4 Times

4 times, that how is how many times a different person should read an important piece before it is submitted. What's that old saying, we have to hear something 17 times before we fully grasp it's meaning? I think that was based on educational research back in the 70's.

You can tell four smart people don't read this blog before I hit the Publish Post button. You might not think one smart person ever read it, let alone wrote it! I do often re-read my posts and try to always go back and change mistakes or fill in the picture more of what I have written about.

You can surely tell this rule isn't found or followed in writing instruction manuals. Some of them make no sense at all. I always thought I might be good at writing instruction models or at least proof reading or editing them. It wouldn't take much improvement to make every instruction manual better.

We need a good parenting manual in this country. That seems to be the most obvious lacking skill in our society, that of parenting. We copy our parents and others trying to keep the best parts and correcting the parts we thought didn't work. We were reminded yesterday that somehow, someway we did a pretty good job of parenting our children as we visited one of them and their children.

We all went to see their new house and then we went to an agritourism farm market. We paid good money for things we took for granted as children, trying to find your way out of a corn field and wagon rides. It was pointed out to me I usually get paid to walk a corn field and this time we had to pay for that walk. The grandkids enjoyed it so it made us happy and that is all that mattered.

We never walked to the same spot 4 times but we came close. Isn't life a maze like that corn field? We usually follow the beaten path we have made and once in awhile we try a new path and walk it until it doesn't look or feel right. We end up walking the same old path, over and over.

It's hard to start a new path in life but if we plan a good route and keep beating that new path down like the old one, it too becomes well trodded and accepatable. And maybe it's just what we need, a new, old path.

Several readers know just what I am talking about as we have talked about our journey many times, off the side of this blog.

I promise to read this 4 times before I submit it but it needs another set of eyes, at least four of you.

Let me know what you think. This year is running out fast and I will soon be writing my fourth year of personal blogs.

Let's make it as meaningful as possible.

Your friend,

Ed Winkle