Starbucks doesn't serve turkey subs

but maybe they should.

Several years ago, a very funny thing happened to me. Actually, I should say I did a very funny thing, and I can't shake the feeling that maybe it will give some of you a good laugh. I've sure laughed a lot about it and the few people I've shared it with, up to this point, have also laughed a lot. It may not translate very well into written words, but hey, why not give it a try?

It was July of 2022. I had been a caregiver for an elderly lady for seven years before she died. A special friendship had grown between us during those years, and her passing was very sad even though she had lived a long and productive life. It was nice to see her family at the visitation the evening before the funeral, but also very emotional.

Bobby likes Jersey Mike's and after leaving the funeral home I decided to pick up subs for dinner. The Jersey Mike's in Blacksburg is on the same side of town as McCoy's Funeral Home, so it was convenient. At the time, I wasn't very familiar with that particular Jersey Mike's location. I'm sure I had been in it a time or two but no more.

I wasn't looking forward to going into the store with my eyes all puffy and red from crying at the funeral home, so when I saw a drive thru sign I was delighted. I quickly made the little turn necessary to take advantage of it.

The one car in front of me pulled away from the pickup window fairly quickly which didn't give me much time to look over the menu. Something in my sad and tired brain did register the fact that there sure were a lot of coffee choices for a sub shop.

"I'll take two turkey subs," I answered in response to the voice asking me what I wanted.

A bit of silence, then "This is Starbucks."

Yes, of course this is the Starbucks drive thru. That's why the menu was basically coffee and why the green Starbucks logo is staring back at me.

I began to apologize and felt thankful I wasn't actually face to face with the nice woman who very kindly assured me, "It happens a lot. No worries."

I thanked her and circled back around to Jersey Mikes. By the time I was heading home with the turkey subs on the seat beside me I was laughing out loud at myself. Yes, I just ordered a turkey sub at Starbucks. I called a couple people to share the funny story, and they laughed as loudly as I was laughing at myself. To this day we joke about the mishap. "I'll take a turkey sub," we say from time to time and then the laughter rolls again.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving turkey and have a laugh on me.

---

Carolyn Ruth and Mom having a good laugh in high school

"A good laugh heals a lot of hurts." -Madeleine L'Engle

"Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand." Mark Twain

"Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine." -Lord Byron

"Laughter is the shortest distance between two people." - Victor Borge

"There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor." -Charles Dickens

"If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane." - Robert Frost

"Life is worth living as long as there's a laugh in it." L. M. Montgomery

2015 trip to Prince Edward Island

Happy Thanksgiving!

Be grateful!

"Keep on the Sunny side...

always on the sunny side, keep on the sunny side of life."

Once you start paying attention, it's surprising how many lessons you can learn from the people you encounter for only a short time. Last week we had a bathtub at Mom's converted into a shower. The advertisements are true. It really did take less than a day. Actually, it only took around six hours even with the cast iron tub that had to be broken up and carried out in pieces.

Each of the three men we dealt with along the six-week journey, from the first meeting to the final install, were professional, kind, knowledgeable, helpful, and courteous. I could write a post about each of them, but for now I'm going to tell you about Ryan.

Ryan is the young man who removed the old tub and installed the shiny new shower in the amazing timeframe of six hours. He was happy and friendly from the moment he stepped into the house until the moment he left. He was a young guy. Well, he must have been in his thirties, which at one time seemed old to me but now seems incredibly young. He started off the day with a smile and was still smiling when his work was complete.

Ryan's work ethic was just as amazing as his sunny disposition. Not once did he go outside to smoke like the guys who installed the new flooring several years back. It seemed like they were either smoking or drinking a soda every hour. He didn't take a lunch break or rest at all to my knowledge.

He listened to music, not too loud, and sang along with his favorites. Ryan must be a bit of an old soul because I liked his music. It consisted mostly of hits from the sixties and seventies with a few from the eighties thrown in from time to time.

He also talked with family and friends while he worked. I suppose he was using the earbud I noticed in his ear when he arrived and Bluetooth. I don't really know anything about that, other than that I sometimes mistakenly think someone is talking to me when we pass in the store, but then I realize they are "on the phone" with someone else.

After Ryan finished showing us all the bells and whistles of the new shower, explaining the paperwork, and answering the few questions I had for him, he started toward the door. I couldn't help but compliment his singing and positive attitude. "Tell your boss I'm glad you don't charge for the entertainment. I really enjoyed your music and singing. You sure are a happy guy. That's great!"

"You know," he said with another wide smile, "I found out that if I have a bad attitude, a six-hour day seems like twelve. If I have a good attitude, a twelve-hour day seems like six."

I think in addition to being a fantastic worker, a fun person to be around, and a very kind soul, Ryan is also wise beyond his years. Meeting him made me think of the old Carter Family song, Keep on the Sunny Side.

I did a quick search to find the lyrics and read a little background information about the song. It was written in 1899 by Ada Blenkhorn. "She was inspired by her disabled nephew who always wanted his wheelchair pushed down the sunny side of the street."

