"Uncle Greg...Uncle Greg"

Last week I came pretty close to feeling like a celebrity. If you're ever laying in bed in the morning and hear your name being chanted from another room because of the excited anticipation of your company, then you too could experience this "superstar" feeling. I had the privilege of spending a week at Vero Beach with my wife, kids, my sister, her husband, and their kids. The youngest of their two boys is Jordan. He's the one who came to love me the way I always knew I could be loved...and should be loved! The others in the house never seemed to get it the way Jordan did. Carley, Jacob, and Josh never chanted my name ("Uncle Greg"). And Angela, Kim, and Jim didn't seem to get the concept either. But this wide eyed 2 year-old saw something in me the others didn't...or if they did, they suppressed it. But that's what's great about toddlers, they don't hide their feelings. They'll immediately let you know if they're mad, happy, sad, or scared. Heck, they'll even let you know when they're pooping on the floor with no shame at all! If it comes naturally, whether a physical feeling or an emotion, then they're going to live it out without pride getting in their way. How cool is that? So if you love someone, you should be like a 2 year-old....be like Jordan...and shout it out! Whether they're in the room or not.

If you ever get the chance to go to Vero Beach in August be sure to take some bug spray. Or you could do like us and opt for having a built in game of "connect-the-dots" on your legs (my sister got the super-sized version of this game). A bug called "No-See-Ums" feasted on us like red-necks on a KFC hot bar. But the itchy red dots were soon forgotten when we walked out into the radioactive heat of day that is Florida in August. It was the same 90+ degrees we have in S.C., but it must have been the 165% humidity that made it a little less refreshing. But the sauna like heat was soon forgotten when we jumped into the 45 degree Atlantic Ocean. It's hard to believe, but the ocean water was truly bitter cold! It was all I could do to just stay in long enough to pee!

So we had bugs, heat, and cold water, but to counter-act these few negatives we had many positives: great food and drinks, an awesome house, a big pool (complete with a water slide), coconut trees, rabbits (not the dangerous kind), little lizards, many activities for the kids, massages, our own chef (thanks Jim), relaxation, and family! So many thanks go out to Jim, Kim, Josh, and Jordan for inviting us to share in their vacation. We had a great time and loved it even more than Jordan loves his "Uncle Greg"!

I must add that both me and Angela were referred to as "Uncle Greg" by Jordan. But being that he's only 2 years removed from God's presence, I assume he still only recognizes marriage as "One Flesh". The world's view of two in a marriage hasn't sunk in on him yet...Hopefully it never will!