Ain't No Sunshine on my Gums...I Have No Idea Why I Titled This Post That Way

Some days before Thanksgiving Roy and I were out at lunch. No surprise that we were eating out but I overheard a conversation behind me between four family members. They were loud talkers so it isn't as if I was trying to pry. You couldn't help but hear them. A couple of times to Roy I sang, do you hear what I hear? A dinner, a dinner planned so very wrong and that's the end of this song and that's the end of this song. Anyway, as they planned their family lunch on Thanksgiving Day, it was obvious it was all out of hurt feelings. And these planners didn't even care. Their discussion went back and forth on the side dishes and they had a lengthy discussion on dessert. I kept thinking "picture what you are planning to put forth." Think of the presentation...I know presentation hasn't been a strong suite of mine but working with Jason six years has rubbed off on me. The following is what the foursome planned for Thanksgiving Day lunch, turkey, stuffing (not cornbread but just white bread stuffing), cauliflower, mashed potatoes with white gravy, heart of the stalk celery sticks and bread pudding. That is one white and boring Thanksgiving dinner! Several times one that seemed a little more timid than the others would say, well Aunt so n so loves sweet potatoes. What about green beans...not green bean casserole. That is when green bean casserole was added guess because it is made with bland colored cream of mushroom soup. Gee no olives or carrot sticks just to add something? Come on people where is your cranberry sauce? I wondered if all this would be served on white plates? Thanks but no thanks I love all that was mentioned except for cauliflower but just imagining what all those choices would look like, just kind of made me sad. As these four planned and schemed, it was obvious this dinner plan was revenge on some other relatives that hadn't taken kindly to what the present groups choices were for Christmas dinner last year. Oh there were other reasons too, all involving hurt feelings. Ah, been there experienced that...well not exactly that situation but the stressed, hurt and revengeful family situation. I was very close to going to that table of divisors and duplicitous planners, probably braver in my mind now than when all this was actually happening. But then, just at that time some other family members came in, saw their relatives and stopped for a moments visiting on the way to being seated at a table. I could hear the sound of paper being crumpled and purses opening and closing. Believe me, there was all kinds of conversation concerning Thanksgiving Day and here and there in that conversation the wishes of sweet potatoes, green beans, cranberry orange sauce, JELL-O salads and pumpkin pies. Who knows what happened on Thursday, but I have pondered what I heard and hope some kind of compromise was reached or bad feelings put away. I don't know, I have a feeling that those who attended have been dreaming of a white Thanksgiving just like some ones they've never known until last Thursday.


Oh, this past week has been an interesting one. It is always a great deal of fun to come off of pain meds after being on them for almost two years. Actually, it wasn't as difficult as I had anticipated having done this one other time in my early 30's. The difficulty being unique and unexpected. So I have a week and two days behind me and I'm doing good. On the way home from brunch today Roy said that I'm sweeter off the pain meds but scale of emotions has widened quite a bit. He said, like sweet to cranky or cranky to sweet in zero to three seconds. And like Martha, in the Bible, a crowd has returned to my brain. Those of you who have heard Beth Moore talk on this, know what I am talking about. The attention span on pain meds is much more focused than how I am now in my natural habitat. You should see the unfinished projects from this week. Going to try and wrap those up today. Ha ha ha! That made me laugh. Seems like the brain fog has cleared but my knees are beginning to ache. Not looking forward to the return of that. Get this, all this time on these pills, I'm allergic to them! Thus as of late that's the reasoning of some of the difficulties. Guess the recent rash was the tip off. OK, I just have to mention how loud the acorns sound this year falling off the trees. Has anyone else with oaks noticed this? It sounds like gunshots at times. Just heard a loud acorn fall and had to report.

It is nice having a break from Sunday School on holiday Sundays. It's the only time one can go to brunch without the skipping of church. Hey, I went to church like a Presbyterian today. Didn't carry a Bible. I can say this because we are Bapterian. Anyway, after the 9:30 service we went to Pappasitto's for brunch. They are now serving it on Saturdays too, 9:30 am. I digress, so we went and had the best migas and breakfast tacos. Afterwards, we went to Life Time, no not to work out, so that Roy could see where some of our money goes on a monthly basis. It was the only wise thing to do after the tour but to walk across the street and see Anthropologie. They had so many candles burning. Awesome winter fragrance on a hot summer feeling day. He decided since many scents don't agree with him, to explore everything that is open or soon opening in City Centre. We both had fun but only one of us was carrying a little bag at the end of our City Centre experience.

Now if I was really spiritual I would take these three stories I just told you and weave them into some kind of teaching thought. Unforgiveness and bitterness, being set free (not from an addiction because I didn't abuse them or think I couldn't live without them) but guess it would be set free with a new enthusiasm and then shopping. See, I got nothing. No insight, no not nothing. Am I upset? No way. I will tell you over the years there have been some situations that have caused much pain and unhappiness. There are things that happened that should have never been. I think this is why I approach the holidays like I do. No unrealistic expectations over "togetherness" or not quite having any Hallmark card moments. If you don't have the situation you want for a holiday, taking it deep into your heart and not letting go of hard feelings just takes energy. And we need our energy for good things and events, giving, sharing and encouraging. Create your own celebration. Ain't no rule that you have to have these kind of times like every bad movie on Life Time (not my gym but the TV channel) seems to dictate. Heck, if Fu's were open on Thanksgiving, we were going to go there and have our Thanksgiving meal. It sounded kind of fun to me. And if something in your life needs to go, for a season or forever, ask friends to pray. Prayer brings us all closer to God and to one another. Like if there is someone you don't like, start praying for them. God changes your heart toward them...speaking from experience here. No reason to share this dislike with your unlikeable person, it can destroy all that closeness. Last but not least, have fun! You don't have to spend money to do that at all. We have so many times we HAVE to be serious, let's have some joy! Let's celebrate those little joys that only go on and create joyous experiences and times. Oops, I tied this all neatly in a bow and wove it all together. Believe me, I didn't have this in mind.

Here is something I am happy about, I didn't get taken in by the Oilers, I mean the Texans today. They were up several points against the Colts today when we got home, but I decided to take a nap instead of watching the game. That was a good decision.