Several days ago one of my clients asked if I would meet him for an early breakfast at Perkins this morning. I freely accepted the invitation because I’d not been there for at least four years or more. I did tell him at the time it would have to be early because I had to play for St. Paul Lutheran’s mid-morning Service this morning. He was fine with that so at 7:00 a.m. we were meeting for our long-overdue breakfast.
While seated, I was thinking how glad I was we made it that early because there weren’t as many people seated, and as we all know, the more patrons, the noisier it gets to where you can barely hear what the person across the table from you is saying.
We had a good chat while enjoying our pancakes, eggs and sausages. My biggest complaint about going to restaurants, is that their coffee isn’t the greatest and without first asking, they dollop margarine on their pancakes instead of butter. I’ve never been a fan of margarine ever since I was young and my taste for it hasn’t changed since.
I’d say we were there for at least an hour or more which gave each of us time to catch up one another’s lives. It’s always good to hear about another’s life journey and since I’ve known him for a number of years, we freely speak with each other without having to channel our thoughts and/or weigh our words. In these politically correct times, we all must take extra care in what we say in casual conversation because you never know who might be listening and then running with something that was innocently said. You can be sure they then take such conversation completely out of context.
After looking at the clock, our extended conversation was cut short because I had to skedaddle for fear I’d be late getting over to St. Paul. We paid our bills and bid each other farewell while both of us almost simultaneously said, “We soon must to do this again.”
One thing I appreciate about him, is that he’s completely without guile which I’ve always found refreshing. Too often I find people who weigh their words to where I begin finding them tedious, and of course with such wearying ones, they always have to throw in their endless conversational minutiae where they’re injecting various forms of “ah”, “um” and the like, just so to give them time to find the exact “weighed” word. What I find the most comical, is that nearly all of them who insert them into their conversations, don’t even realize they’re doing it. And um, what’s that all about?
The Service music went well over at St. Paul this morning with the exception I stumbled on the intro to a hymn because I’d not paid attention to its key signature. Oops! Oh well, I’m sure they thought it being some interesting variation they’d not heard. Another little hiccup was having a Service piece picked which I thought was exactly the one they’d published in their weekly hand-out, but to my embarrassing surprise, it was enough different that I had to wing it with the one they’d published. Hopefully there’ll never again be such an oversight on my part again.
After their Service was over, I went downstairs to thank several of the women whom I could hear singing, and of course they placed the “blame” one each other. Isn’t it funny how some shy away from getting soulful compliments? I’m convinced the reason all the more blush when being praised, is that society is more hell-bent of faulting each other for the smallest of things while completely ignoring the good things fully deserving of praise. Now please don’t think me one of those faux praise-givers because I’m not. Most who know me well enough have learned that I’m not one to dole out weak praises. Handing out medals for participation is not my cup of tea.
The bulk of my afternoon was spent driving over to west Hancock County to visit with a dear elderly lady about listing a home she owns here in Mason City. I’d say we spent over an hour together and I think both she and her children are up to speed with what needs to be done before it gets listed. I was touched she remembered me when insisting that I be contacted to sell it for her because she thought I did a good job when selling it to her an number of years ago.
After I arrived back to the City, I changed my clothes and went out and did some more yard work before it grew dark. Thank goodness I managed to get nearly all of it finished before the snow flurries arrived. I hope this light snow isn’t going to continue all night because if it does, we’re going to be shoveling tomorrow. What a way to start the week!
Tonight’s one-liner is: The scars created by others should teach us caution.
