here's one to test the 100% responsibility concept

I have no control over how events happen, but I am 100% responsible for how I reacte to those events. Eveyone else is 0% responsible for how I reacte to those events. That's the premise, and I am 100% in agreement with it. Yesterday and today are a test. I'm sure of it.

Our neighbors are out of town. We are watching their dog while they're gone. Their dog is 14 years old, hard of hearing and has several health problems. One of them is dry eyes. He has to have eye drops twice a day. My daughter and I attempted to put drops in night before last. He refused and attempted to bite me. That sets the tone for yesterday and today.

Our own dog is 13 years old and has a few health issues as well. One of them is a very sensitive stomach. Tuesday night he ate a bird cookie . . . that's a bland cookie covered in seeds to be hung outside to feed the birds. The cookie fell on the ground and our dog ate it. Several times throughout the night he left very messy, very smelly deposits on the carpet. I found them yesterday morning and proceeded to wetvac them up and clean the carpet. These proceedings left my daughter and I pushing the envelope to get her to school on time, so my wife volunteered to feed our neighbor's dog and put in eye drops. The dog would have no part of the drops and bite my wife in the hand. Rather than jerk her hand away and tear the skin even more she relaxed her hand and the dog bite harder. She pried his mouth off her hand and got a few teeth marks on that hand as well. She called me on her cell phone and I met her at the doctor's office. She has about twelve puncture marks in both hands. This morning her hands are swollen, but they don't appear to be very red. That's a good thing.

We woke up to round two today. Our dog had left another deposit on the carpet, so I proceeded to clean that up, not realizing that the wetvac had no cleaning solution in it until I was well into the cleanup operation. My wife awoke and said she would fill the wetvac and go over the area again in a little while, so I went across the street to take care of the neighbor's dog. I heard him barking as I approached the house and I heard him growling as I began to open the door. I yelled his name a few times and cracked the door a bit. Once he realized who it was he calmed down and I was able to get in, feed him and let him outside for a few minutes, but I did not attempt to put drops in his eyes.

My daughter and I have a tradition of going to McDonalds for breakfast on Wednesdays, and since yesterday was so crazy we forgot about it and decided to go this morning. We got to school 2 minutes before the bell. After we left for McDonalds, my wife loaded the wetvac and started recleaning the den carpet when the wetvac fell over, dumping all the cleaning fluid and the yucky carpet sludge all over the carpet, the recliner and the wall. My wife called a few minutes ago (in the middle of her den recovery operation) and asked if our daughter had left her purse in my truck. Our daughter called from school after discovering that she didn't have her purse (complete with cell phone, $100 calculator, class assignment book, drawing pad and more). I went to the parking garage and checked . . . no purse. My wife drove over to McDonalds and found the purse still hanging on the back of one of the chairs. It's only 9:00 am Thursday morning. This day can only get better . . . RIGHT!?!

abandoned luncheonette

I ran across one of my favorite albums last night . . . "Abandoned Luncheonette" by Hall and Oates. The album came out in 1973, but I didn't actually discover Hall and Oates music until 1975, when their self-titled album came out. I fell in love with "Sara Smile" and started looking for more Hall and Oates music. I found their second album, "Abandoned Luncheonette" and once again fell in love with one of their songs . . . "Abandoned Luncheonette". I could just picture this couple sitting in a dust-covered booth, holding hands across the table and remembering earlier years. Quite a nice ballad. If you haven't heard it, I hope you have the opportunity someday. I wore out two albums, and when cassettes came along, I wore out two cassettes. I only have one cassette of it left and it is a bit squeeky. Thank heavens its on CD now.

Here are the lyrics to my second favorite Hall and Oates song. (My first favorite is "Kiss On My List" from 1980 . . . which was playing the night I asked my wife to marry me.)

