Friendliness Training

One out of three girls at the reception desk, at the eye doctor's, where I took My Mom today, was friendly. She greeted Mom with a smile, looked her in the eye when talking to her, and generally showed kindness. I liked her. And after she whisked Mom away for the myriad of things that needed to be done, I sat and waited and observed while pretending to feign interest in Woman's Day magazines. A lot of observing can transpire in 90 some minutes.

I observed two things, really, that stick out in my mind right now.  One of them is that the elderly enjoy visiting.  The other was that friendliness was lacking at the reception desk from the other girls- the 2 out of the  3 girls.

What flabbergasted me the most and still is making me cringe, hours after the fact, was the way 1 of the receptionists in particular was communicating, or not communicating, with an elderly patient that had made her way to the reception desk. The patient was using a walker and was obviously very hard of hearing. The receptionist didn't even make eye contact, not once, with the patient. I was watching the whole thing transpire. She seemed to be annoyed when she had to repeat herself.  'Seemed' might not even be the correct word. She was annoyed. Finally the rigamarole at the reception desk was completed and the patient sat down in the waiting room.

The other unfriendly receptionist dealt with Mom and I after My Mom's appointment. She had to deal with me because I am Mom's driver. Mom sets her appointment dates in consultation with me in order to make sure I am available for driving.  The first date didn't work for me. It was for the beginning of July. That seemed to annoy the receptionist. The second date didn't work either.  "When," she said in a condescending way, "do you plan on being able to bring her?" "Well," replied myself, "I'm not exactly sure when we'll be back from our camping trip...."

At that point I think I saw her eyeballs roll. I thought maybe I should have called her boss to the front to see if he could do anything about rolling eyeballs, but then thought better of it. So I smiled. And said "we should be back by the middle of July."

Then Mom and I left and went shoe shopping. I bought 2 pairs of shoes from the saleslady because she was so friendly. Some people could take friendliness training from her.

Still in My Jammies

Today is Easter Sunday. It's 11:02 in the morning right now as I'm sitting at my laptop. The cranberries are cooked, the turkey is roasting, the dessert is in the fridge, the potatoes are ready to go in the oven, the turnip has been cooked and just needs to be re-heated. My mom is bringing the jelly salad, and Phyllis is bringing the other salad. The house has been  cleaned. The dishwasher is running. The Easter Sunday church service that was on TV is over. And I am still in my jammies. Smiling.

I'm smiling, while still sitting in my jammies, because all that I mentioned in the previous paragraph is complete.

I'm smiling because everything that needs to be done before our evening meal is done. Everything important anyway.

I'm smiling  because everyone we love is safe, and alive! I'm rejoicing over that fact actually. Some people know why.

I'm smiling because I have great friends. One of those great friends texted me yesterday to meet in the city for coffee. Friends I haven't seen for years were 'home' for Easter. Other friends gathered. We fellowshipped, laughed, reminisced, caught up with each other's lives.

I'm smiling because today is Easter.  And with that knowledge is hope. Eternal hope. Present  peace. Forgiveness.  Mercy. Joy. Resurrection. Renewal. Transformation. And love. God's Love. Perfect love. "But God demonstrated His love for us- while we were still sinners Christ died for us..." Romans 5:8

Death could not keep Him. Death was not victorious. And I am still smiling. And still in my jammies.

Purple Sparkles

While DD went for dinner with a friend last night, My Sweetheart, DS and I went to the hockey game! The city team is in the playoffs and were playing on home ice last night.

DS had ordered the tickets the day before, and while he was in the lobby picking them up, I was looking at the people coming in. I noticed one particular little girl, about 3 or 4 years old. She had sparkly eyes and blonde hair.  A real little charmer. And then I noticed her shoes. They were sparkly purple. I was wearing my faded black boots. Warm, but getting ugly as the winter drags on. My boots are faded and worn. But I wore them because I needed to keep my feet warm.

I wondered when I saw this little girl why her mother wouldn't insist that she wear warm boots. That's what I likely would have done with DD when she was little. She probably would have wanted to wear cute little shoes with little heels to hockey games and I would have likely said something like, "They're not practical. Your toes will get cold."  Maybe that's why she doesn't like hockey games.

As I was contemplating and being curious I couldn't help but also wonder that maybe this little girl was there with her dad.  He wouldn't care what was on her feet. If his little girl wanted to dress up as a princess with purple sparkly shoes, why not?

