November 3 – “Zone Out Day”

Our first stop today was the bank.  The lawyer yesterday told Chris to get some information about one of her Mom's accounts.  The people that helped us were nice enough, but the one in particular had never seen one with four beneficiaries, so she had to get some help to get her through it.  Chris is very ready for all of the hullabaloo to be over with.   We went to WalMart to get groceries.  It was the first time we have gone to really get groceries since Chris has been gone all summer.  There were a lot of things we were out of.  Dog food, syrup, canned goods, fruit.  We have always used trips to WalMart to do our heavy talking.  But today Chris was kind of quiet.  I think part of it was she was thinking about how to relate to her Dad tomorrow when she takes him to the doctor.  She has had so much on her plate for the last three months that some days she just needs to zone out.  Today was a zone out day.    I had to leave early to take Mom to water exercise.  But when I got home, Mom refused to go.  She said she had been hurting in her back and knees all morning.  I told her exercise would be good for that.  She came up with a few other excuses in rapid succession, but my favorite of them all was when she said, "I can't go now because I already told Betty I wasn't going."  That one I had no answer to.  How can you argue with the finality of "I already told Betty"?  I gave up and went on back to WalMart to pick up Chris.   Chris did have to take Mom to their Wednesday Club meeting this afternoon.  That's the group that reads a book or does a study of something and presents it to each other.  I have no idea what their theme is this year, though.  I think they are back to just reading and summarizing a book.  Chris said she didn't mind going today in particular because they were meeting at one of the old mansion houses on Broadway, the main street in Galveston.    I have been working on all the weekly preparation stuff I have right now: home group Bible study, Experiencing God study, Sunday morning teaching, writing a wedding vows renewal service for this weekend, coming up with something to say at Mom's Yellow Rose banquet next weekend, rheumatologist appointment on Friday, and all the little "pastor-type" issues that come up every week.  It's actually kind of fun as long as I remember to stand up and walk around every so often.  Oh, and also to remember that I don't have to get it all done today.  But that would sure help.    Matthew 14:23 says, "After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray."     Father, thanks for reminding me that you had zone out days, too.  Amen.