Monday, December 23, 2013

Three Beautiful Things 12/22/13 (Plus a Rewind): Back in the Pews, Upstairs Done, Hot Drinks, AND Seeing Roger

1.  The church across the street opened in about 1964 and it's where as I was baptized and confirmed when I was about fifteen and it's where I went to church, sang in the junior choir, went to youth group, went to Boy Scouts, and countless other things.  Back then, it was the United Methodist Church and it was central to my life as a youth in Kellogg.  It was also the site of weddings for both of my sisters and it's where Dad's funeral was held.  This morning, I was back in the pews with Mom for the Christmas program.  I heard Carol's family sing, Carol and Cosette play together, and, as a bonus, got to talk with some people I haven't seen for decades.

2.  Mom and I finished the upstairs project.  Now the upstairs is ready for Christy and Everett to arrive.  They won't have to stumble over boxes of Christmas decorations and other stuff and their bed is cleanly made, the electric blanket is in place, and the upstairs is totally dusted and vacuumed.  It was good to get this done.  Really good.

3.  I relaxed into the evening phase of life at Mom's with a hot egg nog spiked with brandy and rum and then I made an off the top of my head hot buttered rum with hot water, butter, a bit of sugar, and rum.  Winter hot drinks rock.

REWIND:  Let's go back to December 21st.  Mom and I went to Andrews Gymnasium and watched the Kellogg Wildcats girls' basketball team defeat Bonners Ferry.  When I was nearly killed in a flash roaster accident back in 1973, the man shining a flashlight into the roaster, allowing me to see where I could get out, was Roger Grosvenor and this afternoon Roger and sat together for the early part of the game and chewed the fat.  We didn't talk about July, 1973 and how he helped pull me out of the roaster, but Roger told me how he was the EMT for the game, how he volunteered to do this all the time.  If a player gets hurt or if a fan in the stands has an incident, Roger is there to give them medical attention.  It all makes sense.  It's been Roger's life.

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