Monthly Archives: April 2016

Go 225

Peggy’s mother died a little over a month ago. Peggy and I had been attending a small church close to the house, mostly so we would be close to Peggy’s mother if something happened and we needed to get to her quickly. I had become quite involved singing with the music team on Sunday mornings, and Peggy had plugged into some of the women’s group activities in the church.

When Peggy’s Mom died, it became apparent that we had not knitted ourselves into the fabric of the church well enough. Peggy grew up Baptist and I grew up in a small town — one thing you can count on either way is an outpouring of love. And food. We didn’t see either one.

When we returned from Dallas after Mary’s funeral, Peggy asked me if we could re-open our search for a home church. It was Easter Sunday, so I took her to the largest Baptist church on our side of town.

It was like watching a fish that has been out of the water when it gets put back into the stream. We attended the early service, and when it was over we stayed for the music portion of the late service. We went outside to the information center and got every piece of information available. I’m sure there are other things you have to be a member to receive, but we got everything else.

We found out when choir practice is held. The lady who was helping us happened to be the pastor’s secretary, so she was a wealth of information. She even told us about the Sunday School class she and her husband attend and invited us to check it out the following Sunday.

We went to choir practice on Wednesday. In the rehearsal they mentioned that there would be no church in a couple of weeks due to an event called “Go 225”. The church closes its doors one Sunday every year for the congregation to go out into the community and work. Each organization in the church finds a group to whom it wants to donate its time and effort, and then the church uses the budget for that week to finance all of the projects. The choir was planning to work at a homeless shelter cleaning up and putting fresh paint on the building. Peggy signed us up on the spot.

Today was the day for Go 225, and it was quite an experience. It was a great day to get to know other choir members while accomplishing something meaningful. There is an old saying that “Many hands make light work.” And it doesn’t hurt that you feel like you’re getting away with something by not being in church on a Sunday!

Most importantly, Peggy feels at home. I like it, too, but making Mama happy is more important. Go 225!

Movin’ on up — and out

We did not move to Baton Rouge because my son was living here. In fact, before I even interviewed with the company I called him and made sure he would be OK with it.

Still, there have been real advantages to being in the same city. We were here to participate in the planning and execution of his wedding last year. And house-sitting help is pretty easy to find when we are traveling. And Mama kind of likes having him nearby.

Today we helped his wife and him move to New Orleans. Well, Kenner, bruh.

When you are a parent of an adult you don’t ask too many questions — like “Why are you moving to New Orleans when you both have jobs in Baton Rouge?” So we keep our mouths shut and help them move instead of me asking him “You do realize your mother just buried her mother less than a month ago, right? NOW is the time you pick to leave?”

But you don’t ask, you just help. And pray for the best.

And go to Middendorf’s for fried catfish and a really cold beer on the “way” home (it’s not really on the way)…

We raised him to have his own mind. Even when we don’t understand it.

If you haven’t been to Middendorf’s, you really ought to try it. Excellent pain relief…

An Evening to Relax

The past month has been hectic on many levels, so tonight we just wanted to go out, have a good time and relax a little. It is not something we do often enough.

We had our usual leisurely Friday evening dinner, then instead of going home we decided to go to L’Auberge and hang out. We went upstairs to the player’s club and got some drinks then went back down to the floor to play a little.

It is a joy to watch my wife do just about anything, but it is hilarious to watch her play slots. She attracts a crowd wherever she is because she celebrates her own wins and the wins of everyone around her. The part of the casino she is in always looks and sounds like the most exciting place in the joint. They should pay her to play there. Wait, they kind of do…

She won some money tonight and then convinced me to play. I found a machine called “Howling Wolf” or something like that. It howls when you hit the bonus and then pays you for however many wolves you get on the spin. I hit a few times and howled along with the wolves.

When I looked around me we were surrounded by people watching me play. More correctly, we were surrounded by people watching Peggy cheer. I loved every minute of it.

And I will likely play the game again.

As long as she is cheering for me, I can’t lose. 

Hanging in the VIP room with the high roller. No, that is not an ear horn…