I Miss Mayberry

Chapter 49
Celebrating life... one life... that is what a birthday celebration is all about. Simmy thought about the last year. What a difficult year it had been.
Most people didn't communicate anymore. In a world where communication was 'king' in so many ways, it was just a pure sadness that people chose to communicate only if they felt like it or if there was something in it for them.
"It's been a really tough year, Lord. I don't know who stole my 'Family' sign from the wedding, Lord, but I would like it back. That may sound silly to You but it's important to me. Who would do that?"
"Sam, I'm going to the store to get a few things for the party."
"Are you getting some pop?"
"I'm taking my bicycle, no, I'm not getting pop."
Simmy headed off to the store, a bit huffy. She picked up all the extras for the party, paid and went outside to the bike rack.
There was a young boy and a Mom tying a dog to the bike rack. The boy didn't want to leave his pet.
"Is he likely to bite me?" Simmy asked as she eyed the space between her bike and the dog.
"No, he'd never bite," the Mom replied.
Simmy tried loading her three bags into the small front carrier as the Mom and son walked away. Struggling with the bags, she didn't notice that the young boy came back almost immediately.
"You didn't want to leave your dog, did you?" Simmy said kindly.
"No," he replied quickly as he bent down to hug and ruffle the dogs' fur.
"How long have you had him?"
"Your bike chain is off," the boy exclaimed espying the problem from his view hunkered down with his pup.
"Oh," Simmy didn't know what to do first. The load of groceries was too heavy so the bike was going to fall over if she let go.
"I can put it back on," he volunteered.
"I don't want you to get your fingers dirty. Your Mom might not like that. Could you hold my bike?"
"Okay," he sounded a little disappointed.
As Simmy fumbled with the darn chain she could feel his feet shuffling agitatingly. Almost immediately, he burst out, "Could you hold the bike? I could do it!"
Simmy stood up and the young lad bent down and his small nimble fingers could fit into the tiny space between the shield and the chain. He had that chain on in a jiffy.
"Thank you so much." Simmy said.
"See, I don't have almost any grease on my fingers at all. I'm used to putting my chain on my bike."
"I'm Simmy. What's your name?"
"I'm Nick."
"Hi Nick. Thanks again."
As Simmy rode away with her bike, Nick called out in old-fashioned Mayberry form, "Bye!"
"Bye!" Simmy replied.
That little exchange warmed Simmy for the rest of the day more than any phone call, tweet, email, or text message. Just a sweet young boy being helpful in an innocent way on a warm autumn day.
The evening birthday provided some face to face gaming and Simmy once again thought, Old-fashioned is still the best when it comes to communicating. She put on Rascal Flatts and sang along...
"I miss Mayberry
Sitting on the porch drinking ice cold Cherry Coke
Where everything is
Black and White..."

Attitude Backwards

Chapter 48 (cont'd)
The fresh breeze of a beautiful Autumn day blew in to distribute some of the heavy rains mold of the Summer. Simmy woke with a pounding headache and headed straight for the allergy medication. After her morning ablutions, she made a beeline for the coffee maker.
She reached for the coffee beans and almost dropped the jar when she noticed the cat sitting on top of the kitchen cabinets.
"What are you doing up there? You can't be on top of the cabinets. Get down."
The cat looked at her and didn't move a muscle.
"Ooh! Your behaviour is starting to get out of control. I'm taking you down from there as soon as my coffee is brewing."
Simmy stayed true to her words and got a chair to climb up on the kitchen counter and reached over the refrigerator to pluck the family cat off the cabinetry.
After this nonsense, she got down to work, setting up a scene for this mornings' blog. Well, Joyce Meyer was still dealing with 'Attitude' so that was still the topic.
She put her 'Attitude' sign in front of mirrors, thinking... we mirror the attitudes around us... our attitudes are mirrored in those around us... sometimes our attitudes are backwards... a backwards attitude can help you look forwards...
Too many quips.
She heard the alarm bleep on the SUV signaling that Sam was home from work. She went outside to greet him. He was chuckling.
"What's so funny?"
"I was just listening to Adler and he had an advertisement for his show. A guy called in and said, "My Dad was a Green Beret and my Mom was a Jesus freak. I believe in peace and Jesus is the answer. If you don't agree, I want to punch you, until you do."
Sam and Simmy broke out laughing.
"Ironic, I'm talking about 'Attitude' on my blog today. Now, that's a funny one!"

Keep Moving Forward

Chapter 48
The week was moving along and Simmy finally had a few really good chapters down for her novel.
Sam had to go back to his job and the vacation was definitely over. Autumn was moving in with a change in the leaves and J.P. had promised to keep in touch and let them know where they would film the Fall and Winter scenes. He said he had a few prospects in their fair city and he was keeping his fingers crossed for them to work out.
Nicknamed, 'The Chicago of the North', it was likely that J.P. would be shooting in their fine city within a month or so.
In the meantime, Simmy had time to get her novel written.
It was late in the evening and she turned on a Joyce Meyer show. She grabbed her pen and took a few notes... things she'd heard before but needed to be reminded of.
Joyce was her candid self... "I used to pray and ask God for huge things. I asked for so many large projects... I'm sure I heard God say... Are you sure?"
Joyce continued, "Anything you pray for is something you're going to have to take care of!"
Simmy wrote this down in her journal, mumbling... 'Careful praying...'
The Message- Matthew 9:38 What a huge harvest!" he said to his disciples. "How few workers! On your knees and pray for harvest hands!"

