For Sue.
We have a 12:30 p.m. flight from GR to Detroit (east of here) and a 4-hour layover before a 5-hour flight to Portland. Then a 2+ hour drive home. Yep, it's gonna be a long day.
I got a text message from a VIF who wrote that he described me to someone recently as "the one who led me to Christ." Reading that made me tear up, and typing it now has the same effect. I can't think of anything that simultaneously makes me feel better and more humbled than that.
The rest of it is all junk in comparison.
I got an email yesterday afternoon from Delta: "It's time to check in for your flights..." So I followed the link and did that.
Why??
Turns out if you bought the cheap tickets you can't get a seat assignment until you show up at the airport, and there was no place to pre-check our suitcase.
The reason I followed that link is because sitting next to Pam can be pretty important if I have another of my vasovagal syncope episodes, which I did on our flight from Portland to Minneapolis last Saturday. Putting my head in her lap staved off a full-blown event. So we'll be at the airport early in hopes of getting adjoining seats. I have no way of knowing when it will happen until it does.
I hate that problem and not knowing how to prevent it.
We made the decision to come back based on a desire to check in on Pam's mom, see friends including Alonso and his family up from Costa Rica, and attend the pastors' conference those people were here for. That last item was lowest on the list of reasons and it lived down to my expectations. I'll spare you the details but color me skeptical about anyone who has the secret formula for anything, including turning a church around. Giant meh.
Can we puhleeeeez drop the word "unpack" when used in reference to anything except a suitcase? Let's just make it a hanging offense to use the word when referring to any portion of Scripture.
Because the conference took place on the GBC campus where I spent 10 years teaching I was reminded how much I miss the classroom. I was also reminded that I'm culturally old. Ugh.
Eugene had rain for 145 of the last 208 days, the stretch from 10/1 to yesterday. That sets a record for the most days with measurable precipitation. Everyone is SO ready for sun.
Speaking of rain, the end to the "global-warming-is killing-us" drought, and celebrity experts, have you seen the articles ripping on Bill Nye, the "science guy" who has been screaming at climate change and science deniers? Turns out he has a BS in mechanical engineering from Cornell. Wow! Why would anyone challenge his insights on all matters scientific?
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The above was written from my MIL's condo in Hudsonville on the outskirts of Grand Rapids. This comes to you from the Detroit airport where we have a 4-hour layover. This airport is bigger than Elmira, and maybe than Veneta. We're on the A Concours which is about 3 miles long. I know that because we'd walked the length of it and back when Pam decided she wanted a Diet Dr. Pepper from the McDonald's at - you guessed it - the far end. I'll let you guess who went on the hike to fetch it.
What woman shops for Spanx at the airport??
We've talked about the visit and decided it was very profitable with regards to Pam's mom. That part of the trip was as worthwhile as the conference was not. More later, but we made significant progress.
Something about sitting on a plane and then sitting in an airport makes both of us lethargic and sleepy. Hiking doesn't seem to fix that. Maybe a lot of caffeine will?
We'll get into PDX a little after 10 p.m. By the time we pick up our luggage and get our Kia from the long term lot we hope to be on the road by 11 p.m. Pam will be asleep by 11:05 and we should pull in to Baker Rd. by 1:15 a.m.
That morning goat feeding is going to come very early.
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