Day Forty One - March 13, 2010

Looking back over today, all I can say is "whew" what a day! The weather started out as a rainy morning but changed around noon to quite the sunny, beautiful day. We didn't really have a chance to sleep in today because our day was scheduled pretty tight. I got the teenager up at 6:30 to start her day - she gave the dog a bath, got herself cleaned up and then cleaned her bathroom and bedroom. The little one contributed as well - she cleaned her room and then helped dry the dog - I think she likes drying the dog because she knows the dog hates the hair dryer - for such a pretty and sweet child, she does have a touch of a mean streak in her; I think she must get that from her momma!

Speaking of my wife, she had a chance to send an e-mail then call later in the morning. She had a shower, although it was a cold one, and she now has her own bed so she'll be able to sleep in a bed instead of a chair so that is nice. They put her to work almost immediately upon her arrival so she's settling in. Even though it was a busy day and I didn't expect to talk with her, it was a very nice addition to the day.

The morning continued by running the teenager to work then we stopped at the post office to mail off two boxes and one package to my wife. The package had her reading material for the Wednesday night class and our Sunday School class in it plus I sent her some work the girls did at school, copies of report cards and that type of stuff.

From the post office, we went by WalMart and re-stocked the refrigerator and pantry shelves. The store was busy on a Saturday morning but well stocked. I find it quite interesting to watch the interactions among people in the store - there was a family argument in the frozen foods, two separate little kid tantrums in the various aisles, a couple of poor guys who obviously hadn't been food shopping in a few years, of course we had the obligatory old couple who plugged up an entire aisle and then the one lady with the cart who thought she was speed walking - I love those people, they walk as fast as they can and from time-to-time you just see their arm flick out from their body, grab something from the shelf and toss it in the cart - of course they are talking on their cell phones attached to their ear while they are doing that. Just a Public Service Announcement here - if you don't realize how silly you look with your phone wrapped around your ear in WalMart in your velour "sweat suit", please look again! My favorite WalMart shopper - the middle aged woman on a cell phone trying to communicate with someone else in the store "yeah, I'm right here by the peas, where are you?" - "now I am by the canned potatoes, no I don't see you yet" - this WalMart shopper doesn't really need a cell phone, you can hear her on the other side of the store anyway!!

We got home safely with the groceries and I got them put away. Of course I had to deal with the dog for a few seconds and then the little one who wanted to terrorize the dog. We had just enough time to put the groceries away, fold the load of towels in the dryer and mop the hardwood floors before we had to leave to pick the teenager up from work - she only worked 3 hours today on computer training. We made it back to her grocery store just as she was walking out. I had spoken with the head deacon earlier while I was in WalMart so we met him and the missionaries at the church. I took the missionary's wife to the house and gave her a tour, showed her where they would be staying and gave her a key to the house. After taking her back to church so they could finish setting up, I took the girls to lunch and then we drove to Norfolk for the play.

Norfolk is building a new light rail system and that construction has really messed up the downtown area. They also are building a couple of new buildings so you wind up with total gridlock. I was able to drive the highway up there - this area is serviced by several tunnels and drawbridges that serve as traffic choke points if you're not careful - we were between drawbridge lifts on the Berkeley Bridge so we went that way and into downtown. We parked close to the mall and walked over to the theatre.

The theatre is pretty nice - it is one of those old, refurbished RKO theatres and it has some character. The youngest daughter saw her Thursday night dance/singing teacher there and they had a nice chat. The play was the broadway production of Tom Sawyer and they did a very nice job with the production. At the same time, we couldn't help but notice the one empty seat we had.

We remained on a tight schedule - we were to meet some of the church and the missionaries at the restaurant at 6pm. The play didn't end until 5:20, we had about a 10 minute walk to the car and I had promised the teenager she could stop at Barnes and Noble to pick up some study guides for the AP tests coming up in May. The mall in downtown Norfolk is very, very nice but they have a rule teens cannot be in the mall after 5pm without an adult so that ruled out me letting her run in to get the books while I got the car and met her at the front door. But we made it and were in the car by 5:50pm. I sent a text message to the pastor letting him know we'd be there by 6:10 - of course he texted back he was going to be late as well. We wound up being there before everyone except one lady so that was good.

Supper was nice - anytime you don't have to cook is nice! The waitress did well considering the group we had assembled. After spending nearly 2 hours there, almost everyone came over to the house to relax and spend some time talking. Yes, that was too much for our dog so we had to put her in the very, very messy garage. But it was a nice evening.

The girls did their devotion but left the book in the little one's room and I dont' want to wake her so I'll update that tomorrow. My devotion was "The abandonment of God" and referenced John 3:16. It was a positive spin on a very familiar verse.

Day Forty One was a whirlwind of activity, a very busy day and actually a very quick day! We get one less hour of sleep as we look forward to day Forty Two!