Observations of a Good Day

Today was a great day.

(***Though I may not publish this for a few days, I actually did write it on the 19th.***)

It was one of those days that everything just felt right. Fridays are often like that ... I don't necessarily have to get up early to be ready for children coming over because they're not coming over. (I do, though, have to be up early enough to get Nathan ready for school, which is still too early in my book) I can run a bunch of errands that I wasn't able to earlier in the week, & it can be a lot of fun to hang out with just my two younger guys, who are really great. We have a lot of fun.

Today the air was cool and even cooler when the biting wind blew ... and it blew hard! That's one of the things that'll get you (and your hair) around here--the wind. I guess 'cause of the mountains we're surrounded by -- though those of you out West would laugh at our description of mountains!

I let Nathan sleep in this morning and drove him into school instead of making him catch the bus. Then we drove over to the church building where we met Miss Carolyn, someone I am remiss in not having already discussed here, but I will save that for another day. Miss Carolyn played with the boys while I typed up the bulletin. I also got to spend a little time with our new campus minister, Seth, and I am excited about having him working with our congregation. After that we went to the post office (finally got the Bulls' Christmas letter in the mail!), the bank (with a stack of checks that had been waiting for a couple of weeks to be deposited!), then to Burger King. The boys, of course, were most excited about that! We ate and then played with several other children in the ball pit & the lone slide. I believe I've mentioned this particular BK in another post. Oh yes, here it is: this post and this post.

At BK, Derek dipped his tomatoes in ketchup ... Isn't that a bit redundant?

The tomatoes came from a sandwich that he said he wanted instead of the usual chicken nuggets. Just how much of the sandwich did he eat? The tomatoes and the chicken, of course.

I think I could have gotten him the chicken nuggets, given him the tomatoes that Jeremy took off of his chicken sandwich, and saved myself 39 cents.

In the car, after BK, Derek saw one of those short buses & shrieked, "Look! A baby bus!!"

I thought I'd have to pull over because Jeremy & I were laughing so hard.

Derek just loved that he made us laugh; never mind the fact that he had no idea why exactly we were laughing.

After BK, we went to Wal-Mart where several interesting things happened.

We ran into Mr. Lamb, a neighbor who I don't think recognized me, being that I was outside of the neighborhood; and we ran into Mrs. Bailey, another neighbor who I don't think recognized me, being that her husband, Mr. Bailey, wasn't there to remind her who I was.

The older man behind me in line was in one of those scooters that has a basket attached to the front. I didn't think it looked like he could reach to get his items out of the basket & onto the conveyor belt, so I offered to help him. Jeremy saw me & came over & helped too.

Now, if that example of Jeremy's doesn't make you want to do more for others, I don't know what will.

The man in the scooter kept telling Jeremy, "thank you, young man," and then he thanked me "very much," & I desperately tried to think of the words I wish now I had practiced to make an impression on him for God, and all that came out was, "It was truly my pleasure" with a big smile.

I'll probably never see him again and it makes me sad that I didn't say the right thing.

Upon paying the very nice cashier, and telling her to have a wonderful day (I really am trying to make a positive, Christian impact on others, y'all), I realized Jeremy was nowhere to be seen.

PANIC!!

Ever see a movie where someone is turning around in circles looking for something & the camera is circling that person at an even faster rate & you just feel the panic that's rising in the character's chest?

I totally felt like I was in a movie. I was just turning, turning, getting more & more panicked, until I started speaking Jeremy's name & then saying it louder & louder. Then I heard him, "Here I am." But I still didn't see him!

Laughter.

I looked down.

Jeremy was under the cart (or "buggy," as some would prefer)!

I nearly yanked him out until I remembered to calm down. Oh, wow.

At that point, I looked up and saw our neighbor, Mr. Bailey (see above). He said he recognized my voice calling out "Jeremy," so he came over to help me find him. We had a good laugh (...sorta...) and then caught up on how our Christmases went & trips we took afterwards. Mrs. Bailey came over & said, "Hi, Linda." Mr. Bailey said, "Lisa." Mrs. Bailey said, "Lisa. I don't know why Linda came out. We know so many Lindas." (Really, she is pretty cute. And I don't know her first name either)

Derek fell asleep on the way home. And then continued to sleep for a record 3 hours (seriously, the kid never sleeps more than an hour & a half at naptime--he's a bit like my Dad with his need to be up before the sun in the mornings & up well after normal people would like to be asleep at night--I'm only halfway like that). While he slept, Jeremy played outside for a while & I finally put up my bird feeder, which was a Christmas present from Terri, & a windchime that my Mom gave me (I had to get hooks from the store before I could do that). Then Jeremy went to bed, I finished putting away groceries, & then tackled the gnomes & fire salamanders in Harry Potter 3.

[In a slap-my-forehead, "Duh" moment, I just figured out why y'all are telling me so often I should write a book: because my posts are so stinkin' long, you feel like that's what you're reading anyway--might as well make it official, right?]

When Nathan came home from school, he sat in my lap & watched me play HP some more. We were going to go to my nephew's basketball game tonight, but Dan got home too late because I didn't tell him this morning that there was a game. So hopefully next week we'll go. We had a lot of leftovers in the fridge, so dinner was not too involved to prepare ... another blessing to add to the list.

All in all, it was a very good day. The kind of day that has you feeling everything's right with the world. The kind of day that has you smiling from ear to ear at every stranger you pass. The kind of day that has you whispering every 30 seconds, "Thank you, Lord; thank you so much."