wise as serpents, harmless as doves

So I'm at my father's house, and he uses Norton to lock off the Internet (aside from a few select sites) after a timer expires, and I'm stunned to say that he just asked me whether 1:30 would be enough time. Evidently I'm not the only one trying to soften personal prejudices (granted, a scorn for sleeping in is a few notches higher on the sensibility scale than a scorn for physical exertion).

You know, though, my family's amazing like that. I'll always remember when all my family on my father's side gathered at Aspen Grove, a camp BYU runs (imagine EFY, but for families, in the forest). All our cabins were quite close, so after the day's activities, the little girls would head off to one aunt's cabin, the teenagers to another, etc., until finally going back to hit the sack as darkness fell. I tried to show them a cheesy trick I'd learned on a scouting campout one evening, but it required toothpicks, which were nowhere to be found, so we played Uno or some such.

There was some kind of talent show, and since my grandparents so wanted us to take every opportunity for family togetherness, the women brainstormed and came up with modified lyrics to "I Will Survive" detailing the, ahem, rigorous Aspen Grove activities, then booked us a room to practice singing. Of course, singing lead to choreography, and as I expect most of you would anticipate, I considered simply standing on a stage a tremendous sacrifice of personal dignity, and doing any kind of dancing an affront to basic humanity. They pleaded with me to join in, but I left the room and walked back to the cabin.

I spent a few hours there, then remembered dinnertime and headed to the main camp. Not wanting to pursue awkwardness, I just grabbed a few morsels and headed back out the door. "Wait, Braden," I heard from inside. "Oh, great," I thought, "more lecturing. I'm not going to do the stupid dance. Leave me alone." Uncle Henry walked up to me, gently smiled, and opening my palm, said one word. "Toothpicks." He'd asked for some from the kitchen. Then he walked back to the table, and I walked back outside, my eyes wet. That's my family. No nagging, no chastising. Just quietly saying, "I love you" in any way it'll be accepted. Some shoes are tough to fill even when you're 6'5".