I smiled broadly to myself when the little girl's mom came and reached for her hand.  Her mom was also wearing purple sparkly shoes. The little girl's close-in-age sister had them on too. Dad and older brother were with them. It was a family affair. I could imagine the little girls plotting with their mom before they went out.  Maybe it was Mom's idea. It doesn't matter. They looked very happy. They were with the family.

Did they know, when they picked out their purple sparkly shoes, that purple, in the Scriptures, is the color of royalty? The soldiers, as they were mocking Jesus as 'the King of the Jews' draped a purple robe over Him. While they were mocking Him, did they realize that He truly is the King of kings and therefore  truly worthy to wear a purple robe?

The One mocked suffered terribly. But He did it willingly. His love for us, for me, for the girls in the purple sparkly shoes: His love for a sin-soaked world led Him to the cross. But it didn't leave Him there. What hope I have in the risen Lord!

I might have to see if I can find some purple sparkly shoes.

Preparations

Our plans have a tendency to go awry. For the second time in almost 6 months we will be staying home because of snow.  In October we didn't go to my blue-suede brother's home for Thanksgiving because we would have been driving into the first horrible snowstorm of the winter season. So we decided then that Easter would be the perfect time to head East. Easter, after all, would be in the spring, the roads would be good, travelling would be a breeze.

Apparently the October snow storm foreshadowed the winter to follow. The winter to stay.  The winter that is still here almost 6 months later. The winter that brought with it more snow than we've had in years- many  many years, and enough ice-covered highways to thwart many travel plans.

Our travel plans haven't been thwarted by ridiculous road conditions; rather they have been sidelined by the possibility of flooding.  And we need to be prepared.

My Sweetheart bought an extra sump-pump just in case the one we have can't keep up. Dear Son and My Sweetheart have bought lined rubber boots. I didn't know such a thing existed.  Apparently the boots will keep feet warm up to, or down to, a temperature of -40 degrees C. That is the exact same temperature as 40 below F. If My Sweetheart and DS will be outside trenching in the sloppy slushy snow during the Easter break, they need warm toes. And the likelihood of said trenching in the coming week is high. We have snow this year up to the top of some bins. Mind you, that snow is that high because of the extreme winds this past week that blew it around like crazy!

So, while the outside preparations have begun, it's time to start thinking about the inside preparations for Easter. My dilemma is in what to cook. Ham? or Turkey? I have to soon decide so I can plan my grocery list. The last time this happened to me, at Thanksgiving, when our travel plans changed, I was in a car accident. And then the power went out when I was cooking the last minute turkey.  I'm already nervous just thinking about it.

This week I am contemplating what transpired that week before Good Friday. Preparations were underway for Passover. The sacrificial Lamb was prepared for what was to come. Jesus was preparing the disciples. "Remember me," He said, as they drank the wine and broke the bread. What a week of preparations that would have been- culminating in the crucifixion for our sins.

And then - Easter! The reason for hope. The Hope for the world. Hope for me.  Hope for you.

The Bunny

My mom and I took a trip in 1975 to visit her brother and his wife. This was, up to that point in my 11 years of life, the trip of a lifetime. We were going to be gone for 1 whole week. We were travelling with Raymond and Helen. They had been our neigbors to the south. When we looked out our big picture window on the farm we could, on clear days, see their house - their big, beautiful old 2 story farm house, complete with a wraparound verandah. Their house, I discovered years later, had been the same design as our old farm house, until Dad removed the upstairs and extended the rest of the house outwards. "It was cheaper to heat that way!"

Raymond and Helen were travelling out to the west coast in their winnebego. They knew Mom's brother lived out there so they invited her to come along. She invited me to come along!  Just me! The boys and Dad were going to spend Easter break all by themselves.  I never thought of them spending a week alone without Mom until a couple years ago. I guess they managed ok.  They likely had runny, salty oatmeal every morning for breakfast. There would have been chores for the boys to do.  The house didn't fall apart when we were gone.

I remember how excited I was when we finally boarded the winnebego.  We were travelling in style!  I was really travelling in style too, because Mom had bought me a new navy leather-look spring jacket! I was stylish with my static electric flyaway short shag hair cut, fangs, and leather- looking jacket.

After what seemed like hours in the winnebego we finally arrived at my uncle's home in Port Coquitlam. My uncle was so much fun and my aunt was so beautiful. I had never been to their home before because they lived so far away. They entertained us as though we were royalty. We went on excursions, we went shopping, we had a great time!

