My friend Gil was 79, and we weren’t technically related. But he was still a part of my family. He came to many of my family events, and he was also a neighbor of mine (so to speak; he was a good distance off, but he was still closer to me than any of my family in Wichita).
I can’t say that I knew him well, honestly. I just knew he was probably the tallest person I had ever met. I really don’t know how tall he was, but he towered over my dad’s head–and, to me as a child, that was huge. I knew he was stubborn, independent, and he liked hugs (which made me happy because I like hugs too).
I don’t remember how old I was when I first met him. It was probably shortly after he and his wife moved out to their property off South Haven Rd, down the road from me (then it was us, since my mom, dad, brother, and I all still lived in one place). They had built a nice, beautiful home, and they had a HUGE old barn that you could see from South Haven Rd. I remember Gil telling me all about the fancy insulation he was having put in the basement walls to keep the heat in. I remember him and my mom laughing about the fact that we were technically neighbors now, and I thought it was great fun to have someone even quasi-family close to us.
His wife died of cancer a few years after they moved out to the country, but Gil pressed on. He lived by himself and worked by himself. He had a garden, and I think he had cats. I’m not sure why I remember that, but I’m pretty sure he had cats too.
My grandpa died of Alzheimer’s in January of this year. Gil attended the funeral. I didn’t know my grandpa very well, but I still cried. At the graveside service, I cried harder, especially when the color guard played “Taps” and gave the folded flag to my Uncle Chuck. Gil held my hand through the whole graveyard service, and when it was over he hugged me and told me that if I needed anything, I was to ask him immediately. I was really shocked. Honestly. I think I was so shocked that he cared so much that I didn’t fully express to him how much that had meant to me.
My friend Gil passed away this afternoon. I will miss him. I will miss his crooked hugs (he was so bent over that all his hugs were crooked). I will miss his slow, shuffling steps at Thanksgiving dinner. I will miss his low, rumbling voice as he talked about his land or his tractor or his garden. I’ll just miss him.
I felt moved to post something about it before I went to bed because I want to remember him, and for me the best way to remember something is to write it down. If you took the time to read this bit of personal rambling, thank you.
Just saying. I’m thankful for Fridays.
We had a very good rehearsal last night. I think this outreach thing is actually going to work. I’m excited about it too!
And I got to have a nice chat with Meg, who I miss dearly and never get to talk to as much as I would like. So that was fun. But time got away from me so I didn’t get out of church until 9:45 . . . so I decided to spend the night in town so I could go to bed early and ended up staying up late talking to Dad and Grandma anyway. Oh well. =) That was fun too.
Holy crap. We had a person bring back lost books and we credited the account $1080.00 . . . . this patron had that much out . . . . and still owes us about $1000.00 though . . . Amazing.
Can you believe September is almost over? It’s shocking to me. I feel like it just started . . . It will soon be October. I’m hoping that all the hot weather is done and we can really start enjoying fall without looking over our shoulder expecting Summer to return.
I got to film a promo last night for the new series at church, “Freakin’ Messed Up.” I’m excited about the series, and I think Sarah will do a great job with the promo . . . but that means my face (or parts of it anyway!) will be on TV. That’s kind of scary.
On a happy note, Mom is coming to pick me up for lunch. =) And we’re meeting Dad so that should be fun.
Holy freakin’ cow . . . Wu Shock is here checking out books . . . . He scares me.
On occasion we turn up all sorts of very strange things inside the library. Essays on stalking sitting on tables, cans of corn, banana peels, whiskey bottles, etc, etc, etc. Well, this is the latest in a long line of oddities that we have found in the library.
I think it’s a to do list or something. Not really sure, but it made us laugh. Really hard.
Freaky Random List Found in the Library:
1 can Bud Light
1 cigarette
Computer
Sleep
2 pieces Peanut Butter Toast
Breakfast
1 cigarette
Eye Doctor Appointment
1 cigarette
Shopping
2 plain turker wraps
TV
2 mini Snikers [sic]
Shower
Get make-up done
Beef tips
2 rolls
onion blossom
1 margarita
1 cigarette
Dinner
15 shots
21st Birthday at Bar
I just saw on a friend’s Facebook status that he intends for this to be the best Wednesday this week. That made me smile, remembering that a lot of life is perspective, choosing to focus on what is going right rather than everything that is going wrong. I decided I’m going to do that today too. There are a lot of crappy things I could focus my attention on, but there is WAY more awesome stuff going on that’s a lot more fun to laugh about instead.
Today is the Autumnal Equinox. Writing that makes me feel highly intelligent. =)
I finished the last book in Terry Goodkind’s 11-book series Sword of Truth last night. I’m still sorting through my thoughts about it. I had detected an undercurrent of humanistic thought throughout the entire series, but it didn’t really bother me until the last book when he made an allusion that he certainly didn’t have to make. I don’t want to ruin anything for anyone, but let’s just say that Mr. Goodkind finds a way to connect his crazy awesome fantasy world with reality. It’s brilliant, btw, but he made some connections that I think are pretty unflattering. Though, from his perspective (as well as the perspective of a lot of people), they’re not necessarily unfounded.
I’m not going to go into any more detail than that. If you want to know my feelings on the book/series, I can post something more detailed later. That all being said, I enjoyed them tremendously and learned a lot from them, especially as far as character design, setting description, and series flow goes. Excellent, excellent reads. So now I get to move on to something different! Yay!