Untying Knots

"Cross painting- Molly"
Chapter 47 (cont'd)
Simmy checked her email and found a 'note from a friend.' She opened it, like a child at Christmas, knowing there would be something interesting in it.
Sam leaned over her shoulder, asking, "What's new with our friends?"
She sent me 'The Knots Prayer.'
"Read it to me!" Sam leaned back, in meditative pose, closing his eyes to envision.
Simmy started, "Dear God:
Please untie the knots
that are in my mind, my heart and my life.
Remove the have nots,
the can nots and
the do nots that I have in my mind.
Erase all the will nots,
might nots,
that may find a home in my heart.
Release me from the could nots,
would nots
that obstruct my life.
And, most of all,
Dear God,
I ask that You remove from my mind, my heart and my life all the 'am nots' that I have allowed to hold me back, especially the thought that I am not good enough.
Author known to God"
Simmy felt the truth of the words sink into her soul,
realizing,
knowing,
"everybody feels inadequate sometimes." She spoke the last sentence out loud.
Sam nodded, "That's why people gossip, lie, subvert the truth, malign anothers' character... the list goes on and on... all because people can't admit their own mistakes or admit that someone may be better at something than they are."
"The weakness of mankind... admitting ones' own weakness. Always ironic!" Simmy spoke the simple truth.
"What did you once say was the core sin of..." Sam stopped to try to remember the conversation.
Simmy finished his thoughts. "Oh, the 'Everybody's Inadequate' sin. When you need to keep telling people that, you just create a noose knot that strangles whatever creativity there may be in people.
"So, it's a 'not knot.'" Sam quipped.

It Isn't Always Black & White

Chapter 47
The sun shone brightly in the sky on Sunday morning. Simmy woke and got out of bed slowly, sarcastically singing, "The old grey mare she ain't what she used to be, she kicked on the wiffletree,..."
Sam heard a snicker and said, "What are you singing?" His forehead scrunched with one eyebrow up and one eyebrow down as he waited for a reply.
"Just poking a little fun at my groaning joints. They enjoy the humour."
"Should we try to catch a service at St. Andrews or see if Riverwood has a new one posted on their website?"
"You don't look too snappy this morning. Check the Riverwood website," Sam said, putting the coffee on to drip.
Sam looked out the window and called, "Hey, there are a couple of dogs loose outside. I'm going to make sure that they aren't scaring the cat."
Simmy grabbed her camera and hurried outside getting a couple of pics before the two dogs ran off, happy to be off-leash.
"They're tagged and better groomed than you and I so they belong to someone," Simmy said.
"Abbey's off-leash park is close by. Maybe their owner was taking them for a walk."

Venerable Knowledge

Chapter 46 (cont'd)
J.P. was listening intently to Vincent, learning his curve, of learning.
When Vincent had gone down a list of historical places that he had visited in Israel, J.P. countered with, "Lux et veritas floreant!"
Vincent combed his mind for the phrase, "That is the motto of a University in my home city."
"Yes it is," J.P. replied. "Did you know that Christ Church, Oxford is a college as well as a cathedral?"
"I do know that is has produced many British prime ministers," a look of hesitancy combined with right honourable intentions combined on the young face to create a vulnerable knowledge.
"You've got to go to school to learn a little, to get out of school to learn a lot," J.P. chucked Vincent on the back good-naturedly.
"It sure has been a lot of work to learn a little," Vincent grinned with good humour.
"I can't imagine what it will be like to learn a lot."
J.P. smiled a mentor kindliness, "Learn from unexpected places, Vincent... like your trip to Israel."

Jewish Vincent

Chapter 46 (cont'd)
Vincent was 'all in' when it came to talking about his trip to Israel.
As he settled into the chair, he suddenly remembered the potatoes on the barbecue. He got up, put the chair away, and hunkered down on the brick path, close to J.P, foregoing the chair.
Being a little uncomfortable would prod him to get up, periodically, to turn the potatoes over.
Vincent recalled, "I didn't know about the 'Taglit-Birthright Israel.' That was very interesting to me. Some of the students that we were there with, told us about this agency."
J.P. nodded, "Yes, every Jewish diaspora receives a gift of an educational trip to Israel when they turn 18. They can claim this gift until the age of 26."
"That is just incredible! That fund must be enormous." Vincent was, again, thought-clouded by money.
J.P. bypassed the comment with, "Did you leave a prayer at the Wailing Wall?"
"I did. I figured, if Obama feels good about leaving a prayer in the cracks of the wall, then I could too."
"So, what do you think about the peace talks that Hilary Clinton is presiding over?"
Vincent loved to talk politics and he had a natural ability to tesseract information in a parietal mastery. He wove the tesseract with a precise cerebellum needle. His brain stem alerted the parietal to integrate all his learning by piercing the temporal lobe, always using his occipital powers to keep his frontal lobe answering to the cerebellum balance.
If you could have observed his brain, in action, a star of David pattern was being woven in hypercube action.
The heel of his sock, with light bulb placed into it, for darning, was getting a new weave.
A 'gospel of peace shoes' weave?