If I walk down to the ice cream shop does that cancel out the calories in the ice cream? I'm guessing the answer is no, but just thought I'd ask. That is what I did this afternoon. My friend Laine and her son Linden came over this afternoon and we walked down to Mitchel's Ice Cream. The greatest ice cream shop in the city. You have to take a number when you get there. Today we were number 33 and they were on number 18 when we got there. I had chocolate caramel crackle and Laine and Linden had buko which means baby coconut in some language, I think tagolog. Linden is 22 months old, so he shared with his mom. It was a great little outing. Linden is at the age where he is intrigued by everything. So the walk took a long time but it was fantastic. And the ice cream was goo-ood.
I also made two visits today. One was to a 94 year old woman. The other one is 102 years old. She was asleep so I didn't to see her. But she wouldn't really remember if I was there or not so seeing her care giver was almost as good as a visit. She hasn't been in worship in a while, but when she was coming a year or so ago, a mere 101 years old, she couldn't hear a thing. We had a period of silence once and during the middle of the silence, she yells out, even though to her she was whispering, "is he asleep?" (Talking about me.) Then at one point she again yelled out "I guess I'm going to have to get up and preach." When I first started at the church I nicknamed her my-first-funeral. She was after all 99. But now I'm not so sure. I'm in my fifth year of minsitry and I still haven't done a funeral. Now let's be clear I'm not that anxious to do one, but I think it is pretty odd that I haven't.
Other nicknames for parisioners: guy who does drugs, guy who hugs too long, crazy woman who steals things, the needy Korean, and the Red Herring. Two things: first I know it might be a little racist to call the guy the needy Korean. But he was needy and he was Korean. Second. The Red Herring gave himself that nickname. The first time I met him he introduced himself as the Red Herring. And told me he was a poet. Most of the other nicknames are fairly self explanitory. I may have already written about these nicknames. Sorry if I'm already starting to repeat myself.
Dixie out!
5 comments:
I can't believe you haven't done a single funeral in five years! Wow! I'm so jealous. I long ago lost count of how many funerals I've done (I'm guessing 20-30), and I haven't even hit the 4-year milestone of ministry yet. Meanwhile, my weddings and baptisms are still in the single digits. I could use a few more beginnings and fewer endings in my ministry.
P.S. I laughed out loud imagining your 101-year-old yelling out that she'd have to preach during the time of silence! Hilarious!
If you read "coconut" as a slangy way of saying "head," the "buko" flavor presents quite a macabre image.
The nicknames are pretty amusing. I didn't tend to nickname my folks, except for Crazy, Manipulative Bitch. Fortunately, I offended her one too many times by being reasonable, and so mostly missed out on her presence during my final 14 months.
Cagey-C, Yeah fortunately, Guy who hugs too long, needy Korean, and crazy woman who steals things have all moved on to other insane asylums.
I love your names for people. I can't imagine what you'd come up with if you visited my congregation. But I do think it would be fun. The only one who gets my attention right now is deaf guy who has major sexual issues. I can't believe you've not had a funeral yet either. I'm glad you took that writing class with me a couple of years ago. At least you're ready when it happens!
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