"God bless you, you smell good!"

My perfume smells good to others, apparently, as several people in recent days remarked about it. I wear “Obsession”, by Calvin Klein, and have done so since 2000 when I discovered it when on a cruise in the Mediterranean with my former spouse. The gift shop on the ship offered samples. I loved the spiciness of it, light and not at all flowery. Yes, it is slightly more expensive than most pay, but a little bit goes a long way. I was in the elevator once with a policeman who had dropped off paperwork of Travis, my neighbor, who is a public servant. The policeman was in already when he stopped for me on my floor and after a second, he said to me, “God bless you, you smell good!”

When I was leaving the other day, I rode down in the elevator with Travis and he complimented me, saying I smelled nice. Well, thank you, Travis! When I got outside and passed Connie on the walkway, she said, “Boy, you smell good today!” I thanked her as well but then replied it was the same scent I wear every day. I don’t think I over did it at all, as I like to use it sparingly to make it last. Usually, though, I don’t go immediately from shower, to being dressed, to being out the door which is how my day was on Friday.

Monday I watched half of the Packer/Viking game with my neighbor and he asked me, “Is that Shalimar?” I said, “Is who Shalimar?” since I thought he was talking about football! No, it was a perfume, but he said mine was nice, light. Thank you again. I had not reapplied any since getting ready for the day and this was nearly 12 hours later.

Today again someone said to me that I always smell so good and I thanked them for the compliment. And Judy A. said that people from the Midwest have a hard time taking a compliment. Well, I accept!

A week of ThanksLiving and ThanksLoving!!!

I used that expression, ThanksLiving, when talking about it with my upstairs neighbor, Randy, and he attempted to correct me. He is a student of history and wanted to defend the celebration of Thanksgiving in our nation. In my own defense, I explained the reason why I like ‘my’ term better, to live a life in thanks every day rather than one day a year. It takes nothing away from the historical first Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims and Indians, but carries out the giving thanks for daily use and appreciation. Yesterday, I had much to celebrate for ThanksLiving:

My sister, Kerry, going through some tough times following her spouse’s heart surgery, was blessed with a bounty of meat and fish. Her friend from work was cleaning out her freezer and brought the meat for Kerry to take home. She has to cook ‘heart healthy’ for her spouse, which is costly enough, but Kerry can eat whatever she wishes, and will, now that her freezer is filled!

My niece, Lisa, reported that between her two churches, the one where they are members and the one where the boys attend school, have put them on an Angel of Hope list again this year. Being on this list allows them some extra blessings from the community, if I remember correctly. Last year they also received a gift of diapers, right after Angelo was born, as one of the church members works for a paper company which manufactures them. The diapers came in large plastic bags, if memory serves, and Lisa was so happy to have them.

My longtime friend reported her husband had recently found a new job after his plant was closing in their hometown. She had been stressing, spent sleepless nights spent reciting memorized hymns of trust to rock herself to sleep. Monday I was telling the folks at Bible study how my little nephews were memorizing the first stanza of “Wake, Awake For Night is Flying” as their memory treasure at school, and what a treasure it is! My friend was making use of those same hymns learned in grade school and high school as her comfort and prayers. A friend from their church was able to connect her hubby with a job, doing similar work to what he has been doing all these years.

Now that the prayers are answered in the affirmative, she is irritated with herself for not having more trust. I think we all do this, and in my case, the First Commandment violation is primary. Knowing better doesn’t seem to change the reaction, thinking the solution or the relief from a problem is from or through ourselves. She apologized for not letting me know sooner that they had problems but said she could not discuss it without breaking down in tears. Yes, I am familiar….I told her how I imagine the Lord thinking:“Tsk, tsk, tsk…Don’t you remember I promised to be with you to the very end of the age?” I should and would pray,“Lord, I believe; help thou my unbelief.” Her reaction after this blessing is to be a blessing to others, as their cup now runneth over. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life…”