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No longer on the river and, again, an empty nester. Back to living on Fleming Island and making some more friends!

Thursday, November 27, 2008

A very early start to ThanksLiving Day

When Lynn, Lisa and family were here in August during our tropical storm, Faye, we had our windows and doors open for ventilation, especially when there was no electricity. People were coming around fairly regularly to check on us, see if we were leaking, asking of we needed anything as they headed out to Target. Hollaring from floor to floor, neighbor-stuff.
Afterwards, when I was in WI to help out with my father-in-law, I'd jokingly mentioned that Lynn should come down here to live, and Mom, too, of course, not joking. Lynn said no, it was too noisy in my building for her tastes. What? I am not aware of too much noise----noise, yes, sounds, yes, but usually not TOO much. I am aware when my upstairs neighbors arrive home and walk across the floor wearing hard-soled shoes, or slide their glass doors open but it certainly isn't on a level where it bothers me. Once in awhile I'll hear the downstairs neighbors talking on their balcony which is open air, but again, not bothersome.
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Well, this morning, I was awakened by a man shouting, calling out for help in a frantic fashion. Since I sleep with my TV on all night long it could have been from there but once I was more awake, I realized it was not from TV but instead, coming through the wall of the unit next door to mine! That has never, ever happened before, never hearing side to side sounds. I wondered what was going on and then remembered that their master bedroom backs up to mine. The elderly man who is recovering from a stroke occasionally gets agitated and is quite restless so his wife sleeps in another room in order to get proper rest. Evidently Jack needed to get up for the bathroom or something, or was frantically trying to get his wife's attention. Wow, it was a startling way to start my ThanksLiving Day! I know his wife gives thanks because her husband has survived all his maladies and lives another day, but I'll guess she wishes he'd start his day just a couple hours later!
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My evening got a bit screwed up last night as the plans to share worship and pie with Justin at Victory were changed. He called me, a bit upset, around 5:00 to report that his father and his girlfriend were going to attend church over there, too. I told Justin it was fine, I'd stay home and take care of a few meal preparations, but he said it was not fine, he knew I'd love the worship and Pastor's sermon so much. Justin knew he'd be uncomfortable in that situation and it hurts my heart to have him put there. He also told me, then, that he'd planned to come back over here with me after church and stay the night so we could go to church together today, but now he'd just go home and sleep. Nuts!
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He called me immediately after church on his way home and was excited about the singing and the sermon. He kept saying, "You'd have loved it! You'd be crying!" Does he know his mama or what? The sermon text was the story of the Prodigal Son, how ironic! Justin said he saved a service folder for me because it has funny things on the cover for which to be thankful, like "chocolate shakes, warm sweatshirts, people who bring out the best in you"..............He said he knew that one would get me, bring on the tears! Rachel, the music director, played a wonderful intro and accompaniment for "Now Thank We All Our God", one of Mom's funeral hymns, and Justin said again, how much I missed. I realize our worship service today won't quite match the grandiosity of Victory's service because we don't have the amazing organ or the powerful speaker, but we do have the same Word, the same Gospel and the same hymnal---to God be the glory!