Lurking in the shadows

I keep hearing from my friends that they keep up with the insanity of my life by reading my blog. What a riot! And I'm glad you are all there. I suppose it's nice for me to be able to type this stuff once and know that you are keeping up with me. I seem to have lost control of most of my life. We'll see if it ever comes back to some semblance of ... quiet.

Hmmm, I remember telling Alison one year that if I could just get this and that dealt with, my life should quiet down. I quit a couple of committees so that I could relieve the pressure. Ah ha ... but, the pressure never releases - it just changes.

I'll be taking time off tomorrow from work while I join my family at Children's Hospital. My nephew, Matthew is having open heart surgery to replace a defective valve. He's known about this since he was a child and it's finally time to deal with it. It occurred to me that I'm awfully fortunate to have made the life change that I did last fall. I started my new job on February 1. On Feb. 26, Max had ankle replacement surgery. A blizzard made it imperative that I stay at home with him ... so, I took time from work to care for a hobbling husband. On April 27, my father was killed and I took time off to deal with family issues. On June 1, my nephew is in Omaha to have open heart surgery and I will take time off to be with the family as we wait and pray. I can not express my gratitude enough for how God cares for me and my family.

We keep dealing with weird stresses in our lives, but God makes it possible for us to get through all of them as we continue to rely on Him for strength! (Phil 4:13).

Max and I went out to dinner this evening with Jim, Janet and Matthew, and Janet's parents, who are in town to support them through the surgery. Inlaws are interesting people. I've known Janet's parents for a long time. Carol and I actually sang for one of Janet's sister's wedding years ago. We spent Christmas with that family several times. I've always been thankful for Janet in our family. She certainly has kept Jim on the straight and narrow and has given us some amazing kids.

I guess I am just not an 'inlaw' kind of person. I don't do the whole extended family thing. Notice that I don't leap over hill and dale to get to Ohio on a regular basis to spend time with Max's family. I've been very happy to just send Max out there on his own every year. I suppose it's a bad thing and I should try to correct it, but really folks ... it's just not my thing! Bland, boring, inane banter drievs me out of my mind. What in the world do you say to people that you don't know and will never get to know well? I have no idea and it hurts my brain to figure it out.

My sister, Carol? She's simply amazing at it. She gets life stories from nearly everyone she comes into contact with. They open up to her and pour out their information ... all over her. I've watched her and walked away astounded. I'm just not good with that.

Put me in a situation where people will have intelligent conversation, though and actually engage with me - and I will never want to leave!

So, you have to know that this evening as we all went out for dinner, to ensure they would find the restaurant, I rode in Don and Doris' car. Hmmm, I haven't seen them in at the very least ... 10 years and I can imagine that I may never see them again after this weekend (they live in Denver). They live a very quiet reserved life - far from what I live (stop giggling) and much like my father are highly impressed with wealth and prestige. Again, far from how I live.

Let's just say it was an exercise in ... tolerance. Aw heck, I probably would drive them crazy!

Ok ... before I go to bed tonight (we're going to head to the hospital about 8:00 tomorrow morning), I have to tell a funny on myself.

I've been noticing that my eyes are pretty washed out ... I needed to start wearing mascara. I've been wearing a little bit for the last week or so, but I also started wearing reading glasses and most people just assumed ... or commented on the glasses.

I got some new mascara and this morning before I got out of the car at work, I put it on. And went in to work.

After awhile, Cody (the young, sound and tech director at church) walked into my office. He looked at me a bit and then asked "Do you have an appointment today?" "Ummm ... no, why?" "You've got makeup on!" (oh for heaven's sake). We laughed and moved on.

A little bit later, Julie walked into my office. And said, "Your eyes are very pretty! I love the makeup" I just laughed! Good heavens! So, later on, I walked into Jen's office. And from her mouth comes, "Your eyes are beautiful! Do you have mascara on?"

Oh, are you all kidding me? So, I either have to wear this forever or stop wearing it completely, because I truly hate having attention paid to me in this way. Well ... if you think we're done, we're not. I went out to lunch with Matt and his family and then again to dinner this evening. While we were sitting at the table tonight, Matt was beside me. He kept looking and then he said, "You're wearing makeup! That looks really nice."

I couldn't believe it. So ... there it is ... I'm stuck with wearing mascara for the rest of my life. Oh ... to top it off, Max replies to Matthew, "Have you ever seen her completely made up? She's beautiful!" Hmmm ... it sucks to be me. {grin}