Joe's Family and Friends blog

I went back home for Thanksgiving, much to the dread of my diet. Heading back, I weighed a light 200.5.

Probably the biggest highlight of my trip, as usually seems to be the case, was seeing my nieces - and this time, all three were there.

Jody's the oldest. She's starting to drive now - and she ended up driving me through Kennett on her way back home on Thursday. She did good - really good - so I don't get to officially label her as the reason that it's safer to fly than to drive. It's kind of weird that Jody's actually old enough to drive. But then again, Jody's got a good head on her shoulders, and I think really highly of her.

Anna is my middle niece. She's still very young, and as a result, she's probably the most difficult. She's very seldom really taken to me well, but this time, she'd give me a hug and a kiss whenever she left. That was notable, because Anna has never been willing to give me a hug before.

Elle is the youngest, and she is really cute. She's very playful, and really seems sharp.

Seeing Mom and Dad and Marty and Gentry is always good. Marty wasn't around much, since he was picking cotton.

Dad's feet are still bothering him, but otherwise, he seems to be doing well, although I'm still worried that he's not eating enough. Mom is the constant of the family. She always seems happy and content, despite the fact that, just like always, she does the lion's share of the work around the house - cooking, cleaning, laundry, organizing. And I've never heard her say a cross word about it. Heck, I complain more about just my laundry than Mom does about the whole family's.

Jody was in for Thanksgiving lunch, and then back for Saturday and Sunday. I got to hear a lot about school and her friends from her. I really like chatting with Jody, because she's so easy to talk to.

Thanksgiving lunch consisted of turkey, chicken-and-dumplings, rolls, and strawberries. Well - at least, that's what I had. Mom, like always, prepared such a variety of things, but like always, I simply stuck to my favorites. You'll never go hungry around the Vancil household - unless you're unwilling to eat.

Mom and Dad and I went to Poplar Bluff on Friday, and then Jody, Mom and Dad, and I went back on Saturday. The highlight of that day was the embarrassment of Jody when I told her to enter Marty's name in a contest at a crafts fair that we went to. Like always, Marty was announced as a winner. Jody's reaction was, "He wasn't supposed to WIN!" Dad claimed the prize, which was some sort chocolate-covered something.

One thing I'm never going to understand about Mom and Dad is their appreciation for flea markets. They can look through these things and find things that they like. I can spend 10 minutes, examine the entire thing - most of that time being confined to the actual time it takes me to walk through it - and determine that there's next to nothing of value there, and of the things that do have value, they're things I don't need or wouldn't spend the money on.

Aunt Dott came by one day, and it was really good to see her. Aunt Dott and Mom are a lot alike, although I'd describe Mom as "quietly content" and Aunt Dott as "cheerful." The two of them actually talked for a while about how they enjoyed the things they do. I kind of wonder if Mom and Aunt Dott always got along so well - back when they were in school and such. Given the two of them, I can't imagine that they didn't.

Besides Mom and Dad, Aunt Dott is the only member of that generation of the family left, and I have to admit, I find that disconcerting. It doesn't seem all that long ago that Uncle Charlie, Aunt Stella, and Uncle Doby were all around, and all of these folks were really important to me as members of the family. And the same with Uncle Jean and Aunt Jackie, although I was always closer to the Reel side of the family. Of all the deaths, though, I think Uncle Jean's hit everyone the hardest - especially Dad, since Uncle Jean was his twin brother. I don't think that Dad realizes that of all the family, his health - assuming he takes care of himself - is probably the least in question, although his feet still bother him. In looking over the Vancil family tree, there were a number of Vancils who lived impressively long lives for their generations, and Dad has grown up in the best generation for terms of health.

Marty was in the field almost all of the time I was home. Marty's always working - be it picking cotton, or fixing equipment, or checking the pivots. He never seems to be happy; there's always a problem, or a worry, or a concern. He's changed a lot from the guy I always remember as being the one to crack a joke about something - albeit a corny one. In a lot of ways, he's become the serious one of the two of us.

Gentry reminds me a lot of Mom in that nothing seems to rattle her. She even helped Marty out in the field on Thanksgiving.

One thing I'm really proud of about Jody - Jody was just named the Friendliest girl at Kennett's High School. I can't say I'm surprised, though. Jody has a heart of gold. She always has. It doesn't surprise me at all that a lot of folks really like her. I even remember how Skander really liked her when he came down almost three years back.

When I took off yesterday, it was a typical day - Mom taking care of getting everything laid out, Dad working on some chore - this time, mowing the lawn, and Marty working in the field. It's not exciting - or what I would consider fun - but Mom and Dad seem happy and content, just as they have for years and years. Would that everyone could live that way.

And me? This morning, the scale read 206.5, and that after a hard evening of basketball last night. Too much spare time and too much food. Welcome back home.

Last night, Skander, Shannyn, and I went to see Casino Royale. Skander's not typically a person who watches James Bond movies, but for some reason, he was really eager to see this particular one.

It was a pretty good Bond action movie, although there was definitely a sensitive side of Bond shown in this one that has never really appeared in past movies. And actually, I have to say, in the context of the movie, it really worked.

All in all, not a bad film.

We all caught a good meal at Panera Bread at the mall before the movie.

An interesting debate over the meal was whether or not Skander is a "dirty" basketball player. And the answer? While Skander may not like it, YES, he's dirty. Even Shannyn apparently started to pick up on that fact when the two of them were in Savannah. Should make life interesting, because I think Skander is starting to come around to the fact that he's playing dirty out there.

Last evening, I spent much of the evening with Shannon Mruzik.

We went out to Bandana's Barbeque to eat, and caught up on what was going on with each other. Then, as often happens, our conversation got into a debate on politics.

Among the topics for debate were things such as the advertisement of prescription drugs (which, of course, treads on Shannon's future field of advertising), leadership within the political parties, viability of future candidates, "selling points" of liberalism vs. conservativism, government's responsibility to address views in a socialistic manner - especially in terms of things like welfare, and make-up and restrictions on the armed forces. Shannon and I both call ourselves conservatives, and while I consider myself extremely conservative, Shannon is FAR more so.

We also talked about music, as well.

However, the most interesting question, which Shannon raised, and I wanted some time to think about, was this potential debate:

"Does God's gift of free will to man also constitute an obligation to vigorously defend it against anything that endangers it? Would the refusal to take on that obligation represent an offense to God?"

Understand that I've always questioned whether free will is all that it's cracked up to be. Is there a great benefit in allowing man to choose to be evil? I don't see it. Obedience to a benevolent, omniscient God offers no drawbacks, as I see it, and allowing man to be willfully disobedient seems to offer no benefit to either God or man. So I've always considered free will overrated.

But Shannon's question challenges that belief at a very basic level. Given that God is all-knowing, and given that he gave man free will, is there more benefit to the ability to rebel against God than I see? Did God give us that ability for our benefit? Is this simply God's kindness acting, or his wisdom and knowledge at a level beyond that we can understand? In other words, is not defending free will actually an offense against God, since he granted it to us in the first place?

That should make a great topic for debate with Rick.