Do you not just love that photo of Angelo I posted yesterday? He is so precious, awake or asleep, in my most humble opinion. Can you believe how much in love I am with him and have not even smelled him yet? Smitten, I am totally smitten.
Mike and Andy were expected to be back to my house yesterday by noon to apply another coat of ‘mud’, the lovely white kind of mud, to the new drywall. My phone rang early in the a.m. with my friend on the other end, to finish our conversation of two hours from the day before.
So, my ears and elbows had fallen asleep while talking on the phone so long yesterday, and today I should be busily gathering my thoughts from my papers and putting together my version of what took place. Everyone has a different version of a crime they just witnessed, Which is why we need to compare notes and put together an agreeable yet comprehensive report.
It turned out that Mike did not come to skim the walls until around 3:00 pm, having been delayed by helping his neighbor replace a water heater, his least favorite job. In the meanwhile, I had exhausted my soda supply, save for a partial bottle of Diet Pepsi, which I kept for emergency. As long as Mike was not here yet, I decided to go on a soda run, leaving the door unlocked so he could get in. But, when I went outside, it was pouring rain! It was coming from the west or southwest, which might be why I did not realize it was raining from my east facing desk. It was extremely gloomy and windy, I should have known. I stood under the canopy talking with Connie who said it had only recently begun raining. As we talked, Gus came outside and chatted with us. Then, the rain just came showering heavier and I said, “Man, if I wasn’t going on a soda run, I would just go back upstairs…” Gus said, “What? Do you need soda? Diet? Come with me…” and off we went to his condo. He pulled six Diet Cokes out of his pantry, claiming he never drinks them, and bagged them up for me. He asked what I was doing and I told him working on stuff for church, for the Ladies’ Advent Service. Then I said I had sent a request to my neighbors for borrowing a white robe for the program, and he said, “Follow me…” So, now I had six sodas and a white robe and no need to venture into the rain! Several others replied to the e-mail request (Gus does not have e-mail) with offers of robes. I had to laugh, though, that no one in the congregation was able to offer a white robe…hmmmm….
Later I was at my desk, finishing off the already cold Diet Pepsi from the 2-liter bottle when Linda J. called. Earlier in the afternoon I had sent her my travel arrangements for Manitowoc, letting her know, warning her, that I was coming for a visit. Whoo hoo!! As we talked, I went to the kitchen to retrieve one of the hopefully now chilled sodas from Gus. I popped it open and took a sip, and went “AAACCCHHHH!” Upon further inspection, the cans and plastic bottles were dated from 2007 and 2008. I love you, Gus, but man, that was bad! As I told Linda, in the coming days when the world is crashing down around us, that horrible soda might be absolutely delicious, but for right now, it cleaned out my drains nicely. Ewwww! They definitely should have had a born on date as well as a death date stamped on them.
Judy J. called me at some point during the day to help her find out the groundbreaking date for a church they had attended back in the 1970’s in Cincinnati. Ok, no problem! I went to the WELS website, looked up the church in the Locator, found its web page and gave Judy the phone number. After she hung up, I went deeper into the website, clicked on their most recent newsletter and ta da! They had just celebrated their 40th anniversary so a history of the congregation was included in the newsletter. Names and dates galore! I called her right back with the information but left it on her machine and sent it via e-mail. She is putting together a pictorial history for her kids for CHRISTmas and is trying to put dates and events together. Lots of research, memory stirring, crying, and smiling about the good times. And playing detective!
Judy picked me up for dinner and Bible study, this time going to Panera Bread. We did not eat outside as the weather has turned to fall. There, sitting at one of the little tables, was Andy, Carol’s son, working on his laptop. I planted a smooch on his high forehead and expressed how nice it was to see him again. My mac ‘n cheese was absolutely delicious and Judy had the same thing in a smaller portion with a half-sandwich. She loved it too! Bible study was better attended this time with the other Judy and Debbie showing up. We all stood by the door waiting to be let in as pastor was running late, doing a pick-up of his son from soccer, then handing him off to his mom, who was parked in the lot. Good thing I had a key for the Fellowship Hall so I could let us in there to go potty. None of us have keys for the classroom building, as only a few folks have that privilege. Judy took me to Hess Mart for a soda run and came inside to help me carry them out. When we got back to my house, she came upstairs to get her little container of bean soup which I had ready for her. Hope she enjoys it for days to come. She said it is good that she lives alone!
Since I put out my request to the neighbors in my building, men and women both have offered me their robes to borrow, so besides accepting Gus’s terry cloth robe, I will be using a luxurious robe from Jessica. He must never know about the bad soda nor the satin robe I am borrowing from Jessica, because he is just the sweetest guy. Judy said she saw some lovely robes at Dillard’s but they only came in colors or she would have bought one for me to use. Isn’t that nice? I think so too!
