Sunday Ponderings

Mom and Dad's visit was short. (How's that for a descriptive blog Pete?)

We spent the day traveling yesterday up north - mostly to see the "fall colors" stop at the outlet mall and try a new casino.

We found an adorable coat for Emily. On Sale.

The fall foliage was mostly done except for brief periods of orange and yellow on a "late blooming" tree.

The casino was a quick trip in and out - walk in and run out of money in about 1/2 an hour.

We stopped for a late lunch at Tobies - which I had heard from friends was a decent place but I wasn't that impressed ...except for their bakery - which seemed decent.

I was home in time for bowling. I had fun bowling - time went by more quickly as the team we were playing was the other alley church team so it was kind of fun to cheer for each other even though we were trying to win.

Today, mom and dad came to the Alley and we went to lunch and they were on the road by 1 p.m. - Quick trip. But nice.
I took this shot of Dad driving.

One thing that struck me as we were driving is that I will forever have etched into my mind dad checking up on us kids through the rearview mirror. And probably a bit of us watching him back. Almost like being a "backseat driver". Mom might say something to annoy him and he'd shoot a look back via the rearview mirror to respond to us his annoyance. So as I was sitting in the backseat yesterday I snapped this shot - mostly because it's a view that is typical of the view I will always have of my dad driving. The reflection in the rearview mirror. One hand resting on the steering wheel and the other on the armrest. A can of coke (not pepsi) at the ready...a pack of kleenex and a pack of big red chewing gum. That was and always will be a road trip with dad.

And my final thought of the day is about IRON MEN.

Short version of today - my car lost the ability to accelerate today on my way to church. So I made it into the parking lot, popped the hood, all the while I stupidly closed the door...thereby locking my keys into my still running car.

That's a problem in of itself in that it was SUNDAY at 7 a.m. toss into the mix that I also had locked in the computer with the entire church slides and my purse with my cell phone and that's a whole other level.

So I dejectedly walked into church. Without my typical bags of unnecessary and necessary stuff. (I'll leave the names out of this story as more of the point will be made without you know who is there.)

A man was sitting at the entrance - said a cheery hello, commented on my lack of bags, listened to the story and left what he was doing to spring into action to help. Another man - also hearing my plight came with me out to my car. Between the two of them within minutes we tried both the non-emergency line of the police and the state farm help line...called a couple of service trucks and arranged a locksmith. They convinced me there wasn't much I could do so we went in and continued our work to set up. At prayer time I shared a shortened version of my story and a few more "Ironmen" piped in - one had a jimmyrig thing in his car - others commiserated...we prayed (not for the car but for others) and then a group of five or so went out to see if they could jimmy rig my cardoor. I give them a B+ for effort. (All the while really hoping they don't hurt themselves with the jerryrig thing because seriously - my car could not be hurt any worse than it already is.) They kept their sense of humor and all the while I was so ungraciously wishing they would go back inside so that I could have a good cry about my stupid car - they kept it all in perspective.

Then the locksmith showed up in what had to be a former "clown car" You know the type like a Honda Fit that they'd try and fit 30 clowns in. He announced that they would "typically" charge $149 for a service call but just for me today I got the low low price of $90. Um yeah...what a deal.

So he pulls out these two blood pressure cup things and what amounted to a wire hanger and presses the electric lock opener on the car.

So in about 5 minutes and $90.00 later - I have a car opened and turned off. (Seriously - I was thinking about this this afternoon - I should get in on the locksmith gig. What highway robbery for a couple of minutes of inconvenience .)

Anyhow - I have the iron men in my life to thank - all those in the group that helped and tried to help (including eventually pete and my dad) And for the few who also followed up this evening to check to make sure I had a way to get to work tomorrow - my heart is full to overflowing by the genuine servant hearts in action.

Hopefully the car will be fixed tomorrow.

And if you are reading this and had a hand in keeping me sane today - THANKS.