Thursday’s Thirst

There is just soooo much going on!  Yesterday our staff celebrated Christmas with our preschool children and their families at their Christmas party.  This was followed by caroling to our community and our granddaughter’s Christmas program.  Tonight, a day late, we celebrate our eldest son’s birthday.  Friday brings the first snowstorm of the year. 

What’s the expression?  “What goes around comes around.”  No, that’s not it.  “Don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you see.”  No, but that is a good one.  “There’s a first time for everything.”  Yes, this is it.  Except that I always thought in this regard, I would be the exception!

I promise this will be the last time I write about shampoo, but there has been a “to be continued” that I did not expect.  As I write this a week after stating “I anticipate finishing off this bottle of White Rain today or tomorrow” the new bottle still stands by as my “shampoo in waiting”!  Every morning I look forward to emptying the old bottle, yet when I get in the shower the next day it looks like the same amount of shampoo remains.  At this point in time, it feels like I will be functioning with this broken cap forever.

It was in September 2021.  I do not remember the exact date, but early in the month.  I walked into a dollar store looking for something else and happened to notice that they sold shampoo.  I had emptied the previous bottle a while ago and was getting tired of using up old motel bottles.  You see, with hair like mine, virtually any shampoo will do.

I always disappointed my mother – and it is good that she is not around to read this – when I said, “I don’t remember much of my early childhood.” However, the statement is absolutely true. Take Thanksgiving, for example. I really do not remember what we did for Thanksgiving before Monica was in my life. Then, for many years, we would eat two Thanksgiving dinners. First with my family at noon, and then, after 4:00 (when Monica’s dad got home from work) with her family. All things considered, that was pretty simple.

Some days I feel more like an old dog than others.  Recently I met one of our neighbors I often see walking in the morning.  When he told me he was 80 years old, I felt young.  Then he told me that he had been retired for 20 years, and suddenly I felt much more like one of the “old dogs”.

Can one use “exciting” and “exhausting” in describing the same events?  And, while I am asking that question, can one discuss sewers, elections, and alarms at the same time?  For me, all of this comes together in a blur.

It first happened (or so it seemed) this past Saturday in Ann Arbor. In fact, it happened twice – once when I parked and again when we were looking for the car. Someday someone else may tell you how a friend, the police, and family members saved me.

For more months that I can recall I have begun the process of writing this on Tuesday and/or Wednesday, in order to relieve the Thursday morning Thirst stress I had been experiencing by developing them entirely on Thursday mornings. But this week was different. Monday’s busy schedule put me behind the ball on Sunday’s sermon preparation. Tuesday I made seven different home visits. Wednesday I focused on preparing for Thursday’s funeral, changing Friday’s plans to attend an out-of-town family funeral, and catching up on Sunday’s sermon preparation. Then, around 8:30 p.m., I realized it was Wednesday evening and I had not even considered that the next day would bring Thursday morning. OOPS!

Last week Monica and I had the pleasure of spending a few days at Boyne Mountain for a pastors’ conference. You might recall that the weather at the beginning of last week was very different from that of this week’s beginning. We had clear skies, crisp mornings, and afternoons where the temperature rose past 70 degrees. You certainly cannot beat that for mid-October in northern Michigan. All I can say is, “What a beautiful world God has given to us.”