Vignettes
When I was in the throes of my agony, i.e. surgery at the age of seven, I remember Dad saying: “I wish I could take your place”. I was struck by it and never forgot it. The notion of self-sacrifice was still completely foreign to me then (as a matter of fact I’m not too familiar with it presently either). Mom added, “Me too.” And I was never sure whether she meant she wished dad could take my place too or herself…
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When I was young we had a neighbor who was a severe alcoholic. I was told he gave up alcohol every Lent and then drink wildly on Easter. My first reaction was to cringe and think "legalism!" or "what's the point?". But it occurred to me that he gave up the most important thing in his life for forty days every year. He put God ahead of thing that almost defined him. How many of us can say that? The point is not to not have pleasures, but to acknowledge there is something more important that pleasure. And our wild-eyed neighbor did that every Lent.
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My wife recently laughed at me for writing the worst poem ever on the eve of our vacation to the Great Smokies. Funny, we bonded more over my lame poem than others that might've attained mere mediocrity.
Cusp, cusp,
cusp of vacation;
sweet rim of a Tuesday night
lipp’d edge
of freedom
momentary as a a dandelion’s flower
black asphalt’s answer;
tarway to heaven.
Don't say I didn't warn ya.
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I woke up one morning recently to find all my clothes either slightly too large or too small. The ones too large were hand me-downs from dad. The ones too small were hand me-ups from my stepson.
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I was reading an Updike novel to my wife one night, and we came across the phrase "deer scat" and since then we use it to amuse ourselves in unlikely situations. Example: she pays the bills and then leaves an Excel spreadsheet of them for me.
"I see you left some scat on my desk last nite," I say.
She laughs.
When I write her a check for my half of the bills, I write in the memo portion, "scat payment".
I know, too much information.
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“Draggin’ my chains….draggin’ my chains….well I'm movin’ in slow motion, but it’s motion just the same. Well I may not be free yet, but I’m draggin’ my chains” – Pam Tills song.
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