentally invited everyone over to Aunt Lee and Uncle Ronnie’s for Father’s Day. Oops, I’m such a heel sometimes.

While the rest of the clan went to Sunday school, I went back to the house and made some yummy pea soup for the returning congregation of eight Burnses. In the evening, everyone accepted my invitation and I and twenty-one of my favorite cousins descended upon Uncle Ronnie’s home where I lived in tenth grade. Uncle Ronnie said grace before the meal and gave a really lovely speech about how he had planned to spend Father’s Day napping on the sofa, but instead he was so pleased Jon invited everyone over so he could slave over the grill in the heat of afternoon. I was like, “You’re welcome? Er, sorry???" True to the legacy they've created, Aunt Lee and Uncle Ronnie really were the most gracious of hosts; the food was delicious and we had a lot of fun playing our favorite domino game, forty-two, a family tradition spanning innumerable generations. Many stories were told, we laughed a lot, and I think everyone enjoyed themselves, particularly little boy cousins who discovered modern man’s greatest achievement: the pooper scooper. May the legacy of little boys live long!