{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Solstice","description":"Yesterday was the winter solstice. Brings back memories... ----- Yesterday was the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. Said another way, there is more darkness on December 21st than any other day. It\u2019s also the day I got engaged many years ago. The story I like to tell is that my wife, who was then a collegiate volleyball coach, was watching VHS videos of players she was hoping to recruit. I asked her to stop the video and pay attention to me for a moment or two. She reluctantly did with a \u201cthis better be good\u201d expression. I asked her to marry me. She considered the proposition. She looked me up and down a few times. She remained quiet for a terribly uncomfortable amount of time and finally said \u201cOk\u201d and then hit play on the VCR and returned to her work. She\u2019ll deny much of this story, by the way. It's usually the darkest day of the year that I begin my annual Christmas panic purchases. I fear that I\u2019ve underperformed with the gift giving; that my gifts won\u2019t amount to enough. I blow through my preset budgets and start tossing stuff under the Christmas tree in a panic. My kids never mind this. My wife says you\u2019ve done too much, you\u2019ve gone too far. She\u2019s never returned any of the gifts I get her, by the way. She says \u201cYou\u2019ve gone overboard\u201d as she takes her bounty with her to the back of the house. And I get the same complaints from kids every year. \u201cDad,\u201d they say, \u201cyou\u2019re too hard to buy for.\u201d They\u2019re right. Like most fathers I tend to get myself what I want. Every year I struggle to get my father something and this year he flat our said \u201cI don\u2019t want anything. Nothing. Really. Nothing. I\u2019m trying to get rid of all the stuff I have.\u201d However, I\u2019ll get him something. It\u2019ll may be a new phone charger. The one he has is quite dated. It\u2019s powered by a gerbil on a wheel and takes all night to charge his phone. However, I struggle with the question \u201cIs a phone charger the right gift to give your father?\u201d Seems very impersonable. My grandmother used to give the gifts she received back. She\u2019d say, \u201cI\u2019ve enjoyed it for many months. Thank you very much. Now I\u2019m giving it back to you.\u201d We started buying her gifts with that in mind \u2013 what will I want in the spring that I can give her for Christmas? Incidentally, my wife and I married on the summer solstice. We got engaged on the winter solstice and married on the summer solstice. We realized this years later. So my wedding day was absolutely the longest day of the year. That cannot be denied. It\u2019s all in how you say it. As 2023 winds to a close, I wish you a happy holiday season and a Merry Christmas. Try to slow down. Find a warm fire and stare into it for a while. Fires make good company. There is stress all over during the holidays, but for a short time, try to sluff it off and sit quietly. I\u2019ll do the same. I\u2019m Cam Marston and I\u2019m just trying to Keep it Real. ","author_name":"Keepin' It Real with Cam Marston","author_url":"https:\/\/cammarston.com\/keepin-it-real-with-cam-marston\/","html":"