Wednesday, March 23, 2011

The Pauper Five

All of the Dungan's have safely arrived home. We are still driving the same car. We live in the same house. We are still scraping every dime together that we possibly can to keep the kiddos in private school. And, NO, we didn't strike it rich in the in the diamond mines of Arkansas. If I am being brutally honest, though, I blame my children. I have discovered yet another reason why we are not rich. After poisoning their minds with the hopes and dreams of becoming diamond millionaires for weeks, the effect only lasted through about 10 minutes of digging. After that they became enamored with playing in the mud and complaining about the boredom. Gone were the hopes and dreams of striking it rich. I think the girls rationalized that getting diamonds was what boyfriends and daddies were for. Graham actually hung in their with me the longest. I think he was trying to find out away to afford a little brother. Regardless, after an hour of digging around, he too eventually met his match.

In the end, diamond mining is one of those nice things to check off the list of life experiences but I don't know that I will be going back.

That was not the only thing the Dungan's couldn't quite do. It appears that we also could not make a living at catching fish. I am pretty sure that we could not survive if it was dependent upon our fish catching skills. No, if it came right down to it, we would probably have to live off of the bait. None the less, we had a pretty good time. Although, the kids have only caught a single fish in their lifetime they still seem to love it.

Late Sunday afternoon I made my way back to Fort Worth for work while Lynley and the kiddos stayed for an extra day or two. They made a trip to Hot Springs to learn what that was all about but the kiddos seemed most impressed with the indoor pool at the Holiday Inn. Apparently in their minds artificial heat and chlorine beat the wonder of a genuine hot spring. None the less, they had fun playing tourist.

I am just glad that they are back home and safe. I honestly did not know what to do with out them. I wondered briefly on Monday night whether I should still show up to their Tae Kwon Do practice even though they were still in Arkansas. In the end, I chose to stay home. Lynley is quite sure that Master Adrian was thankful for the break. And, yes, she didn't mean a break from the kids.

Well I had best get back to it. The grind awaits.

I am just happy my purpose is back together.

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