Children's Sermon

Well, let’s see we had Halloween, Thanksgiving and there is another big holiday coming up on Monday (Nov. 28^th). Does anyone know what that is?

It’s a very special day. It’s my birthday.

Some people hate birthdays. There are women who are 39 forever . . . but I love them.

What do you love about them? Cake, presents, ice cream, love . . . .

I love them because it’s your special day and you have people who love and care about you saying “You are special.” I wanna feel like that every day.

The only thing I don’t like about birthdays is the song. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear . . . .Happy birthday to you. Perhaps we could revise the words. We love you so much. We care about you. You look like a . . . . And you smell like one too. Just kidding about that last part.

The other thing I don’t like about birthdays is when my boys were little and the one with the birthday was getting all the attention and presents, the other one would get jealous and sad. When I was little, my grandmother had a solution for that. They were called love gifts. She would bring little gifts for everyone who didn’t have a birthday that day. Just some little thing but it made you feel good.

That to me is the whole idea. Love.

Dear God: Please help us remember how special we are and that we have people who love and care about us. Amen

Nightmares

Courtesy of Buster

I have a recurring nightmare (among those dealing with pregnancy at age 46 and exams/graduate thesis I forgot about) about walking through the halls of a nameless, faceless high school and being late/lost on my way to class. Well, that nightmare became a reality at the high school Back To School Night. When my son handed me his schedule – he offered to draw me a basic map. “What entrance will you start from?” he asked helpfully. “The auditorium . . . “ That was the last I heard of a map that never materialized.

As Iooked over his schedule with room numbers 102, 208, 307 and the like I said “How hard could it be – first floor, second floor, third floor.” “You’ll see,” he smiled.

Well, the hallways were extremely crowded and I was a bit claustrophobic. But I did find all of the classrooms, albeit, some of them later rather than sooner. I just took a stab at where I should go and in most cases ended up in the right place. That is except for one door that read “To Music Room, Room 218.” This door led to a sort of dead end room/stairway that was clearly not room 218. Also, sometimes the room numbers were not in sequence. Shouldn’t room 209 be near room 208? Sometimes consecutive numbers were at opposite ends of the hallway. So see some of my nightmare did come true.

On the upside, the teachers all seemed nice and fairly outgoing, or they were odd. There were a couple of odd ones. But that makes life interesting. Only one teacher seemed more quiet – the English teacher. Perhaps she is more cerebral.

It was like old home week walking through those halls and seeing many old friends from around town. I noticed that I felt a lot more confident that I did walking around in high school some 30 years ago and that was a good feeling. Progress, ain’t it grand?!

As the bells rang to switch classes, something else was not the same. The bells were fake, a recording piped in over the PA. How disappointing. Perhaps the bells don’t work anymore. Perhaps they did this because we weren’t on the normal bells schedule (5 minute classes). Perhaps no one else noticed but me. Odd. That’s what makes life interesting.

Still, I hope they have real bells.

Unrelated Thoughts

• In the joy department, we had one oblong, odd, oval shaped egg from our chickens. It turned out to have a double yolk. That was our thrill for the day.
  



• I’ve decided to be less stressed. Just this simple declaration seems to help.
  



• In the I told you so department, Buster literally trashed the house on recent rainy day. I warned Doug before I left that day that he would likely do some damage as he has been surreptitiously taking apart the dog house when outside.
  



• Love: Your Own Personal Blog Entry
  
  I had a good friend who died a while back who epitomized love. She was always so supportive and would give me a gift it seemed like everytime we got together. The thing is when she was dying and I spoke to her for the last time on the phone I didn't want to say "Thank you for being such a great friend" because that would suggest her ultimate demise. I said something lame like, "Well.........................." The point is I really appreciate you, our friendship, laughter and love. I feel like if I was really in need you would help me and I know if you were really in need I would help you. And that my friend is love. So I love you. Not in a lesbian kind of way but in a love kind of way. And I have guy friends I love too but wouldn't likelytell them for fear they would get the wrong idea. For the record: I am not a lesbian. I feel blessed and lucky to have you as a friend. And I know I was blessed and lucky to have Helen as a friend - though I didn't really tell her because I didn't want to suggest it was the end.