And the devil is a meany. I just wanted to throw that in for free. I hate it when he picks on people I love. And he’s majorly picking on people right now. So that just means I will have to pray more!!
And I just totally got a text from my buddy Brookie about some guy asking her to the school dance. I’m not surprised because she’s a beautiful young lady . . . but I want all the information about this young whipper-snapper before I hear anything else. I want his social security number, his address, his driver’s license number, and fingerprints. Then, and only then, can he speak to her again. . . and I have now discovered that said boy grabbed her. Going to find his name and castrate him now . . . . Okay. Calming down. Sort of.
I just saw a person wearing a giant hippo suit in the RSC. I’m scarred for life. Mascots . . . ugh . . .
There is a beautiful tree outside the library that is turning all sorts of lovely colors. It makes me happy to know that autumn is so close. Tomorrow, actually. I love fall. It’s my favorite time of year. Cooler weather and an infusion of energy in the air that I can’t explain beyond relief that my air conditioner bills won’t be exorbitant anymore!
Today is a dreary day, though. Overcast. Kind of gloomy. But I still like it. I like rain and clouds and watching the trees shiver in the wind. I like having to put on a jacket because I’m cold. I think the rest of the week is supposed to be like this.
And now it’s time for drama rehearsal! Yay!
1. Today marks my third anniversary as a Library Assistant I at Wichita State Univerity Libraries! Yippee!
2. Today is payday! Always a reason for rejoicing. I’m very thankful to have some sort of means to pay all my bills. =)
3. After work I get to go hang out with Lisa and talk book.
4. After chatting with Lisa, I get to go home to spend the weekend with Mom and Dad.
5. This weekend is also Discovery Reception at NewSpring! Exciting!
6. And I get to go out to eat dinner with Tram, Steph, and Ebony at Maharaja! YAY!
7. Just got word that good friends John and Cindy Phillips are grandparents now! Congratulations!!! =)
8. I’m very thankful for email backups for when I forget my flash drive and need something important that’s on there.
9. I’m thankful for books. I just finished Chainfire (number 9 in the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind), and I’m reading Phantom (number 10). So far, number 6 Faith of the Fallen is my favorite by far. Could be one of my favorite books of all time. Highly recommended.
10. Stephanie. Co-worker Stephanie makes me happy. We found a book we needed to contact someone about, and the guy’s name was all full of consonents and not nearly enough vowels . . . so we tried to pronounce it . . . and Steph said, “Sounds like an email to me.” . . . I’m telling you, you haven’t lived until you’ve had to pronounce someone’s name over the phone when you have no idea what it’s supposed to sound like . . . there’s no embarassment tantamount to that . . . (well, there probably is, but this is way up there too)
11. Lunch. Lunch makes me happy.
I’m going to try something different. I’m just going to leave this window open and post the random thoughts I have during the day in sequence and see what it looks like when I get done. I’m tired of not having continuous posts on here. Ultimately, it doesn’t take much to just pop over and type out a sentence or two . . . so maybe I can make this work . . .
My first random thought is Psalm 25:15 (in the Message): “If I keep my eyes on God, I won’t trip over my own feet.”
I’m also thankful that Sarah got the Tour Guide script recording on CD before her computer burned up. So Tour Guides will have their audio CD’s on Sunday. However, the office is overwhelmed with mailouts this weekend, so we won’t have the script cards until later. But I’m still thankful. =)
Holy crap. Just realized that books checked out today are due on October 15 . . . that’s my birthday . . . in four weeks I’ll be 27. *weird*
I really don’t like email forwards . . . admittedly, I often delete them without even reading them . . .
Mom is going to take me to lunch today! That makes me happy!
Katie Morford has unlimited texting now! That makes me REALLY happy!
There’s a website for Wu Shock Sightings . . . http://whereswu.com . . . . It’s really quite scary.
I think I just saw a pirate walk through the library . . .
And I just remembered . . . Today is Constitution Day! Everybody say the Preamble just for old time’s sake!
Random quote of the day: “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.” — (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies)
Wow! Can you believe I’m actually updating? It’s been ages since I posted, but I’ve been so wildly busy I haven’t really taken the time to do it. Hopefully, I’ll have a bit more time now, though.
As of this morning, Destiny (the fifth draft) is sitting “officially” finished at 643 pages. It’s over 312,000 words. . . . . freakin’ monster. I’ve written to the literary agency I’m looking at (www.maassagency.com) to see how long the synopsis can be. Generally speaking, fiction synopses need to be around two pages, but I want to make sure. Plus I’ve only been able to shrink it down to three pages, so if they’ll take a three-page synopsis I’ll be a happy camper.
Judgement House sign ups are this weekend, which means that I will have no more life until January. As soon as Judgement House is over in November, it’s time to start ramping up for Christmas stuff at church (that’s of course assuming drama team will do something for Christmas). But either way, the year is pretty much booked for me from now through January.
So I’m just going to start carrying my notebooks again and working on the revised outlines for the Destiny sequels (monsters in their own rights) . . . probably will also work on the other series that has absorbed my life since I was eleven . . . . and I’ll catch up on my reading (I had dinner with Val Alicea Saturday night and I have so many books to read now!! I need a new bookshelf!!!). I’m also looking forward to getting involved with something of a social life again, since for the past couple of months I really haven’t had one.
The next couple of months are going to be very interesting. I’m excited to see what’s going to happen!
