Just another manic Monday

Loren's got it rough. His boss is taking him whitewater rafting today. They planned to go whitewater rafting, but the water level was too low. So they had a picnic and went hiking. Doesn't that sound like fun? Ok, more fun without the boss, but still!

He deserves to have some fun. Last week he had the Procedure of Which We Do Not Speak. The results were not unexpected, nor were they worrisome. Thank you, God!

One of his nurses was an old family friend. It was great to see her. I think Loren would agree. That same day, I also saw five other people I knew. I ran into someone from the church we attended when I was a kid, and she actually hugged me. After 23 years away. She's that kind of sweet.

On the way home, took my truck for an estimate. A few years ago, while in a McDonald's drive-thru, a sheet of ice slid off the roof onto my truck. It didn't look like much at the time, and I'm sure I had plenty of other things on my mind, so it didn't occur to me to file an insurance claim. Now I have several rusty spots on the truck which must be refinished. So we went to our auto body guy. After having seen each other at least a dozen times since January (including gun safety class) and having spoken on a few occasions, I finally got up the nerve to tell him who I am. We were in the same class of ~25 kids from first grade through seventh grade, and his dad was my bus driver. So that was interesting.

The time has come for the restaurant to be opened in Bemidji. We knew it would... but it's still weird to remember how long we planned to move there. Now we're all settled in, and Loren has turned down requests to go run that restaurant. It's hard for me not to feel a little guilty on his behalf. They've only been able to find one manager to work there so far. I'm praying God will provide the right people and bless them amazingly.

There's a birthday in the family today. I'm receiving an exceptional level of affection from the birthday boy, and taking it at face value as often as I can. I still like to think he can be happy and huggy on occasion, that it's not all manipulation. We will have a toned-down celebration this evening, including the pizza he's requested and the cake he chose. Every year it becomes harder to find appropriate gifts for him, but I think we did very well this year. He's getting two very cool shirts, a new Bible, Mad Libs, and a deck of cards. Loren has agreed to teach him to play solitaire. Maybe that will help his math brain. :-)