Eagle

I'm feeling bad that I keep missing so many days with my blog but if you only knew what this week has been like. Brandon got his eagle scout when he was only 13 years old. I don't think we appreciated at the time what a blessing that was. Ben was not quite as motivated as Brandon. Once he got a bit older, girls and sports quickly became his top priority and an Eagle just couldn't compete. We finally got him going and snuck an Eagle in just shy of his eighteenth birthday (once you turn 18 you can't get your eagle). That wasn't such a big deal for me though because Lisa was the prime motivator. I had to help Ben with the actual project but Lisa pushed us both.

Alex now is a whole different story. I'm not sure why but I have had to step up this time and if it weren't for me there would be no Eagle for Alex. Alex and I have always had this special relationship. From the time Alex could talk he has had a bit of an anger management problem. No one could control him. It was so bad that Lisa would not take him shopping with her. As it turned out I was the only person who could handle Alex. At times I must admit that the only reason I could handle him was because I had five times the mass that he had. Over the years Alex has recognized his problems and to over come it he has developed surprising self control. He rarely loses his cool now days but he still has a very strong personality and you can't force him to do anything that he isn't convinced is necessary. It would seem that an Eagle in Alex's view falls under the unnecessary catagory. Luckily I am still about the only one who can break through the stubbornness. I think there is still some residual respect from when I out weighed him 5 to 1. That is fortunate because if it came to knock down drag out fight Alex could probably take me. That is unless I was able to lay on him first. I still out weigh him by quite a bit. At one point in my frustration I threw my hands in the air and said, "Fine, if you don't care about your Eagle then why should I?" and I stormed out of the room. Rather than tell me that we would carry on (as I was expecting), he called my blulff and he too left. He wasn't going to do it. I then decided that this was one case where it was important enough to intervene and I had to go back on my threats. All Alex said was that I should make up my mind. He was right of course.

That was a long way of saying that this week we are working on Alex's Eagle project, a mere three weeks before his birthday. The kids have no school this week and Alex is dedicating (not willingly) his time off to his project. This week I've been going into work early, leaving work early and working on Eagle stuff until late at night and then getting up early again. I think this is one eagle where I should get the mothers pin. To be fair to Lisa, she has been busting her butt this week as we actually do the work but up until now it has been the "Fred" project. I'll be happy when it is done and after yesterday we have cleared the summit and it will be "comparatively" free sailing from here on in.

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The financial commitments of the United States now exceeds the GDP of the entire world.
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