Reveling In Small Things

Hello and good day!

Connie Sue picked up auntie at 8 o'clock in the morning. They went to the hairdresser's for a hair comb and a wash. After that, they went to the bank. The girls down at the bank were pleased to meet a New Yorker. Connie Sue was born and raised in Indiana but after college at Indiana University she moved away.

She was just in town for a few days visiting auntie. Auntie brought along her checkbook and Connie Sue checked it against a bank statement. The bank book was out of balance because auntie hadn't entered any interest deposits for a couple of years. Connie Sue was good with finances, and she got the bank book all squared away.

While they were there, Connie Sue asked Wayne Preed, the banker, how come auntie was earning so little interest. Wayne said that auntie was keeping too much money in her checking account and if she put some of that money in a savings account, she'd do better. Connie Sue agreed, and auntie wrote and signed a check to her savings account. Connie Sue made an entry in the bank book, and everything balanced out.

On the way to lunch, auntie and Connie Sue stopped by the hardware store to buy a quart of dark green paint. Auntie wanted to put a fresh coat on her back door, and she figured she might go ahead and put a fresh coat on the back porch as well.

They ate fish at George's Restaurant. It was good eating, good Lake Eerie perch. Connie Sue over ordered and auntie took the fish to go for supper. Back at the house, auntie put the fish in the ice box and then laid down to rest.

Connie Sue went for a run around Circle Drive. In the afternoon, they worked in the garden. Auntie was able to pick some good tomatoes and some cucumbers and a mess of Swiss Chard. It was her third mess that summer. She only picked the outside leaves, and left the inner leaves to grow back.In the kitchen, she boiled the leaves in a pot of water and drained them.

Bob and Valore came over. Valore was Connie Sue's mother, but auntie mostly raised her. Bob brought his toolbox. The handle on auntie's oven had broken. Bob took apart the oven door, added two new screws, and put the oven door back on. It was good as new.

Valore had brought an apple pie she made with good yellow apples from auntie's yard. Auntie got out a tub of ice cream from the freezer and served slices of apple pie with vanilla ice cream. Bob asked for coffee because he knew that auntie always had a pot going. Auntie asked Bob and Valore if they wanted to stay for supper, and they said yes.

Bob went out back and did some painting on the door and the porch with the new green paint, while the women cooked. Auntie fried two strips of bacon and put the cooked chard in the pan to sauté with the bacon grease. She added a drizzle of vinegar and put the left-over fish from lunch in the pan. Good Lake Eerie perch is even better as leftovers.

After supper, Bob and Valore left. Connie Sue and auntie looked at Connie Sue's photo album together. Auntie had been keeping it since Connie Sue was a little girl. They saw from when Connie Sue was in girl scouts all the way through to the photos and post cards that Connie Sue sent the year before on her trip to England and Scotland. When nighttime came around, Connie Sue said goodnight and went back to her hotel.

The next day, they'd be leaving bright and early because auntie and her girl scout troop would be marching in the summer parade. Auntie was the grand marshal of the parade that year and she was getting more and more nervous about it as the day got closer. She was so glad that Connie Sue would be there with her.

One of my great Aunt Opal's secrets to a long and happy life was to find joy in everyday events. Each day was a unique blessing.

I have a story about a cacao farmer who was very much like this as well, but I don't have enough space to tell it today.

Here are some passages and poems from my auntie's diary.

Can You Say Part 1

Can you say in parting with the day that’s slipping fast, That you helped a single person of the many you have passed.

Can You Say - Part 2

Is a single life rejoicing over you what did or said?

Author Unknown

Jesus said, “For a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of things he possesseth.” Luke 12:15.

He knew that to live only with the idea of making a living would make it a one-sided affair. One cannot become self-centered like the little girl that said:

I gave a little tea party this afternoon at three, 

Twas very small,

Three guests in all,

I, myself, and me,

Myself ate all the sandwiches,

While I drank all the tea,

Twas also I that ate the pie,

And passed the cake to me.

The Rose by Tony Pettito

A splendid rose stood all alone,

Surrounded by a wall of stone,

Around the wall were roses, too,

Still neither knew the other grew,

So often we,

like flowers dwell,

Too deep within our human shell,

And pass through life not understood,

Nor making all the friends we should.

Can You Say - Part 3

Does someone whose hopes were fading,

Now with courage look ahead,

Did you waste the day or lose it,

Was it well or poorly spent.

A Favorite Poem

Life is like a tapestry,

Not of our own design,

There is a master weaver,

Weaving every thread and line,

Sometimes it is too intricate,

For us to understand,

Trust then the master weaver,

Who has the pattern planned.

Can You Say - Part 4

Did you leave a tread of kindness,

Or a scar of discontent,

As you close your eyes in slumber,

Do you think that God would say,

You have made the world much better,

For the life you lived today.

By Julia A. Fletcher Carney

Little drops of water,

Little grains of sand,

Make a mighty ocean,

And the pleasant land,

So the little moments,

Humble though they be,

Make the mighty ages,

Of eternity,

Little deeds of kindness,

Little words of love,

Help to make earth happy,

Like the heaven above.

Thank you so much for your time today.

I hope that you have a truly blessed day!

Adam