We moved into the house we now live in on my birthday.
It was a hot July day with steady rain in the early morning hours.
By the grace of God, the rain stopped right before the movers came to load the truck.
The rain started again briefly and then lessened on the road to our new home.

The rain ended soon after the moving truck pulled into our new driveway.
We were home.
Our children were staying with good friends of ours from the night before.
Our new neighbor came over right away with a bouquet of flowers that had been delivered.

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It happens every February 2.
For one Pennsylvania town, it is quite an important event.
It is known as Groundhog’s Day.
It is the day when an animal becomes a prognosticator.

The legend says the groundhog will determine whether there will be six more weeks of winter.
Whether it will be an early spring is determined by whether the groundhog sees his shadow.
If it is a cloudy day and the groundhog does not see his shadow, then spring will come early.
If it is sunny and his shadow is seen, he retreats and there will be six more weeks of winter.

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How hard can it possibly be to buy a toaster?
The toaster I have now can toast four slices of bread.
I use my toaster every morning to toast a piece of 7 Sprouted Grains bread.
I noticed the bread was not toasting the way it used to.

There may be four openings for four slices of bread, but I prefer one opening a bit more.
I don’t know why.
Maybe it’s because it is the opening that is nearest to me, or nearest the napkins.
There is no rational reason why I prefer the opening on the far right.

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David Bowie, aged 69, dead.
Alan Rickman, aged 69, dead.
Glen Frey, aged 67, dead.
The news reports kept coming in.

After the first death, I was seeing the same posts on Facebook.
There’s one; where are the other two?
Death comes in threes, I read over and over in post after post.
After the second death, those seemingly wise sages, were morbidly waiting for the next one.

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My friend loves to walk and enjoys taking her dog with her.
We have a State Park nearby that has a lake in the center.
My friend enjoys walking on the trails there.
Her dog is good company for her and the walks help him run off lots of energy.

One particular day, her daughter was home from college.
They were both taking the dog for a walk.
Enjoying the scenery and the good conversation, their walk was enjoyable.
However this particular day the adorable dog with the wiggling hips made it a challenge.

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I hesitated to make the return.
It was only a few days after Christmas.
I felt that I had waited long enough for the crowds to lessen.
It was not a present I was returning but rather a purchase I made before Christmas for myself.

It was a formal dress in a wonderful color.
I did not try the dress on in the store.
When I got it home and tried it on, it fit very nicely but I did not like the neckline.
There were many ways that I could make this dress work but in the end I thought better of it.

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It’s easy to judge situations when you are just a bystander.
There is a sense of self-righteousness.
I wouldn’t have done that.
I would have handled that differently.

Oh, really?

We feign sympathy when all the while we secretly gloat.
Just a little bit.
It’s always them and not me.
Not my child, not my family, not me!

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When we moved into the house we live in now, we were the second owners.
The original owners who built the house were very tall.
They were much taller than my husband and I.
Consequently, our kitchen counter tops and island are higher than most, which I appreciate.

Many of the choices that were original to the house were exactly what I would have chosen.
The woodwork is stained rather than painted.
Crown molding runs along the living room and dining room.
Beautiful built-in shelves are strategically placed.

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When I had my first child there were many questions that needed to be answered.
Life questions.
Faith questions.
The questions went deep; the answers that I grew up simply accepting did not go as deep.

God was tugging at my heart.
God was taking my foundations and shifting them.
My foundations were laid on the shifting sand of tradition.
My foundations were not on the bedrock that is Christ.

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I was ready to take my vitamin.
I took the top off the bottle.
I tilted the bottle in such a way that the vitamin would fall into my hand.
It somehow missed my hand and fell on the floor.

I looked all over the floor for my vitamin to no avail.
I didn’t want someone to step on it.
What should have been insignificant was now a challenge.
The vitamin had to be somewhere.

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