Sometimes I drift into the shadows without realizing it. I'm going to try and stay on the sunny side. How about you?

---

Keep on the Sunny Side

Well, there's a dark and a troubled side of life.

There's a bright and a sunny side too.

But if you meet with the darkness and strife,

The sunny side we also may view.

Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side,

Keep on the sunny side of life.

It will help us every day, it will brighten all the way,

If we keep on the sunny side of life.

Oh, the storm and its fury broke today,

Crushing hopes that we cherish so dear.

Clouds and storms will in time pass away.

The sun again will shine bright and clear.

Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side,

Keep on the sunny side of life.

It will help us every day, it will brighten all the way,

If we'll keep on the sunny side of life.

Let us greet with a song of hope each day.

Though the moments be cloudy or fair.

Let us trust in our Savior always,

To keep us, every one, in His care.

Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side,

Keep on the sunny side of life.

It will help us every day, it will brighten all the way,

If we'll keep on the sunny side of life.

If we'll keep on the sunny side of life.

I'm no oneirocritic but...

Oneirocritic- an interpreter of dreams

I've always remembered many of my dreams in vivid detail. When I was a child, I had a reoccurring dream. I loved it! I've often wished I would dream it again. Fortunately, I can still recreate it in my daydreams.

I'm flying through the house. I swoop from the den to the back of the house, going in and out of the bedrooms, before returning to the den to start over again. My arms are out to the side like a bird, not straight forward like Superman. I feel free and excited, because there's always the possibility I might fly right out the patio door and up into the sky with the birds.

The other night I had a very interesting dream. I can't stop thinking about it. Bobby and I had moved into a new and much bigger home. We were busy buying and arranging furniture. One of the rooms, a gigantic bonus room above the garage, was giving us fits regarding how to place the furniture. It was actually more like two gigantic rooms rather than one. I finally figured out what I thought would be the best arrangement for the furniture we had and what else we would need to buy. There was something, however, I had to do before we could try the new plan for the room.

Apparently, I had agreed to drive a tractor-trailer halfway across the country for a friend of mine. She was driving one and needed someone else to drive a second 18-wheeler. The contents of the semi and why I would agree to such a thing were not revealed in my dream.

I began to get a little nervous about driving a tractor-trailer because other than a hurried lesson given by my friend, I had no experience with large trucks. It was a dream and so having a CDL was not a requirement.

I do tend to have a can-do attitude so in my dream I was telling myself not to worry. I could do it. I could figure it out and all would be well soon enough. Rather than spending too much time thinking about the daunting task of driving an 18-wheeler halfway across the country, I was focused on getting back home so we could finish setting up the furniture in our huge bonus room.

I'm not sure why but instead of being on a road, which would have been hard enough for me, I was driving the tractor-trailer up a hill, in an open field, after a pretty heavy rain.

The truck was stuck in the mud shortly after the trip began. I had barely begun to wonder what in the world I was going to do about my situation when I saw a man climbing the hill to help me.

That was it, or at least that's all I remember. Why would I dream about having to drive a tractor-trailer? Did the fact that a man appeared to help, just as began to try and figure out what to do, have meaning? Could he have represented an angel? How weird that he looked suspiciously like Jeffery Harvey.

It didn't take long for me to think about how God sometimes calls us to do something we feel totally unprepared to do. It seems crazy or too hard or both. We go ahead and try because we want to follow His leading, but we quickly realize we were right. It is too hard and a little crazy. Then we look up and there's someone, an angel perhaps, to help us and get us going on our way again.

Jeffery Harvey is not the last person I would expect to help me, but he's pretty far down on the list. I think Jeffery, a former classmate I haven't seen in many years, being in my dream is a reminder that God most often does not do what we expect. Instead, He uses unexpected circumstances and people to accomplish His purposes in our lives.

Sure, the dream could have arisen from the fact that a friend and her husband have recently been in the process of moving to a new home. I really hope they don't have an enormous bonus room to fill with furniture. Maybe the fact that my cousin, who is building a shed for his farming equipment, recently had a load of lumber delivered. The truck ended up stuck in the mud before getting to the site of the new build.

Or maybe, like Ebenezer Scrooge, "an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato." caused the dream.

But I'd rather think maybe God is reminding me of a few important truths. He will either equip me or provide the help needed for me to follow His will. He may, and probably will, use people and situations I don't expect while helping me grow in grace and bring Him glory. What about that gigantic room? Maybe He will soon bring me out into a broad place (see Psalm 18:19), or maybe I just need to be grateful that I don't have such a ginormous room to keep clean.

Whatever the impetus for the dream, I'm glad for the reminder that I can trust God through it all. You can too. I enjoyed listening to Andrae Crouch's 1972 song, Through It All. Check it out, if you have the time.

Clara and Kim sound asleep...maybe it was one of the nights when the flying dream occurred.

Precious little Deidra sound asleep in her bassinet

Sweet dreams