I was washing the apples that I had just bought at the grocery store.
I bought a bag of apples.
I knew that the bowl in which they are usually kept was empty.
I reached in the bag and washed each one, placing it in the bowl.

I was not counting them as I put them in the bowl.
After they were all nestled in the bowl, I counted them.
I counted them again.
There were only eleven apples, when I thought there would be twelve.

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I remember the house.
I could look up through the woods and see their roof.
It was comforting to know they were there.
We both built our houses; they stayed in their home, while we moved again after ten years.

Our husbands worked together.
We became friends and still get together for breakfast as often as we can.
Our children went to school together.
Their two daughters and my two older daughters were friends.

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I remember Mr. B.
He was married to a dear friend of my mother.
We often visited them on a Sunday afternoon.
Since everything was closed on Sundays, many people spent the day visiting.

Mr. and Mrs. B lived in another state.
To me, as a little girl, it was so far away.
In reality, it was just over the bridge.
New Jersey seemed so far away when you are little and cannot see out the car windows.

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I can still see my mother take the blue card out of her wallet.
I did not know it then but it was a credit card to her favorite store.
All I knew was that the blue card went into something that looked like a giant stapler.
A paper with three parts was placed over her credit card.

The lady behind the register pushed down on the handle.
She opened up the giant stapler-like thing and took out the three part paper.
Numbers magically appeared on the paper.
She handed it to my mother, along with a pen, and asked her to sign.

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My daughter-in-love and I spent the day together.
We had a few things things planned.
Lunch was shared at a place we both enjoy.
After lunch, we went to a store that she had never been to before.

There are so many things to look at in this store.
Country signs, tinware, arts and crafts, and picture frames among other things.
She was thrilled with all the selections.
We enjoyed walking up and down the aisles.

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Sometimes we say words but they are only words.
We say them so often, we fail to stop and think about their meaning.
If we fail to think about their meaning, then we are not thinking about how they apply to us.
The words become something intangible and not really applicable to our lives.

I was thinking about one such word: faithful.
According to the dictionary, faithful means: loyal, constant, and steadfast.
We know the meaning intellectually.
What does faithfulness look like in our daily life?

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I ran into someone I knew from a church I attended years ago.
It was so good to see her and her husband.
I have seen her a few times through the years, but it has been a while.
I knew that we had a lot of catching up to do.

I would love to stop and see you, I said.
Oh, that would be lovely, she answered.
I pass her house often as I do errands around town.
We laughed that we both still have our landline.

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My husband and I were going to a restaurant.
We were going to a retirement dinner for someone who works with my husband.
Both my husband and the retiree have worked for the same company for many years.
I talked to the man’s wife at many work functions through the years.

We are in that season of life.
There have already been some retirements and there will be others.
I knew the restaurant where the dinner was being held.
The restaurant is located on a golf course.

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I ate a lemon.
I did not mean to eat a lemon.
I thought the lemon was something else.
It caught me by surprise.

It was an honest mistake.
Who would ever expect to have a lemon slice on top of a bowl of vegetable soup?
My youngest daughter and I went out to lunch.
We enjoy the same organic things.

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Wednesdays are lovely days in my home.
That is the day the women come for Bible study.
Some of us have been studying the Bible together for years.
New women join us each year, which is such a blessing.

Bible study is from 9;30-11:00 in the morning.
Women come earlier to talk to each other before we begin.
Sometimes, a few women will linger after Bible study to talk in my kitchen.
This past week two women stayed, so I made some lunch for us.

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