Day 129 (27 days until surgery): Sunday

I rose 7ish and started writing the blog after acquiring coffee and a NYC Zabar bagel toasted with cream cheese. While I waited for the toasting and the water to get hot to pour into the French Press to make the liberal coffee, I put away the clean dishes from the new dishwasher and washed the few pans in the sink. With some chores done, coffee, and a bagel, I padded to the in-home office in my PJs and slippers.

I was time-boxed by attending church today and tried to write about Saturday’s long day with some speed. It takes a few hours, and I often have a few asides, which was true of today’s writing. I had to publish without a final read-through as I ran out of time.

I cleaned up, shaved, and dressed. Today, I went with a new sweater vest from Land’s End and a white shirt that is now a bit large, as I keep losing inches but not pounds. The neck is comfortable, and the shirt now stays tucked in. I selected my grey suit pants to contrast with the blue sweater, as blues clash when they are different shades.

I use suspenders for suits now, and I managed to spend ten minutes with the suspenders, finally getting them straight, not reversed. Black shoes should not clash with the stark white shirt. I went with the pride tie to add color and a little politics to the look. I picked the black humbug as it was not wet today. Everyone liked the new look.

The Apple-based system that runs the audiovisual service and connects to the Internet faltered. I saw a kernel panic, which usually means there has been a SNAFU when installing the operating system updates or the software has had an update. Apple apparently broke something, and a fix was waiting to load. I suggested loading the patch that was now waiting to be applied and letting the system restart. That cleared the problem, and the service was only a few minutes late. I offered not to bill the church for my help.

Later, the organ stopped working. Dan and I scrambled to check the power boxes. The sound system is an old WW2-style tube amp—it has lots of power. It could create a spectacular fire if it shorted. There were no high-power electrical issues, and the digital organ (low-voltage and modern) soon worked again.

I took Air Volvo to church and arrived thirty minutes early. Dondrea was leading worship and preaching today. The music included Methodist favorites like Hymn of Promise (707) and a Finlandia-based Be Still, My Soul (534). Finlandia makes me cry; I find the tune especially poignant.

Dondrea’s sermon was one of her best, and I recommend trying the YouTube recording at First United Methodist Beaverton services on 4/21/2024. She combined Romans 5 and Ecclesiastes 3 to cover that God did not promise there would be no suffering and that Peter said, “We rejoice in our suffering.” The idea that God will prevent suffering for those who are good is not the message in the New Testament, but it is often offered by churches and other leaders. Dondrea paraphrased a saying from a friend who recently passed away, “Embrace the suck.” Yes, it may suck, but we must accept it and work through it. It is not about being good, going to the right church, believing the right things, but just accepting that, as Preacher said in Ecclesiastes, there is a time for everything. We will get through this together with God.

I had lunch with Rev. Anne Weld-Martin and her husband of 44 years (they just had an anniversary), Rev.Dr. Wayne Weld-Martin at BJ’s Brewhouse. Anne and Wayne were an hour late as there was a wait at the car wash. I was worried as Anne did not return my calls. We managed to get a good table and soon had an excellent meal. We had a wide-ranging conversation.

Wayne has trouble cutting his steak, and we asked the kitchen to slice it (they supply poor-quality steak knives), but it was delivered unchanged. The waiter took the meal off the ticket to make up for the kitchen, refusing to do this for us. Wayne managed, and I flinched when he ate large chunks of steak, but there were no issues. I also had $30 in discounts, so we applied that to the check. I gave the waiter a 20% tip on the original price as he did his best, which with the reductions was over 50%.

I headed home and changed into my usual clothing. I rested and read for a bit. I then made Jambalaya (what Anne had at BJ’s) from a box mix. I did make the trinity, onion, celery, and green pepper in equal proportions. This I sweated in a pan while I cut up sausage and ham. I had no seafood. I cooked it all together until the veggies became transparent and added a can of crushed tomatoes with garlic and olive oil. Water and the rice and spices from the box completed the mix. I boiled it and let it cook on low for 25 minutes.

I watched the 7th Son of a 7th Son fantasy movie while cooking and eating. In addition, I ran the laundry and washed the new PJs I ordered from Amazon. I need multiple pairs for the trip and hospital. This was sorted and put away while I watched the movie.

I was thinking of writing at a bar, but I decided to stay home and save the calories and the expense. I read more and finally started the blog at 8ish (20:00).

And that takes us to now…

Thanks for reading.