I Found My Honey (It's Not What You Think)

There are so many things I don't understand about "what's going on in the world," and I wonder sometimes what my life would be like if I had not gotten that television in 1990 when I went away to graduate school in Oklahoma. Most of the things going on in the world I only half way understand; I don't even know enough about them to ask the question, which is probably the answer to the question of what I would do if I had not gotten a television in 1990. I would just probably know less than I do now. However, If I hadn't gotten a television in 1990 I probably would not miss knowing "what's going on in the world" constantly. If I hadn't gotten that TV, I wouldn't have gotten cable all the years I was in graduate school (which was really a distraction, by the way, one that I could have lived very well without). My dad's wife was getting it for me, and I used it for entertainment, and that's when I learned how annoying cable is and how little there is to watch on TV. As soon as I graduated, I quit the cable, and I haven't gotten it since. Well, I went to graduate school before AI, and before the use of the Internet was really very widespread. I did my research in real books and articles, and ERIC (Education Resources Information Center). And for quantitative research I had to learn how to use SPSS, a statistical software package. I did not like it, but I lived through it. For my doctorate, I didn't use statistics, I did qualitative research, using observations and interviews. I liked it. I never have really adapted to all the electronic stuff that everyone is using today. Well, why am I talking about this? Well, there are just things about life before the proliferation of internet use that were better than now, and I'm going to talk about two examples. I do remember, however, that the person who spoke at my graduation with my Ph. D. in 1996 wanted us all to remember this one word as we went out into the world. The word? "Cyberspace" I remember when "social media" was something everybody didn't even know about yet, much less used very much, not like now. What I want to tell you is that I am so excited about two events that made my life happier because they did not involve ordering something online. I hate to sound like I'm complaining all the time about how times have changed. There really are many advantages to the way things are now. I mean it is very convenient to order things online if you have to, but it is very frustrating if you can't find it or the shipping charge is very high, things like that. I needed a new vital clothing item for a long time that I have to try on to buy, so I didn't want to buy it online, but I was about at the point of doing that because thinking about going shopping in a huge department store seemed a bit overwhelming to me for some reason, but I had to do it. You see, mostly I don't buy anything new. I always shop at thrift stores and consignment shops. I can't remember the last time I shopped for an item of clothing in a deparatment store. Oh, yes, about seven or eight Christmases ago to buy something for my late sister. Anyway, long story short, I purchased two of said items after trying on about six. That's the part I hate about shopping, but how inconvenient it seems to me it would be to order something online and it not fit! Anyway, that was the first blessing for me was going to Kohl's and finding like a sea of these items. Overwhelming, actually. A saleslady helped me find one she described as "everybody's go-to (item"). So, that was my first in-person shopping blessing. The second one was the following. I don't know if you remember "spun honey" or not, but I do. Bradshaw's spun honey, I recently discovered, was the kind we used to buy in the store, but now, you don't see it anymore. It was so good. I loved it. Well, recently, I discovered this great place called Milk and Honey in Topeka, went there with a couple of friends for coffee and sandwiches, and they had all this local honey, and voila, there it was, spun honey, only it was called "creamed honey." I got a tub of it and have almost emptied it. That's why I was looking online for spun honey. I was going to order it online. BUT, they gave me grief about an ACCOUNT. I am so weary of passwords and creating accounts, that I wish I could just hybernate until Jesus comes. So I got a wild hare (or is it a wild hair?) to check it out at the Seabrook Apple Market, and THERE it WAS! I was saved from ordering it online! Not the Bradshaw's but the locally produced honey. I can't tell you how thrilled I was, and am, to have it available in person at a local store, and I'm telling you I am so committed to buying in stores, in town, so much more than sitting at my laptop or scrolling on my phone for ANYTHING, any time it is possible. I am just done with shopping online. Except for Thriftbooks, of course. I have to keep buying books from Thriftbooks because if I didn't have a book from Thriftbooks to look forward to, I wouldn't have anything in my mailbox except pleas for money from politicians (mostly). So, there you have it. I hope some of you might be blessed to have a similar experience and share the thrill of actual shopping and talking to people in stores and now, there is only one thing I have to wait to have delivered. Some Mane 'n Tail Hoofmaker lotion ordered from Walmart, which is set to arrive on the same day I have an appointment. I'm just not used to all this, where they leave it at your door if you're not home. The thought of that makes me very nervous. The whole time I will be at the appointment I'll have to be wondering if my lotion will arrive while I'm gone and will somebody steal it. Then what will I do? Was all this progress really necessary, I wonder? I don't know. I really don't. But it's okay. To live and learn all our days, what else is there on this plane of existence? Well, love, of course, and telling people about Jesus. I am realizing how important structure is for me. I don't know about you. But 10:00 p.m. was always movie time for me. Movie time and tea time, and so, I'm going to leave this where it is for now. It's been a good day.