Time flies when you're having fun?

It's the middle of April, and I can't believe how busy I've been. I've hardly had time to look at the news let alone 'surf the web' like I regularly do. I'm busy training my replacement, getting all the 'stuff' I need to deploy, completing all the trianing that is required, and trying to fit in time for family and friends.

Remarkably, as it relates to my New Year's Resolutions, I've been doing quite well. 1 Mar weight was the same as 1 Feb...162. 1 Apr saw 159.5. I lost 2 1/2 pounds, and exercised regularly, even though I went TDY to Florida for a week. April has been good too...I weighed in at 158...and that after a 3-day visit with my mother. I don't know why I always eat too much while I'm there. It just seems that's the way we've always done it...or something like that. My mother finds comfort in food, and when she's having trouble that's the first place she turns. In this case, she is recovering from surgery and had the added stress of house guests (me and hubby and the kids).

It was a rough visit. She is unhappy that I am going. I think my parents are both convinced that I'll never come home...they are looking back at Vietnam. I can't convince them that this is not the same, but I understand where they're coming from.

I can't believe this, but she actually called me a control freak. I told her she was the proverbial pot calling the kettle black...that didn't go over so well. I don't know why I'm so surprised...but it still stung...I don't understand why it is so impossible for her to look in the mirror...to see what we (my sisters and me) have seen for years...she really believes that we are the ones obsessed with having control over everything. Anyway...the trip left me feeling spent, and I did nothing the entire following day...nothing but sleep and read.

Church politics

This story kind of summarizes some of why my faith in organized religion has diminished over the last couple of years. Basically, a church elder sexually abused a three-year old child in his congregation then admitted his sin to her parents. They contacted police, and the elder is being prosecuted. The church stands by him with the hope of ministering to him and reforming him. The offended family left the church, and some are treating them as though they are over-reacting.

Now I understand the need for the church to minister to the worst of offenders. That is essentially the call to the faithful, right? Bring in the lost sheep...reintegrate them back into the fold... That said, the victims in this case need the support of the church too, and it looks to me like they were brushed aside because of the status of the offender. I mean he's an elder in the church...a pillar of the community. It is understandable that they would leave the church in order to find a community that has their best interests at heart...where they don't feel like the community has taken the 'bad guy's' side. What is really alarming here is that this guy was a leader of this community, but noone knew who he really was.

Church these days stinks of politics...I guess it always has. I look back on my youth sometimes, and I miss my naievite. I feel like I have become jaded...these things are no longer even surprising to me...just another example of a person put into a position of trust only to betray that trust...and betray the faith...the very heart of the religion they espouse.