A highlight for me was spending the night at my aunt's brother's place. This brother of my aunt had kids my age and they were FUN! Because it was Easter time, and because they were so hospitable, they gave me a basket of Easter treats -a big basket of Easter treats. Chocolate eggs, small chocolate bunnies and a HUGE 1 pound solid chocolate bunny. I probably got the bunny basket 3 days into the week long stay. I kept it in 'my' bedroom. I hid it actually.  I thought perhaps my uncle would try to sneak it away. I didn't hide it very long though- why hide something you can eat?

All that chocolate was devoured in the next few days.  And I gained 10 pounds.  Just like that!  That was a lot of chocolate!

Maybe that's why the Easter Bunny left such small treats every year since...

Two and a half hours

She exuded friendliness when I finally was able to speak to her on the phone. And last Wednesday, My Sweetheart, Dear Son and I were finally in the car, on the road, and on our way to meet her. Our appointed meeting time was at 1:00 pm and the appointed meeting place was just inside the main doors, in front of the information kiosk.

We walked up the steps, pulled open the heavy oak doors at the main entrance, went inside and looked around.  "Maybe she said we were supposed to go into the main doors and turn left," I said to My Sweetheart and DS as we didn't see an information kiosk right there.  "Maybe we're supposed to go left and down this hallway..."

"Maybe we're supposed to go right by the main doors instead of left.."

"Let's go back left" DS said to My Sweetheart and I when both directions proved futile. "The finance office is there- maybe they know where we should go."

I pushed open the door, stuck my head inside and waited for someone to come to my rescue.
"Who are you supposed to meet?" the friendly lady asked, sensing our lostness.

"Marlene," I replied. 

"Oh, Marlene!! Ha ha! Oh, you're in the wrong area!  Go back outside, down to the main doors, and she'll be there!"

So, the main looking doors weren't the main doors. We finally made our way to the right place and Marlene, the friendly person I had talked to a few weeks prior, was waiting for us. She took us past the reception area, into her office, and proceeded to tell us everything we would need to know.  She put me at ease.  Marlene was going to take DS, My Sweetheart and myself on a tour of where DS will be studying Civil Engineering in the fall. A private tour. Bonus.

She took us upstairs, down corriders - "we don't call them hallways here," she said.  "And so you don't get lost, just look at the lockers in the corrider - each corrider has a different number and that number corresponds with the lockers."

Good thing she was leading this entourage. Down corriders, up stairs, down stairs, more corriders, more stairs, inside classrooms, labs, cafes, gyms, corriders.  We saw instructors, students, classrooms.  We went inside labs where students were working. We went down towards the corridor where the coop program was run.  "Oh, that's him!" Marlene exclaimed as a man breezed by with a smile and a wave.  "Him" was the man who would be looking after DS's work placement after his first 2 semesters.

After the tour we ended back at her office where our stuff had been safely locked away. The tour was over. We said our goodbyes and headed home. Two and a half hours away.

In a little over 5 months we will be heading back on the same highway. We'll be taking stuff in one vehicle, while DS takes stuff in his own vehicle. We've secured a suite for him a block from the back door of his school. And then , after we have him safely settled, we'll begin the drive back home - two and a half hours away.

Seasons

I think that we are probably experiencing day 155 of winter. That's just a guess. Honestly though, this winter season is dragging on; and it looks like, according to the weather network, our little community will be in for more snow before the week is done. I think this is the most snow we've had since 1974.

Even I, a self-proclaimed winter lover, is ready for spring. I, the one who hates spring, am ready for a change. I am tired of boots and winter coats, icy highways and hibernating indoors, long sleeved sweaters and nights in front of the fire.  I am tired of cancelled meetings and rescheduling appointments because of the bad weather.

I'm ready for a new season.

This past winter I've been experiencing a seasonal slump. Perhaps a little depression.  Maybe not. I just haven't felt like writing, among other things.  Who, after all, is interested in what I have to write about? 

Time for a new season.  A season of melting and planting, mud and tulips, cedar waxwings and robins. Time to shake off the doldrums and embrace spring.

I WILL embrace spring this year. The mud and the mayhem. The busy-ness of the seeding season will soon descend, and like it or not, I must be ready. I must be ready for the early morning alarm going off so that long days can be put in while the weather is nice. I must be ready to think about my garden and flowers. I  will need to clean up the yard. Once I get outdoors doing that I will be fine.  I will enjoy the season before the flies and mosquitoes and heat and thunderstorms.

And I will start to write again. I will write about my faith, my family, our farm- the everydayness that makes me who I am.  I will write to encourage  you I hope. I pray that my words will be used to lift you up, make you smile, prompt a laugh. More than anything I hope that my words will point you to the God who loves you so much that He sent Jesus to show the depth of His love.