Getting Serious (Again)

It was just after noon and I was reading as I ate lunch when I noticed my eyes burning as well as my nostrils and throat. Pulling my attention away from the novel I was engrossed in, the acrid stench of burning chemicals pierced my consciousness and startled, I rushed to the stove.

There in the bottom of my favorite Analon pan was a smoldering glob of cream colored goo bubbling and spewing out noxious fumes. It was connected to a moldering stretch of blue flowing, oozing misshapenly from there up to the lip of the pan. The cremated remains of the minestrone soup I had prepared in for lunch coated much of the pan, molasses colored and smoking. And yes, the burner was on. I had left a rubber ended spatula to simmer into toxic goo.

I had to have a serious talk with myself and my Lord. I had to get serious about how many careless and potentially dangerous things I had done lately. I had to focus on why, on how to "fix" these errors. I had to do an EA (Error Analysis) and get down to the business of properly managing my recovery from TBI.

It's time once again to work harder and focus on managing my life. Pure laziness is at the root of this. I have not used my planner and my strategies as diligently as I should. I got wrapped up in the novel and lost focus on the here and now. Reading is good, but I am the compulsive sort and need to set up rules to prevent myself from becoming totally absorbed. I little discipline is called for!

Yesterday, Richard and I voted early and drove to Kissimmee to deliver muffins to friends. Then we went to Daytona Beach and filed a police report on the time share sales scam I've written about before. Trying to link our case with others wasn't getting anywhere and the officer we spoke with last suggested filing a new report. While in Daytona Beach, we ate at a wonderful Christian cafe/chocolatier, Angell & Phelps. The food was more than wonderful and the prices reasonable. Their chocolate factory delivers all over.

Driving home, we chose to explore a bit and chose  the roads less traveled by, as they say. Stately southern mansions somewhat past their prime laid claim to expanses of lush law, and huge live oaks dripping with Spanish moss watched as a lazy, murky steam flowed slowly, silently by. People were sitting on the steps of a patched and tarped  house trailer covered with mold. They stared sightlessly into space and ignored the trash covering most of their unmowed yard. We drove through small towns with wonderful old Main street buildings. They seemed to be abandoned and a covered with a thin layer of dust, not an earthy dust, but the dust of disuse.

Once home, we had a light supper and worked on a jigsaw puzzle as we watched election results. I missed my Bible and prayer time... but there was no guilt. My Lord and I had spent a wonderful day together and I had been communicating with Him all day long.