The Day I Got My Foot Ex-rayed and Said Goodbye to Christy

It is November 21, 2024, and I'm showing up again to write for an hour.I had an appointment to get my foot ex-rayed and a memorial service to attend before finishing the last two hours at work. I got just about as tired after working 2 hours as I usually do working six and a half. But let's go back. The weather is changing. This morning it was in the 30s and I had lost air in my tires. After my 20 minute appointment at the foot doctor's, I asked at the auto parts store where I could get air in my tires and they directed me to a privately owned garage down the street. The auto parts man said the guy at the garage down the street would help me out. I gave the man $10 for putting air in my tires I felt so bad about inconveniencing him on a cold November morning. Yes, I would resent paying $2.50 at a stupid air machine in a truck stop parking lot, but giving a small businessman $10 to fill up my tires did not hurt at all. I then went to the library for a piece of sausage and mushroom quiche and a cup of coffee. I have always loved our library. Spent a lot of hours in it over the years, from childhood through old age. It's a lot fancier now, of course, and, larger, I think. But I love everything about it. I love the bookstore and the cafe and of course looking at books on the shelves. They change the displays a lot, so it's always interesting. There's always something new to look at. I had about an hour to spend there before going to the memorial service. I never went to a memorial service where the parents of the deceased did not show up. I heard that they showed up after I left to go to work. But I did get to sit and watch the photos on the screen and listen to the same three or four songs over and over about a dozen times before I had to go.I had to leave before they stared the service, actually. Strangest thing ever but I did get to honor my friend with my presence at her memorial service. I guess that's what you call it: honoring the person. I know it was hard for my friend's parents to say goodbye to their daughter, and I assume that's why they had a hard time getting to the service on time. I think it finally started about 40 minutes after it was supposed to, about ten minuters after I left, but everybody stuck around. I guess I'm the only one who left. I was sorry to miss it, but I had to go to work. So, about my foot, I broke another toe. I broke one two years ago and I broke the one next to it two weeks ago. The kind of break it was is an "aversion fracture." It's when a little piece of bone gets pulled away from the bone by ligaments or tendons. The one I broke before I broke on a coffee table leg, and the one I broke this time was on the bed post underneath the rollaway bed I keep rolled out in the living room. I like to live on the rollaway bed in my living room. I would not like it to be that little blue couch it is when it's not rolled out. I have a mattress from Big Lots on top of the one that comes with the rollaway bed which is very thin and uncomfortable. When my brother comes to visit which has gone down from twice a year to once every two or three years, it is his bed. I noticed that the Big Lots mattress was not as comfortable as it once was, so I decided to try a mattress topper before I went all out and bought an expensive mattress. It is really comfortable now. My brain is fuzzy tonight. The politicians are at it again. But I'm not going to talk about that. I promised myself that I would not broach that subject. It's very sad to look at pictures of someone who is no longer with us and listen to tear jerking music at the same time. Then I looked at a picture on Facebook of another deceased friend and I think I'm just being surrounded by people dying. That's what happens when you get older. The thing about these two friends is that they were not as old as I am. The good news is that they are both in heaven. The sad news is that they leave many people crying and brokenhearted for years. That must be the purpose of death, to make people realize the finality of life on earth and maybe think about what happens after they die. I think we are very fortunate in this day and age to live as long as we do. I am reading a biography of Charlotte Bronte, written in the 1850s. She lost two sisters who were very young, ages 12 and 11, a brother aged 30, two more sisters, ages 29 and 27, and then she died at age 39, so she outlived all of her siblings. Her poor father, survived his wife and all six of his children before he died at age 84. I generally have sort of a reckoning attending a memorial service. I always wonder if other people have a similar reckoning as I do. I know I want something to be said at my memorial service that I wanted everyone to get to know Jesus. That was the purpose of my life, to live for Christ and be a light to people. It is very hard and impossible without the power of the Holy Spirit operating all the time in your life. It can be a great challenge. My friend Christy loved Jesus, and everybody knew it. That's the one thing that was very evident about her. I'm glad she's where she is, and I'm glad I know where she is. The worst thing for me as a Christian is to have a loved one die and not know if they're in heaven or not, because everybody doesn't go to heaven. Apparently, a lot of people think they do. I think a lot of people think everybody just goes to the same place when they die, but that is not what Jesus said. He said that only people who believe in Him will not perish. I just find it very difficult to grasp how much people fight against this realization, and I can't for the life of me figure out what it is about this life that makes them hang on and not even be interested at all in what will happen to them after they die. Do they just all believe nothing happens, as I once did? I think a lot of people must believe that. Well, I didn't write very much tonight. I'm tired and my brain is foggy. I am tired. I am glad I found out what happened to my foot. I'm glad I got to go to Christy's memorial even though I missed the whole service because I had to go to work and they didn't start it until after I left. There are times when it seems like the mind goes on vacation or something and I guess this is one of those times. There certainly is a lot of dysfunction in our world. I know that for my deceased friend and certainly for me, Jesus is my ony stability, my only security, my only source of peace. He promises to take care of all our needs, and He has done that in my life. There are lots of things stirring in my mind and heart, but I'm running out of energy and the time is getting late because I have to go to work again tomorrow, but at least it is Friday tomorrow, followed by the weekend, followed by my birthday, one more day of school and then Thanksgiving vacation, so that is something to look forward to. (9:22 p.m.)