Thankful for the Ordinary

Internet photo from Jupiter, Florida

There's not been a lot of interesting things happening around here to report from this past week. We did church, I attended my ladies' Bible study, paid bills, got the oil changed on our second vehicle, made a trip to the public library, changed our clocks back to Standard Time, and I bought for myself a new food processor, as well as the ingredients to make some treats with it. 

Please don't take that paragraph as a negative or mundane assessment  of my calendar. Every one of those things listed is a blessing. At our age, we best not take for granted being able to get ourselves out of bed every morning without assistance, enjoy a variety of clothing choices from the closet, cook our meals and feed ourselves (so far, without bibs!), drive our cars, shop, pay our bills, and so many other things. All of the ordinary is a blessing.

When I was twenty years old, in an impulsive act of anger, I decided to move out of my parents' house to a studio apartment just a couple of blocks away. While leaving the shelter of my parents may or may not have been timely, the way in which it was done was definitely not wise. But I was sure I knew what was best for myself and I acted upon it.

That first night in my own place all by myself, as I put the sheets on my bed, in an unguarded mental moment, it hit me just what I had done.

I threw up. Upchucked my supper. Barfed. 

I had 'made my bed' so to speak, and now I had to live with it. 😏 To me, that was a clear illustration that God deals with His children when they mess up. 

Some of the ordinary, daily blessings I had taken for granted before, were now either gone entirely, or I had to figure out on my own how to make up for their loss. I had no telephone, no car, and had to carry my groceries home on the city bus. I had to cook for myself which led to the quick realization that cooking for just one is a challenge. 

My anger and impulsive behavior was not serving me well.

A couple of months after moving into my own place, my parents took a job transfer to a large city nearly a thousand miles away, and my fiancé left for boot camp in another state. My life-long girlfriend (Sister), who was still in school, had moved with our parents, so I learned loneliness in a new dimension. 

So when I say I am grateful for the seemingly unremarkable mien of my life, I know what I'm talking about. 

But God is good -- all the time. No experience is wasted in His economy.

Before I leave that story, I'll share with you that later I made amends with my parents. In the year after my move they had [amazingly] borne up with my disrespectful behavior, even following through on the original plan to pay for my wedding. They kept in touch with me and continued to send me Christmas and birthday gifts, etc. 

Nearly a year to the day of my angry departure from their home, my new mother-in-law had a stroke, lay in a coma for 3 months, and then died of pneumonia in a nursing home. I had been married only a couple of months when this happened. I felt too young to have to face such a dire reality of life; but good sense grew out of it all, starting with a sincere, heart-felt letter written to my parents admitting my mistakes and asking for their forgiveness. 

They forgave me. I feel sure they thanked the Lord for bringing me back to good sense and new-found, much-needed maturity.

In the season of Thanksgiving, I often remember some of the lean times in my life (which have been blessedly few), most especially this story just shared with you. We all have so much for which to be grateful and should be sure to express that to our loving God.

Moving on to Joyce's Hodgepodge Questions this week.... if you care to join in and link up, click on this link. My responses are in ORANGE.

1. Besides Thanksgiving, something on your November calendar you're looking forward to? 

I have learned over the years that it’s better for me to not share what I’m planning to do but to write about it after it’s happened. Plans change and explanations may need to be private. (This is my personal observation and preference.) 

So to answer this question, I’m looking forward to a focus on gratitude and eating seasonal favorites. I can fill you in on what we actually did in November after the fact.

from my FB friend, Karen

2. Dictionary.com's word of the year is '6-7'. Huh? Is it even a word???

I had to consult the internet to find out its meaning because apparently I'm old and this particular slang is not part of my vocabulary. Is it part of yours? No 

According to the article I read, it's a viral term, more of an inside joke with an unclear meaning driven by social media.

What do you think? 

Would I be out of line in saying, “that’s just nuts!!!”?

Dictionary. com says it's selection each year is a 'linguistic time capsule reflecting social trends and events, but they also admitted to being confused by '6-7'. Some say it means so-so and is sometimes accompanied by the up and down hand motion we associate with the phrase so-so.

What word do you think would have made a better choice? 

“And so forth…”

3. What's a food, trend, activity, or thing people love but you think is just so-so? 

As pretty much black/white, good/bad when it comes to opinions, I’ve pondered this question for the last couple of days and honestly can’t come up with anything that I’m “just so-so” about. Either I love a thing or I really dislike it. I will surely offend some if I state my dislikes, so let's just leave it at that. 

4. Are you a tea drinker? Hot or cold? How do you like yours and at what time of day? Do you like flavored teas or teas billed as calming, energizing, healing, etc? 

I am enjoying a hot cup of black tea as I respond to these questions. Most days I have this tea (alternating with green tea) at about 3pm while we are sitting on the lanai reading our books, doing puzzles, or just staring outside at Florida’s beautiful flora and fauna. 

snapshot from 2017

My previous blog was titled, “Sweet Tea and Sandals,” to honor my relocation in 2017 from Colorado to Florida. I love the way Southerners prepare sweet tea. I often order it when we are eating out. 

(And yes, for the record, I miss that blog. In August 2022 I made a serious mistake that led to the blog's very unexpected obliteration. Truly aghast, I just didn't know how to fight the powers-that-be to retrieve it, so it's gone.)

5. The November Hodgepodge has always included a weekly gratitude question. Here's the question for today-what are three things that make your heart sing?

1) the assurance of my eternity in Heaven because Jesus Christ has forgiven me of all my sins, past, present, and future

2) gratitude that God has given me the titles of wife, mother, grandmother, and friend even with all the diverse experiences that come with those titles

3) BBQ (pulled pork, my recipe for beef brisket, Firehouse Sub sandwiches, Whiskey River BBQ burgers at Red Robin)

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

One of my family members is an airline pilot. He recently flew into Tel Aviv. He said that when the pilots change radio frequency, the control tower greets them with, "Shalom." I love that! Oh that we all would speak peace upon encountering one another.

Until next time, 

May the God of hope fill you

with all joy and peace

as you trust in Him.

Romans 15:13