yellow pages

We were in the northern part of the city, at a dinner party with some friends, and needed to figure out how to cross the river to find the restaurant where her sister was playing.

"I know the name of the place; can we use your computer to look it up?"

"well, you can, but I don't have internet."

quiet for a few seconds...

"does anybody have an iPhone?"

"we have a Garmin in our car."

"well, look, here's a big map of the city on the wall."

we trace the roads down to the general area, but still don't know the exact address of the restaurant. The host remembers he has a yellow pages in the closet, and brings that out.

"here's the address! and the phone number."

Good old Yellow Pages

Calvin and Hobbes

One year for Christmas my siblings and I decided to get a Calvin & Hobbes book for my father. But instead of wrapping it and putting it under the tree we secretly read it in bed - throwing it under the pillow when he came in to say goodnight. When he finally received it, it was already well-worn and chuckled over, having made the rounds among his loving children.

Another year for Christmas my dad put a big, heavy present on my lap. I opened it up and didn't know what to say; I was astonished at seeing the "Complete Calvin & Hobbes" sitting there. My dream had come true! What had I done to merit such a wonderful gift? And how can I take care of this with so many siblings - oh wait? It's a family gift? For all of us? ahhh. well I am sure that we will all truly enjoy it...

Today I received my own Calvin & Hobbes book - "It's a Magical World" - which contains the latter years of the strip. And it's my own, my very own. Given to me by Natasha for no other reason than that she loves me.

mahwidge

I was a bridesmaid in my friends' wedding this past weekend. It was a new experience for me and was quite enjoyable as well as thought-provoking. I've known both of my friends for a long time and it's fun that they married each other.

All the bridesmaids and groomsmen had pieces of tape marking where they were supposed to stand. I used to have a mark, but it walked away. I stood there, watching things progress, when I realized I wasn't in line with the rest of the bridesmaids. I inched my way over but found that now my view was blocked by shoulders on the steps above me. Now all I could see was Kent, the groom. I had an odd feeling. It was not at all like Kent was saying the vows to us, but there was an aspect that we were hearing the vows the same way Monica did. I couldn't see anything but Kent. I didn't see Monica's reaction. I couldn't see Pastor Rick saying the vows for Kent to repeat. I felt like the big brother behind the bullied kid in school, or the invisible friend of a second grader, or imagine this:a bridesmaid standing up with her friend at her wedding. I was there to support her, to hear the vows and be a witness to them, to encourage them in their marriage and to remind them of the promises they made to each other.

At the wedding I also had a sense of the deep profundity and ancientness of the ceremony - connecting a man and a woman in an intentional and purposeful way. We were dancing on the edge of something incredibly meaningful and established. I pray that Kent and Monica spend the rest of their life relishing and learning more about that dance and the deep deep love it comes from.

Otto

I found out that one of my friends at the nursing home passed away last month. I sent him a letter, and it was returned to me, stamped "unable to deliver." Since he was 101 and lived in a nursing home, I checked online to see if I could find anything. He was born August 1906 and died May 17, 2008.

Otto Schoerner was one of my favorite people to visit at the nursing home. Almost every week he would say, in his soft, slightly accented voice, "oh, I would love to join you [in a weekly activity], but you see, I'm legally blind." He would take my hand and say "now you're from North Dakota? Karen?" He remembered each of us volunteers because of where we lived. Otto was always encouraging. He had lived as a missionary in China for 20 years, before international conflict kicked him out of the country. When he heard that I would be living in Mexico for this next year, he was very excited. Often he would pray for me and kiss my cheek.

He had wonderful stories, about being born in Pennsylvania but getting stuck in Germany with his family during WWI. He proposed to his wife by letter in 1938, and it took months for the letter to get to her and for him to receive a reply.

I took a picture with him the same night I took one with Dee and Jim but I didn't post it because it turned out poorly (Otto couldn't sit up and his dear face is only partly in the picture). Despite the lack of pictures online, you can read a little about his life in this newspaper article written after his death.

conversation snippets

One of my Aunt Kathryn's classmates (from the class of 1943, here for their 65th college reunion) "We graduated with Billy Graham, and we hear so much about his life, but God has done great things in so many of our lives."

The person a few spaces behind me in line for commencement, "the alphabet is a confusing place to be."

Grandpa, holding my hand, "when your dad was a little boy in church, he would be restless, and I would take his hands and rub his fingertips. Quieted him down. Life is good."

Commencement speaker, Akiko Minato, "We are united in Christ, Galatians 3:28, and we are called to be peacemakers."

Tyler Fulton, "Karen, if I don't see you again, have a nice life."

The snake and the mouse

We have a little mouse in the kitchen - quite a cute one, in fact. I've seen it three times, which is three times more than anyone else.
We also have a pet snake and we joked about letting loose the snake to catch the mouse, so it was rather humorous when Sarah Davis came into my room with a sheepish grin on her face asking if I had her snake, Mayzie. Of course I didn't, but we looked briefly and assumed she would show up before too long.
Yesterday evening we had a bunch of people over because it was Groundhog Day and I didn't want to tell everyone that we had both a snake and a mouse loose in our townhouse, so I kept in on the D-L for quite a while, but towards the end of the movie Sarah Wilcox went upstairs and noticed a coiled "plastic snake" on the stairs. She thought we set it there to guard the stairs and keep anyone from going upstairs, but then remembered that we had had a snake last year (Sarah Wilcox found Mayzie when she escaped last year too).

Aside from a few shudders and unpleasant expressions, Mayzie's reception went quite well. That snake doesn't know how lucky she is: we're setting traps for the mouse.