Author: Matt Waldrip

As I stated in my last post, my wife, daughter and I traveled to Vancouver, Canada. We wanted to expose our daughter to big city life and also wanted to do some hiking and enjoy the great outdoors.  My wife and I love the beach, but our daughter Lucy is not a big fan so we thought perhaps she likes the mountains.  She does.  We had a wonderful time.  Some observations:

The temperature never got above 65 and never got below 50.  (At least it seemed to me.)
There was never any wind.
The people were extremely polite.  Especially in traffic.  I was surprised.
I had the best coffee I’ve ever had and I never visited Starbucks at all.
I never had a bad meal or bad service.
I don’t remember ever visiting anyplace with scenery this spectacular.
I feel like I walked about 10 miles a day.

I will attach some photos below of our trip.

It is nice to be back home.  My sabbatical ends tomorrow and I am so looking forward to coming back to work.  I began my first blog post by telling about an awful start to my life.  However, one of the biggest things this sabbatical has reinforced is just how fortunate I am.  Actually, we are all very fortunate to be working for this great company.  Something else I learned during my time off is how easily I get bored.  I did an awful lot of work around the house this past week just out of boredom so I am really looking forward to coming back to work.  Can’t wait to see everybody tomorrow.

Part of the goal of sabbatical is to re-connect with family and friends and I have done a lot of that since camp.  My brother and sister and their families were in town and we played golf.  Even though I am not a terrible golfer, I am the worst in my family.  I shot 85 at Diamondback and was feeling ok with that round.  My sister, who is 65 years old, shot 76.  She had 5 birdies and was even par with 3 holes to play and she fell apart.  Next I went to Lubbock to visit some old friends that I grew up with.  We played more golf up there.  I shot 89 then 87.  My friend Bill shot 75 then 77 so once again I got spanked.  However, it was a lot of fun and great to get to see everyone.  Golf is such a great way to spend time with family and friends.

My book study is called “7: An Experimental Mutiny against Excess” by Jen Hatmaker.  It is an interesting book and I recommend it to anyone who feels their life is too busy.  But, the author is quite verbal.  This book is over 200 pages and I think it could have easily been under 35.  The author never misses the chance to use a couple of paragraphs where a sentence would work.  Anyway, she takes 7 areas of her life and tries to simplify to 7 items each.  The 7 areas are: clothes, spending, waste, food, possessions, media, and stress.  For each of those areas she limits herself to 7 items.  For example, with food she limits herself to: chicken, eggs, whole-wheat bread, sweet potatoes, spinach, avocados, and apples.  She went an entire month just eating those foods.  She drank only water, which she did not count as one of the 7 food items.

Anyway, it is an interesting read.  I am on media right now.  Although I don’t think I will try anything as extreme as the author, this book has inspired me to try to simplify my life.

I just returned from a trip to Vancouver, Canada with my wife and daughter.  It was a great trip and I will talk about it (including a few photos) in my next post.

-Matt

When I was a teenager in high school my dad would send my little brother and me to work the summer as ranch cowboys on one of the ranches he managed outside of Tucumcari, New Mexico.  Early June was  in the middle of branding season and it was our job to wrestle the calves and hold them down while the more senior cowboys would brand them, castrate the bull calves, ear tag them, de-horn them, give them shots, etc.  In a typical afternoon we would wrestle 40 to 50 calves in 100 degree heat.  I remember feeling completely exhausted but also feeling a strong sense of accomplishment.

I felt the same thing on my drive home from Camp Courage.  It is a good feeling.  There is a quote out there (I don’t know the source) that describes it, “felt like I had been rode hard and put up wet.”  See my previous post for a description/purpose of the camp.

Confidentiality precludes me from giving specific details, but I spent last week sleeping in a cabin with 3 other counselors and 15 boys aged 8 to 10.  The subject of “herding cats” came up often.  The experience was exhausting but extremely rewarding.  I spent a lot of time helping them find a bathroom, filling up water bottles, applying sunscreen and insect repellent, taking them to the dining hall, etc.  They were good kids and I loved seeing faces of children having a good time.  I went there to try to be a blessing to the children who had suffered loss.  However, as you all can guess, I was blessed as well.  Probably more.  I felt like I was doing something important, and I plan to volunteer again as long as my family agrees and I am in good physical condition.

This camp has several teenage counselors but needs counselors who are older.  That is, it needs more men to help lead the young boys.  We have many generous people working for this company, so I decided that I would make a plea.  Come see me or email me if you are interested in becoming a counselor for Camp Courage.  This experience is going to stay with me for a very long time.

-Matt

My mother died of cancer September 28, 1963, when I was almost 3 years old.  I really didn’t learn of her death until sometime in October.  I remember asking my dad when mom would be coming home from the hospital.  He sat me down on the couch and in a very somber voice told me that I would never see her again.  He explained that she had died and when people die they go to another place where I would not be able to see her.  He told me, however, that he would never leave me.  And until 2005 when he was 81 years old, he kept that promise.

Everyone faces trauma at one time or another.  If you haven’t faced any yet, you will.  It is a part of life and is part of what shapes our character. The trauma I experienced so early in my life became a part of who I am and has influenced many of the decisions I have made, whether I’ve been aware of it at the time or not. This experience led me to choose Camp Courage as my service project during my sabbatical.  Camp Courage is a camp for children who have experienced loss in their lives by death, divorce, incarceration, or deployment.  I felt I might have something to offer since I have been through it myself.

I also got the idea from viewing the “Frunge” photos in the hallway at the home office.  I noticed that wall hanging when I first began working at FDL and I see it almost every day.  I thought it looked like a lot of fun and wondered how I could get involved.  I wanted to have as much fun as the people in the photo (Alvino, Pat Baxter, etc.) After some thought, I realized I really only wanted to do it for the entertainment value.  That is, I wanted to do it more for selfish reasons than altruistic.  I decided that if I were really interested in helping the children, I could just as easily do that closer to home.  So, one more reason to volunteer for Camp Courage.

In spite of the traumatic beginning to my life, I feel like one of the luckiest people on the planet.  I have a fantastic wife and a wonderful daughter, live in a free country, and I work for a great company.  I am one of the most blessed people in the world.  Over the next 5 days, I hope to convey that to those who are hurting.

The camp starts tomorrow and runs for 5 days and 4 nights.  I am a tad bit terrified. I have already had a day of training.  They tell me there is no cell phone reception out there.  I won’t be blogging until I get back.  At the moment I am wishing that I had volunteered at Habitat for Humanity or Meals on Wheels or something like that.  I will let you know how it went.

Perhaps the kids are not the only ones who need to find courage at this camp.

-Matt