It seems like half our lives are spent trying to say the most in the fewest words possible. That’s the efficiency our modern culture so often demands. I was recently reminded of this when reading the Alberta Motor Association‘s latest newsletter. After an vehicle accident, when you fill out the insurance form you’re supposed to summarize the details of the accident in the fewest possible words. Some of the results are startling:
An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my car and vanished
I had been driving for forty years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had an accident
My car was legally parked as it backed into another vehicle
I was on the way to the doctor with rear end trouble when my universal joint gave way causing me to have an accident
In an attempt to kill a fly I drove into a telephone pole
How do I describe the many things we’ve been up to in a post short enough that you might actually read it?
This week we’ve been sending out our quarterly newsletter, which most of you should see in the next week or so. I’ve been working on the last couple of lessons of my course, gearing up for my last paper (which will probably be about baptism).
We’ve been continually organizing things and getting rid of what we won’t need in Mexico. We’ve been in touch with our co-workers in Mexico, and trying to help out from afar. We’ve been visiting with friends, attending church meetings, celebrating Valentine’s Day, babysitting, and catching up on errands. We set up a new phone system, which Lord willing we will be able to transport to Mexico (allowing us to keep our Calgary phone number – how cool is that?). We’ve also been trying to get some church ministry opportunities (not much success so far – kind of reminds us why we’re moving to Mexico!).
Now in the next few days I’m needing to plough through some financial paperwork for the mission, get a good chunk if not all of my course complete (there will be great celebration when that’s done!), and finish sending out our newsletter. I also need to catch up on emails – I’m generally about a week behind – yikes! Sorry ’bout that.
Next week here in Alberta we have a holiday – Family Day. We try to celebrate by – of course – spending some extra time together as a family. Since our schedule is flexible we don’t always celebrate on the actual day. If we want to go somewhere like the zoo, it’s much nicer to go when we’re not hacking our way through the Family Day crowds! So that will be on the schedule sometime in the next few days.
So there’s a general summary for you!