Artist: Hall & Oates
Title: Abandoned Luncheonette
Year: 1973

They sat in an Abandoned Luncheonette
Sipping imaginary cola and drawing faces in the tabletop dust
His voice was rusty from years as a sergeant on "this man's army"
They were old and crusty

She was twenty when the diner was a baby
He was the dishwasher, busy in the back, his hands covered with Gravy
Hair black and wavy
Brilliantine slick, a pot-cleaning dandy,
He was young and randy

Day to day, to day . . . today
Then they were old, their lives wasted away
Month to month, year to year
They all run together
Time measured by the peeling of paint on the luncheonette wall

They sat together in the empty diner
Filled with cracked china
Old news was blowing across the filthy floor
And the sign on the door read "this way out", that's all it read
That's all it said

a quarter for a cup of coffee

As always, the young man spent his lunch time at some fast food restaurant in mid-town. And, as always, he kept his eyes open for just the right opportunity. He could count on there being a man or woman hanging around pretty close to the restaurant with their hand out for a "donation". Always asking for a quarter for a cup of coffee. Always giving some story about a mother needing an operation or a son needing shoes and he could tell that many of them were really just looking for a handout so they could buy their next bottle of wine. The misery of seeing these folks living on the streets, especially during the wintertime bothered him greatly, but he couldn't change the situation one quarter at a time. Of course he felt for all the men and women he saw every day as he drove through mid-town in his warm car, worked in his comfortable office, and enjoyed the benefits of his employment. But there was one thing different about him . . . at lunchtime he sought out opportunities to help . . . just a little bit. He observed the homeless folks and he learned to discern the difference between the ones who were truly desperate and those who had made a "career" of begging for quarters. It was the dirty, quiet, humble ones that caught his eye. It was the ones just milling around, not begging for a quarter, not approaching him as he entered the restaurant, not asking for help, that he saw as the ones of greatest need. So the fast food restaurants of mid-town became his mission field. Every day he would look for an opportunity to invite someone to join him for lunch. And every day, without fail, he could see the difference that a hot lunch and a smile could make in those folks. It doesn't take a lot to warm a body and a soul. A quarter is just a cold coin that may or may not get spent on a meal, but to invite someone off the street to join him for lunch . . . that was a bold move. He got a few looks from the other diners, and at first he was a little embarassed at their stares, but the warmth he felt inside from sharing his meal and his table with someone in need quickly overshadowed the stares. Some of the people he met on his mission field had been homeless for years, and some were new to the streets, frightened and feeling hopeless. Perhaps his meal and his conversation was all many of them needed to point them toward a brighter future. He never knew the results of his encounters with them. He could only pray and hope that they would find what they were looking for.

The young man doesn't work in mid-town anymore. He works in a suburban part of the city, and he doesn't see homeless folks very often, but he always has his eyes open for an opportunity. And when an opportunity arises, he's always ready to share his lunchtime with someone who needs a meal as much as he needs to give it.

'tis the season . . . Merry Christmas!

OK, I have to rant a little bit this morning. It really bothers me when I see "xmas" or "holiday parade". My hometown observed their annual Christmas parade last week, but a few days before, I noticed that a flashing sign announced that a certain street would be closed for the Holiday Parade. Some folks actually complained and the sign was changed to read simply "Closed for parade", which is better, but it still bothers me. It's a Christmas parade. Who can possibly be offended by that! What is Christmas all about anyway? Take Christ out of Christmas and there is nothing to celebrate.

I read in the newspaper this past weekend about a town who's fearless, all-knowing leaders took the Christ child out of their town's nativity scene, leaving all the other figures in place. The reason cited was that it would be less-offensive to everyone. OK, that urks me. My daughter observed that doing something as thoughtless and offensive as that was a slam against all Christians who celebrate the birth of Our Savior. You don't have to celebrate Christ. It's your choice to believe the way you believe, but you don't have to take away my right and desire to celebrate Christmas.

Christmas is a time of reflection on who we are . . . as a nation, as a community, as a person. The essence of Christmas is giving and caring and sharing. What harm is there in sending Christmas cards (not holiday cards), or hanging a Christmas stocking, or marking Christmas Day on the calendar. What harm can there be in letting Christians celebrate Christ. In America, all other religions are granted their freedom to celebrate without being harassed or offended, and that is how it should be. But we desire the same respect! It's time Christians stopped being quiet about things like this and make our voices heard. If we don't stand up for our beliefs, it won't be long until Christmas won't even be listed on our calendars.

Let me know how you feel about Christmas . . . good, bad or indifferent. I would like to know if I am the only one bothered by the direction our nation has taken with respect (or disrespect as the case may be) to Christians.