Running Mate

With the elections just a few weeks away, I'm thinking I am not the only one who is a little tired of political ads, mud slinging and the like. But if you have your pencil poised to write in Carter Austin, don't hold your breath. He doesn't want anything to do with politics.

At this juncture.

As part of his last few weeks of confirmation, the students are paired up with a mentor who guides them through weekly lessons and does some extra "assignments." Our friend Ted has been kind enough to mentor Carter, coming over on Sunday afternoons to do their book lessons and prod him along on his faith statement (another homework assignment!).

One of their extra assignments was attending a church council or committee meeting. They took care of that tonight, meeting up at church after Carter and the cross country team enjoyed a spaghetti dinner at school. Carter and Ted hopped around to a few of the committees -- Youth & Family, Property, etc -- to get a taste of the democratic process at church.

Carter was adamant he will never serve on any type of committee. He says, "Mom, it was like planning your mom's 80th birthday party all over again!"

OK, some of you know what I'm talking about!

The one example was a Youth & Family discussion about an upcoming movie night. "They spent 15 minutes just talking about the snack. It had to be fish-shaped crackers to look like Nemo. Fifteen minutes!"

While it seems extreme, each little detail is important for event planning (we learned this through some party planning). Also, it is a democratic process so everyone can weigh in with their opinion. And, at church anyway, there's not really a time limit.

Thankfully, the guys got out of there so Carter could get home and get to his school work. Good grades are still important whether you plan to run for office or not.

Also, they can hopefully get you a job some day where you don't have to clean people's toilets or examine them for leaks. If you thought you were having a bad day today... Our poor plumber had to get up at the crack (tee hee) of dawn, come over to our house to look at our toilet (fun) and then, couldn't leave until he changed his flat tire... in the rain. Yup. I bet you didn't have such a bad day after all, did you?

Mr. Plumber does get my vote of sympathy anyway. As for Carter, I think the only running mate he'll be is my pace setter in a 5K.