So, where have I been; hibernating? A novel idea, even if I thought of it myself. Being the strong non-conformist that I am and seeing as how the groundhogs hibernate in the winter, it would stand to reason that I would do it in the summer.
I haven't been, but it wouldn't be the world's worst idea. July was a brutal month with the temperature day after day between 95 and 100 with a couple days over 100.
In short, I was tired; I was busy; and I was uninspired. I decided that writing here was never going to be "work" and that being the case it was just going to have to wait.
But that isn't to say that the last month has been uneventful. Far from it.
We had Bible School the last two weeks in June. A very peaceful and enjoyable time for the most part. Some years in the past haven't been anything of the sort. One year we had a returned from Romania missionary teaching a large older class of mostly community young people. He came to me afterwards looking like he was slightly in shock. "I've never seen anything like this!", he said. I'll take the peaceful Bible School any day.
Now, that's not to say that the children didn't get into it. They sang with gusto and listened well to the stories. We had a outstanding bunch of teachers. And we had a record offering; right at $900.00.
Along about early Thursday morning of the first week, our phone rang at 12:30 A.M. We didn't get it picked up in time the first go-round but it started right in ringing again. It was Myron on the line. He said to come quick because Clifton wasn't breathing.
We threw some clothes on and raced over. But the whole time thinking, if he's not breathing.......... We didn't know what we would find when we got there. By that time they had pounded him on the back several times, cleared the congestion somewhat, and he was breathing better.
The doctor recommended taking him in to the ER, so I headed in with Myron and Heidi while Mary stayed at their place with Caleb. They took him back fairly quickly but we did a whole lot of waiting after that. The diagnosis was RSV, which causes thick congestion that young babies have a hard time dealing with, so they wanted to admit him.
Finally by about 6:30 or so, we moved him up to his hospital room. Heidi was going to stay in with Clifton and Myron and I headed for home and work. Got home about 7:30, got a bite to eat and headed over to work. Then Bible School again in the evening.
Clifton ended up staying in the hospital right at a week. Mary and Heidi's mom Anne took turns staying in some so Heidi could have some time at home. Myron stayed in by himself one night. We were all wore out till "Teke"got home again. (And for a good while afterwards)
Where does the "Teke" come from? Well, Myron says they already have one "tyke" in the house (Caleb), and Clifton is too little to be a tyke, so he's a "Teke". It will be interesting to see if he's still "Teke" when he gets grown!
And there was another thing that kind of sent me reeling. We had a young lady stay with us for the two weeks of Bible School as she was teaching one of the classes. Now Charlotte is a delightful young lady that reminds you quite a lot of Anne of Green Gables, right down to the red hair.
She is also a photographer and Mary has wished for a good while now for a good photo of ourselves to put on a tapestry that Myron's had given to us. (You send this company a photo and they somehow print it on a tapestry that you can hang somewhere if you have the nerve.)
Now I've always despised getting my picture taken. The one taking the pictures always wants you to give a big smile and I can't. If I smile with my mouth at all open, I very much resemble a prehistoric possum.
Anyway, she took some pictures over in the beautiful woods across the road. (At least that part was nice) Then she took the one we picked out home and photo-shopped it a little. I think there was a stray male nose hair or two that she needed to delete. (Isn't it maddening when you get older that hair grows extra well in all the wrong places and not so good on the top of your head where you need it the most?)
So then she sent the photo back to us by e-mail and said, here's the photo; is there anything we want changed?
I e-mailed her back. I want it changed, I said. Who is that old man in the picture?, I asked. Are you sure you didn't run into Rip Van Winkle back in those woods somewhere??
So that was a big reality check. I'm still recovering from the shock. I mean, I used to worry about dying young. I guess that's one worry off the list.
There was one positive thing about the picture. About myself, I mean.( Mary, of course, looked nice on the picture) I noticed that at least I had laugh lines around my eyes. That meant a lot to me. Life has thrown us a few curves now and then and it did me a lot of good to see that while I might be bordering on being an old man, at least I'm not a bitter old man.
Now if we can just decide which closet we want to hang that tapestry in..................................
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