Robert Witham

Mr. "Eat, Sleep and Breathe" ESPN

Joshua should be boarding a plane at this moment (0930 EST) on his way to sunny, southern California (Cali as he says). He is traveling to Cali with his high school cheer team for a cheer camp. They will spend the next week in California with a stop at ESPNZone on his birthday. ESPNZone, in his opinion, is the best birthday present he could have this year. As he puts it, “I eat, sleep and breathe sports.”

I told him I am envious of his travels. He is trying to surpass my travels I think. I still have yet to make it to California or Nevada. Joshua went to both last summer, Alaska two weeks ago (another of my dream destinations), and now is flying to Cali for his second trip. When I was his age I never dreamed of traveling that much!

Boulevard of Orange Dreams

I made a quick trip to Ronnie’s Cycle Shop in Bennington with Cliff this morning. Terri thought I could use some fresh air so Terry graciously stayed here with her while I got out for a few minutes. The purpose of the trip was to pick up some oil but, of course, how can you go to a motorcyle shop and not browse the inventory a bit?

I am not normally a huge fan of orange as a vehicle color. However, I saw a really sharp Boulevard in kind of a burnt orange finish. Very sharp bike. I couldn’t help taking a picture to share here.

One of my early photographic efforts

My little sister, Bethany, was kind enough to make a chicken soup for us yesterday. We are all busy trying to figure out when she learned to cook - but she did quite a job on the soup yesterday. And that is no small credit for I am like the soup king!

Terri was able to drink a cup of broth but could not handle actual food (like chicken and carrots). At this point I am glad for whatever I can get into her. She is going to try some more for lunch today. She did eat four grapes and one third of a banana for breakfast. Big meal!

Read the rest of this entry »

I came across a rather intriguing quote yesterday. The statement, penned by Soren Kierkegaard, really grabbed my attention. I thought the statement was worth sharing with everyone.

“The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world?

Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.”

Soren Kierkegaard

My experience with talking to new Christians over the years would confirm that Kierkegaard was right. An oft repeated question amongst those new to the faith is, “Why don’t people just do what the Bible says?”

Jonathan graduated from Army Basic Combat Training on 4 April 2008. He is now in Virginia for his advanced training. I was able to attend both Family Day (Thursday) and Graduation (Friday).

Jonathan graduated from Army Basic Combat Training on 4 April 2008. He is now in Virginia for his advanced training. I was able to attend both Family Day (Thursday) and Graduation (Friday). I had an absolutely wonderful time with Jonathan while I was there. The 82 degree temperature on Friday did nothing to dampen my spirits after six months of Upstate NY winter either!

Read the rest of this entry »

The latest update on Jonathan (and the last update before Basic Training graduation) is here. For those of you who are beginning to wonder - yes, I will eventually post something else on this site besides updates on Jonathan. But hey, it’s my site so I can do what I want with it right? Yeah, that’s the spirit!

Jonathan called me Sunday night! This is the first phone call I have received since he arrived at Basic Training more than two months ago. Needless to say that made my evening!

Read the rest of this entry »

I received another letter from Jonathan today. This letter is from 9 March 2008.

Jonathan began this letter by writing that it was Sunday morning, he had just finished eating, and was just waiting to go to church.

(This parenthetical break is a representative, dramatic pause. This pause is correlative to my pause in reading the letter as I picked myself up from the floor and sat back in my chair.)

Jonathan had just returned from a three-day FTX and was behind on writing. They are busy practising ambushes and scenarios which he says are fun. He is counting the days to graduation and says he can’t wait.

Read the rest of this entry »

I received another letter from Jonathan this week. This letter is dated March 04.

Jonathan completed his second PT test and said he did “pretty well. So that’s always good.” He is also obviously in a lot better shape than his old man as evidenced by the following:

• 56 push ups
• 68 sit ups
• a 12:55 two-mile run He said his two-mile run was the third-fastest in the entire company. He was hoping to complete the two-mile run in under 12 minutes when he did the third PT test. I think I would simply die…Jonathan said he spent one day last week putting up rolls of razor wire in the pouring rain. “That was an experience for sure,” he said.

Read the rest of this entry »

I received a two-page letter from Jonathan today! This is the longest letter yet. The letter is dated 19 February.

Jonathan said he is doing well and is “feeling better” to be at the half-way point in Basic Training. He has been shooting all last week and is doing quite well. They were shooting at pop-up targets. Jonathan said he started out the week shooting a 19 and was up to a 30. The score of 30 qualifies him as a sharpshooter. He was hoping to score a 35 by Friday because that would qualify him as an expert. He really wants to score as an expert.

Read the rest of this entry »