Business as Usual

When we arrived home from Brazil on Tuesday, just a week ago today, I hurried to throw all my dirty clothes down the laundry chute for Steve to wash. (Yes, he’s the laundry person at our house, as are my son and son-in-law at theirs. You might want to talk to the Boyd women about how we worked that out!)

The accumulated mail is always a problem after being gone five weeks. Mainly I had to pull out any bills that might have gone unpaid.

I am always amazed at all the little stuff that needs to be put away. Some of it is easy–I just put it in the “travel drawer.” As empty nesters, we have the privilege of extra drawer space, and each of us has a travel drawer.

But the rest! Odds and ends of toiletries, small gifts for supporters or friends, papers that I hesitated to discard when I packed. Our boarding passes, for example, just in case American Airlines needs proof that we deserve the miles for those flights–about 18,000 miles. So I check aa.com and behold! One more piece of paper I can recycle.

And why is this detritus still around? Because before I left, I agreed to speak at the Circleville Church of Christ Ladies’ Inspiration Day the Saturday after we arrived home. Wow! What was I thinking? And two hours away.

Well, for one thing, I was thinking that I’d have time on my hands when readers didn’t schedule or didn’t show up. Wrong. Rarely happened, and if it did I had more pressing matters. (Yes, occasionally around 3 p.m. it was a nap…) I did write out my notes and get several parts in mind, but I had no computer (I’m useless with Steve’s Mac) and no printer (the only way we got things printed was to ask Cris to print at home and bring it to us. Didn’t seem that important.)

Wednesday, the first of my three days at home, was Steve’s birthday, so that was a day for fun and celebration. I made waffles, eggs, and bacon for his breakfast on the deck, we ate lunch on the river at one of his favorite places, we participated in Central’s Bread of Life Cafe from 5:30-7, and then nine of us took him to his favorite steak place, Maury’s Tiny Cove in Cheviot, very close to Central’s building. (We have been eating there since we moved to this area in 1972.)

Thursday morning I was delighted to host our usual Mother’s Bible study because I adore these young women and their children and was eager to be with them again. That night Steve wanted to go to a Reds game, and of course I love that, too, so we went. (Confession: I took the checkbook and bills with me and wrote six checks during a seventh inning lull.)

So that means I had Thursday afternoon and Friday to work on my talks. Steve said, “You seem a bit more stressed about this than you usually do.” Ya think? He’s not often in the office to see how much time I normally spend on my speaking opportunities.

But it went great. As I’ve heard Steve say, having ideas to mull over when you’re not even working on a speech helps a lot. I had my basic ideas for “Clearing the Clutter” and “Summoning the Spirit,” and Friday was ample time to pull it all together.

And I had a secret weapon as well. I was confident of help from the Holy Spirit and my confidence was not misplaced.

The women there were amazing. They were such good listeners, and very responsive. (I gauge the attentiveness by how well they laugh at my comments I want to be humorous and how still they sit. Great on both counts.)

A delightful surprise was having my niece Nila there from Hilliard, Ohio. Turns out she’d worked with Melody, one of the Circleville women, for years and Melody invited her. I loved talking with both of them. Christian women always find so many commonalities.

The most unusual part of the day was being introduced electronically by Jodi Luke, who used to go to Central. She is now doing mission work in Italy for two years, and it was fun to be introduced that way. A very talented videographer, Brayden Richardson, son of Sue Richardson, my contact person, posted Jodi’s introduction and an audio of my talks on the Circleville website.

Steve spoke at BOLC Wednesday, had a coaching session with a client on Friday, taught an adult class Sunday, and then preached. So, for those of you who are wondering if we’re relaxing and taking it easy now that we’re home, I think you have your answer. For the Boyds, it’s business as usual. With the promised secret powers.

“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.“  John 14:26