BRUCE KITTLE

My family has been blessed over the past 20 plus years to have the opportunity to spend time on Padre Island. My folks first started wintering there when my dad was looking to retire years ago and since then my entire family has started to make the trek down regularly. Lately we have been meeting here to celebrate Christmas. It is a pretty simple place, but right on the gulf and the weather, while not always perfect, is consistently better than Iowa during this time of year

The holidays of November-December-January always draw me into a deep state of intentionality and reflection. I love the symbols, rituals, and stories of the seasons and various messages. So I spend some time trying to figure out what the last year was about, where I am at, and where I am going. Like a month long personal retreat preparing for New Year's Day and hopefully having some clarity for the coming year. Sometimes in the midst of these efforts, I have come to realiz

When I was little my family went camping a lot. First it was out of a pop up camper and then when I was older my dad got a full camper, hard top with AC and everything. But in the early days we had no bathroom and had to voyage out at night to either hit it behind the trees or to the campsite bathrooms. In one of my earliest experiences I woke up in the middle of the night, everyone seemed to be asleep so I grabbed the flashlight and slipped out of the pop up to walk into