1. The Deke and I dove right back into the tedious tasks of sorting and packing and boxing back at our apartment home. I have taken care of almost all my belongings, so I spent much of the day on the phone and the computer making address changes and stopping our electric and Internet service.
2. I went to LabCorp this afternoon for my last blood draw in Greenbelt. To my great pleasure, my favorite phlebotomist, Angela, drew my blood. As always, we spoke few words, but I have always admired her efficiency and kindness. On my way out, I told the woman at the front counter that I wouldn't be coming any longer and, as always, she was warm and effusive in her expression of best wishes to me and in her condolences that Mom had died. I choked up a little. I have come to this place about thirty times in the the last thirty-six months. The employees and I became familiar with each other in spoken and unspoken ways and I enjoyed this office so much that I actually looked forward to my monthly blood draw. The good news, I'm happy to say, is that the phlebotomists at Shoshone Medical Center in Kellogg are also a pleasure to work with, so my good blood draw experience will continue. Still, I will miss the great people at LabCorp on Greenbelt Road in Greenbelt, MD.
3. The Deke and I rewarded ourselves for our good work today with a trip to DC Brau, our favorite brewery in the Capital of America. We pulled into the back parking lot that abuts the railroad tracks and it was nearly empty -- oh no! is DC Brau closed tonight? I checked and no, DC Brau was not closed, just quiet. We walked into the cement block tasting room. I took a long and wistful look at all the T-shirts and other merchandise hanging on the wall over the counter where the beer is served and uttered a short prayer of thanksgiving that DC Brau never upgraded this taproom, never fancied it up, but continued to operate out of this modest little room and serve its beer in funny little plastic glasses and to serve flights of plastic samplers in boxtops used as trays.
I ordered an experimental beer called Deep Cuts, Volume 2. It was a wet-hopped pale ale brewed with fresh Centennial hops transported overnight from Michigan. It was a floral tasting beer, rich and deep in the simplicity of its single hop profile and really delicious. I had this beer because there'd been a mix-up at DC Brau and the production people didn't make enough On the Wings of Armageddon to serve in the tasting room, only to can.
The Deke and I had a great theological and ontological discussion about Rev. Nathan Hill's sermon on Sunday and dove deep, not only into our two glasses of beer (The Deke was drinking Corruption IPA.) but into our thoughts about the nature of God and what the voice from the burning bush in Exodus meant when it said, "I am who I am."
It was one of our best conversations ever and was a welcome contrast to all the discussions we've been having of the nitty gritty details of moving.
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