Waddya want--good behavior or good taste?

Four year old Max and I were eating lunch the other day and he offered me a grape dipped in yogurt in his slimy little kid hands. At first I said no thanks, but he persisted, saying, "No, trust me--it's good." So I took it. I admitted it was good, sweet like him. He thought about that and said, "I'm 'good' sweet, not 'yummy' sweet."

Pre-cruise mode

We.are.so.excited. But we can't let on, can't give in. We leave Friday for ten days on Royal Caribbean using this itinerary. Not to put too fine a point on it, but we've been to all these places before. Well, except the Atlantic side of Costa Rica. Anyway, there is no rush to see everything in the country in four hours. We can just relax and make our own fun.

I have to work three days this week and Kathy four. I will pack on Thursday while she is at work. Last time I packed the way they tell you to: a little bit of hers, a little bit of his in each bag. It paid off when the cruise line lost one of our bags for three days. At least we had something to wear. They gave us vouchers for laundry, so we didn't lack for clean clothes. It is a real pain to pack that way--I even keep lists of what went into each bag just in case.

Oh complain, complain. It's just so difficult preparing for these cruises. Honestly, I don't know why we bother to go. (As if I could feel that way.)

This weekend we hit 60 degrees. I am secretly pleased that the temperatures will drop into the 30's and we'll have snow showers here the day we leave. That way it will feel as if we really are getting away from winter.

Ministry

It’s March! It must be spring. I always figure that once we hit March, winter is pretty much over. At least it is in my head. The weather doesn’t seem to conform to my inner life, so there is some jangling incongruity there, but I’m fine in my own little world.

March is also fun because my birthday is March 6. I still take a secret delight in hearing announcements on the radio or TV about events scheduled for March 6. Hee-hee—it’s my special day, so mention it all you like, even though I’m the only one who knows it.

Last month we celebrated my sister in law’s birthday by going out to dinner. She has a knack for choosing the most expensive restaurants in the area. She’s after me to pick one for my birthday dinner, but I don’t have the same facility she does for finding good places to go. Maybe we’ll just go to Macaroni Grill, since we bought everyone gift certificates for there for Christmas.

Two weeks. We leave for our cruise in two weeks.

I felt too cocky the other day and walked too far without a crutch and now my ankle is sore. I have three more physical therapy visits before we leave, so I have to get in shape for walking around the ship. I know, poor me…have to get in shape for a cruise. What a burden.

So I walked over to the gym from my office during lunch on Friday just to see if I could do it. The wind was swirling so much in front of the Phys. Ed. Building that it stopped me cold for a moment. I couldn’t move against it till it abated. Once inside, I thought about going swimming, but decided against it for now. I met a couple of my good workout friends and I was glad I saw them so I could tell them why they hadn’t seen me for a while. They made the appropriate sympathetic noises.

Tonight was Ministry Night at church, and tomorrow is Ministry Sunday. We set up tables in the school gym for all the different organizations we have. Many of us could have staffed several tables since we wear so many hats. I made a brief speech to the congregation about what involvement in the parish has meant to me. People seemed to like it. One twenty-something woman came up to me later and said she had wanted to clap when I was done. I asked another guy who works with me in the Social Justice Group if it was OK, and he said it was “more than OK.” Another woman from the group said I had her all misty eyed!

It was fun to do. It makes me uncomfortable to listen to people who are trying to share their personal story, but who sound as if they are reading everything. So the challenge was to deliver the message without reading it, and it looks like it worked.