Vacation Day III

Uncertain Heart

Today was good and bad, as are all days I suppose on some level.

Don’t get me wrong, vacation is still AWESOME. I just got a bit of bad news from my sister and my heart is full of such pain and sorrow. I know these are exactly the types of emotions Jesus has taken to the cross, but I HATE to see any person OR animal for that matter, hurting senselessly at the hand of another. I’m trying SO hard to give this completely to God and since I am not THERE, I cannot do anything more than pray anyway, but it just hurts right now.

Okay so the good…today started with some WONDERFUL Posole’ which is a Mexican version of “hominy” (nothing like the “canned version”) with red Chile and meat and cheese and I put a tortilla in it. It is so wonderful. We went to the Frontier…which is sort of a “staple” among Albuquerque-ans. It has been here since 1 971. It sits just on the edge of the UNM campus and it is a very popular haunt for the young and ‘mature’ alike.

It’s a place with character. Due to it’s ideal locale, the outside door is ‘home’ to many homeless ‘regulars’ who sit in wait for someone to ‘help a guy out with some change’. There is never any lack of takers and givers of money and meal alike. There are people who stand out there that I have seen since I worked here just 5 years ago. Just a reminder that life can and does stand still if we don’t move forward at God’s urging.

Just inside the door of this place is a line of patrons and almost as many cashiers with green lights flashing to “prompt” the next patron to the window for orders. The place runs like a well oiled machine. I’ve been in there when the line went back over 50 feet and I got my meal ordered and received within 10 minutes. You heard me right…10 minutes. Top that Mickey D’s! Fast food my EYE!

Upon completion of ordering you are now lulled to one of the 5 rooms, each with an individual style and ‘artist’ representation through all types of art, both 2-D and 3-D. I always find my way to the back room (you know me!). The 5th room is the “John Wayne” room with a huge 4 x 6 foot painting of the “Duke” hanging immediately upon entry. Surrounding every wall is southwest art, mostly all of Mr. Wayne, along with southwest wool ‘carpets’ that resemble those serape’ ponchos that are popular south of the border. The carpets line the ceiling, somewhat bowed by aging and settling factors.

The people who frequent this place are so very diverse. In our room today we entered and there were only 2 other tables taken by small parties of four or less. Within 30 minutes one large “family” of extended relations came in and pulled 6 tables together to dine together. Then within moments of their arrival came a group of “mature” women (over 60) basketball players wearing their jerseys and apparently coming straight from a game or practice. They were having a wonderful time just interacting and reveling in their apparently strengths on the court. I just looked around, breathing it all in as time sped by.

We then headed over to another area of town, a strip mall of sorts, with a very eclectic bookstore and a unique paper store called “Pennysmiths”. I love paper and ribbon almost as much as cards and they have it all. I found a “book” stamp that you can have special made with you name (I’m ordering kpjara), and stamp your personal library to ensure return to the owner. I loved it. I love books and have tons that are loaned out and I’m sure the “borrowers” forget where they got the book. Unfortunately sometimes I forget who I loaned what to, and I’m just not prepared to have an official “check-out” system complete with Dewey-decimal-online checkout.

Guess what. I also found some more cards. I love cards…they are like a breath of fresh air and ‘soul lifters’ for recipients…or at least that’s what I tell myself. I found one with a bottle of “Aunt Jemima Syrup” telling a bottle of “Frangelica”:

“I’m a morning person & you’re a night person.”

That is PRICELESS. You’ve got to admit it! You laughed! I also found a line of cards done by children and submitted to kateharp@aol.com. Here are some samples:

“Sometimes you just need to take a nap and get over it.” Maura Stuard …age 8

“Life is about who you love” Anna Yu…age 12

“I cannot seem to find out why I got picked to be in this family.” Hassan Jeng…age 9

but my favorite “card” purchase today is this:

“He who does not see God in the next person he meets, needs look no further.” Mahatma Gandhi.

The rest of the day held time at the ‘graduation party’ for a future Jayhawk (bless his Rock Chalk heart)…and his poor parents with a son at KU and a daughter at Texas Tech.

I got to spend some time with “Tree”, as highly anticipated, and her family. I had an opportunity to just encourage her to live “life” and not “work it away”. I listened to her ‘story’, the parts we hadn’t been privy to in our absence and I tried to remind her God brought us together as family to walk arm and arm together and not do it alone! I hope I conveyed it well enough.

I will spend more time with her tomorrow at the wedding reception and I will continue to pray for her soul. I know God has great plans for her and I know she is walking in much fear…been there, done that. I love her and I will pray her up to heaven’s gate and back! I also love her family, which includes the most wonderful 9 y.o. daughter “E” who I had a great time interacting with. That’s such an awesome age!

Tomorrow is the wedding of “Little Tree”, a young lady who is marrying the perfect partner (thank God). She dog/house sat for us when we went on our honeymoon almost 8 years ago, and was only 17 at the time. She was dusting our home and accidentally broke one of our champagne flutes used at the reception and worried deeply about the “curse” on our marriage. Silly girl, curses from broken glasses...

She searched high and lo to find a ‘replacement’. (Because I am a sale shopper, it’s hard to replace anything I purchase, LOL), but she found one at Pier 1 and when we returned from our trip she confessed tearfully, apologized profusely and was so concerned our marriage would be cursed. I assured her otherwise and guess what she’s getting for her wedding gift…that’s right…those same champagne flutes. I had to dust the heck out of them, but they are as beautiful as the day we wed. I know she’ll cherish them! And heck we never even drank our wedding champagne (we received on the flight to our destination).

Tomorrow is our last full day here, then back to life, back to reality! Vacation is good, but I do feel a pull homeward to my sister and her children…to my beading and to my church and to my friends and to my full-sized computer…these small keys on this laptop are so slowing me down! I’ve been working on THIS post for over 40 minutes…good grief!

I pray each of you has a blessed Sunday…I’m going to be visiting a new church…one I haven’t cleaned a toilet in, LOL (just kiddin’ Abs)…and I know we’ll be blessed in the House of the Lord as we are each day in His presence.

Joy and prayers to each of you and special prayer of strength to MOMRN2 who is enduring such incredible trials each day. God be with her and her family. May strength, peace, love and the presence of Jesus help her endure and be her voice in times of such battle. Also to my sister who has had more pain in her life then any person should ever know on earth. She is strong and growing stronger and I pray a hedge of protection around her life and her family and that wisdom would go before her and guide her steps each moment.

I’m moving one day at a time on this journey…