Dear Diary,
This is, I think, my fourth diary submission. I am getting less apprehensive about getting it “right”, something which first born types are wont to do. Reminds me of, The Birth Order, book by Kevin Leman. Somehow, he watched people and figured out first born, middle children, and babies have similar tendencies. I am amazed he was observant enough to see things and to ask the questions to find these tendencies. In the same way it is fascinating that my diary submissions, and those of others, will be read, analyzed and conclusions reached.
For the last five years I have had an irritating tendency to wake in the middle of the night. Friday morning was true to form. I finally got up at 4:38 a bit before my Friday 5:00 am alarm. Getting up at 5:00 allows me to get in my morning routine before heading out the door. New to my routine is stretching. I am told as we age we need to stretch. Most stretches feel good. A glaring exception is ham string stretches. I hope the benefits offset the pain.
Reading about King Saul, the first King of Israel in my morning quiet time. He starts humble and quickly messes up. It seems the entire Old Testament is one screw up after another. Wonder if that is to show none of us are perfect and we need a Savor? On the religious front I have been Googling things I read about in Scripture. I found Succoth and asked a Jewish friend if this was synonymous with the Feast of Booths. He had never heard of Feast of Booths and did his own Googling. He said Succoth and Feast of Booths, or Feast of Tabernacles, as he knows it, are the same. Christianity and Judaism have a long history in our country. Yet there is much about each other’s religion we don’t know.
At Rotary our speaker was a retired physician. Retired but still active. Her bio listed multiple places she still volunteered at, including helping with addictions. Her talk was sad. Our county has an unusually high number of addicted people. Her organization is working to add resources to help those struggling with addictions. I wish them well but to me it seems like this is saying, Try harder. I think a spiritual transformation is needed. That God can help fill the void many use drugs and alcohol to fill.
Mid-morning went to the Ribbon cutting at Gillman’s Home Center on South Walnut. I was there when ground was broken for the store several months ago. Neat to also celebrate when the store was opened. This is a boon for the south side of Muncie. A close option to other big box stores off of McGalliard. The owner said a few words. He went to Muncie from a small community of 6,000. He said Muncie is a big town to him. That they opened a store in Hartford City and Mayor Ridenour solicited him to open a store at this location in Muncie. The owner was hesitant but the Mayor persisted. The owner came to some city council meetings and was also encouraged. He eventually decided to take the leap. While on Friday, on Saturday, my grandson and I went back. The store was hopping. Best wishes to the store.
Lunched with friends. We get together every Friday we are available. I missed the prior three times and so volunteered to pick up the tab. It is a joy to have similarly minded friends, so no need to keep up a guard. It is also a joy to have inside jokes and tease each other. Sometimes I am on the outside looking in as the others are in the medical field. Their jargon can be lost on me, still lots of fun and glad to be with them again.
Eating with friends continued at supper. We drove to Fort Wayne, where we used to live. One couple still lives there, the other friend now lives on the West Coast and was in town. We met at a place called Electric Works, in the old General Electric plan. When we left town was a massive, slowly crumbling building. I commented how nice it looked and the Fort Wayne friend told me $400 million had been invested. No wonder it looked good. The actual place to eat was like a mall food court, only with upscale food, and a bar in the middle.
While ordering food I saw a young woman I recognized. We talked. She had been a middle school member of the church youth group I worked with when we lived in Fort Wayne. Her siblings, whom we also knew were with her. We talked. All three now have children, the oldest sibling has three, one being ten. This proves two things. Time does fly and man am I getting old.
After getting our food, we tried the BBQ, we sat and talked. It was a lovely mild night to set and enjoy each other’s company. We had not been together for some time. We talked for about two hours and easily could have gone longer. These friends I have known for decades. We have old, shared memories and laugh at the same old stories when we get together. As well as reminiscing, we catch up on each other’s life’s developments since we were last together.
To finish off the night we got some of our grandchildren who live in Fort Wayne. Not quite one on one, we had two, but the dynamics are different when we don’t have all the grandchildren together. Less bickering and sibling rivalry. It is refreshing and more fun when we can interact without needing to referee frequent intra-sibling issues.
As soon as we got into the car one grandchild wanted my phone. The internet pull on their age group is strong. I kind of recall always asking my grandfather to get me comic books, and he typically did. Just the way I typically give my phone to a grandchild who asks. I do feel a sadness that often when we are together physically there may be no interpersonal interaction as they are playing a game on the phone. Wonder if my grandfather felt the same?
Got home around 11:30, which is late for me. I had fallen asleep on the way back to Muncie. Fortunately, my night owl spouse was driving. We got the grandkids to bed, and I was soon asleep again.
Dear Diary, life is a gift. We never know how long we have. Most days are good, but this one especially so with the time with friends and family.