Sunday Church and D&D (How can we roll that many ones!)

Morning began with me locating the kitchen after rising sometime after 7 but not quite 8. Coffee was acquired by the usual brewing process using liberal, Fair Trade grounds, thus not making the world darker with every cup, but maybe a bit brighter. On Sunday morning, I was writing about Saturday, which wasn’t that interesting, and I was time-boxed. Church was at 11, but I had to purchase food items for the summer potluck. Saturday had me packing and cleaning for Monday’s trip to Michigan.

A banana was added to breakfast as I wrote, and Deborah and I texted and talked. We like to connect at the start and end of our days (with time zone adjustments). I was not rushed, but also there was not much of interest on Saturday (other than me being crushed, again, at Richard’s in yet another Euro-style game I had never played before). My colon, which has been going with a start-and-stop process of late, was shortened by 25 cm to remove cancer (no recurrence so far), and I decided to demonstrate how much I can hold internally. While unpleasant, it was freeing as I was concerned this could be on a flight or worse. I include this as surviving cancer and its impact on my life is just as important as drinking coffee to me. Thus relieved of worry (and a few pounds), I was able to continue my Sunday.

With the blog published, I returned to more mundane tasks (already uploading Quicken balances and reviewing them), showered, dressed, and found my way. A gray sweater vest, suspenders, a red, gray, and blue pattern tie (very 198o-90s) over a white dress shirt for church. Dress in black shoes and khaki pants. And I was ready to head to Safeway.

Air VW the Gray was ready for our transit to the grocery store. There I picked up a few items, including some fated apples, and I should know better from the bible. At self-check, I loaded everything in bags, paid for the bags (five cents each), and the bag exploded with the weight of the apples (in a box), broke open, and covered the floor. I managed with the bemused Safeway staff to collect my fateful apples and was told that I had sinned against process by not double-bagging. The staff repeatedly offered to show me how to do it. I demurred and took all my stuff unhoused.

I got some help from Z after I reached the church in the EV to unload. Pastor Lowell Greathouse and his wife, Susan, were already there. Lowell was pastor from 1992 to 1998 and was giving the sermon today (at the invitation of Pastor Ken). I offered him an apple with a dark smile; he refused (feigning horror).

I ushered, and there was some confusion as the AV was set up late and Dondrea was frustrated that someone had messed with the board again. But soon things were running, and service was warm and inviting today. The music was easy to enjoy and sing, and some of my stiff Methodist might even have swayed a bit.

A new person, Alex, showed up and was reading a pew bible most of the service. I gave him the pew bible after reading who had given it, they are long gone, and said, “They would not mind,” showing him the label inside, and went on, “and it is better for you to have it, remembering us with it, and reading it rather than us just dusting it.” I replaced it later with another one from a less-used pew (we have about a hundred in the pews).

Lowell’s sermon was about storytelling and how God is not just a creator but a storyteller. That Jesus told stories and that the Gospel of John says that the Word was there first. It is the first story and storyteller. Lowell is a master storyteller, and he connected everything before you realized that you were hanging on every word.

Lowell mentioned all the pastors after him in his sermon. Pastor Lowell, and it seemed like a flashback to thirty years ago, then did communion, and I tried to remember all the folks gone now that used to be there. The presence of our Saints, for me, seemed to fill the sanctuary and added to the warm feeling for this service.

This was followed by the usual chaos of a potluck in Wesley Hall with baked hot dogs as the main fare. But, as usual with a Methodist feed, there was too much food of all different kinds. Alex and some other folks I did not know joined us. Lowell walked the room, ate, and chatted until the chairs and tables started to be put away. Again, it seemed like the 1990s.

I headed out, took the EV home, got home, took off my tie, and nodded off. I was exhausted. But Dungeons & Dragons was at 5:30, and I reheated some coffee and rallied. I was at M@’s early and everyone was late. But soon, with Jack filling in for one traveling player, got back to our gaming.

Details cannot be covered here, but we tried some plots to disrupt a force of wickedness. Scott’s character accused my sorcerer of being devious, which mostly got me (and my character) a blank look. But we continued with our plots (with the other players aligning with my “devious” plots).

The night was full of ‘1’s rolled by the players, and what seemed like endless ’20’s from M@ as DM. This is not good. I, at least, managed a few good rolls as needed, and “devious” went off exceedingly well (a natural “20” for me on deception).

But despite our efforts, the adventure was a crawl, slimy, and combat-centric. We used reasonable tactics, but bad rolls and punishing hits did make it hard on us. We are more of a run-in-and-out group with a lot of devious plots. It was fun and used almost every spell slot I have. M@’s new toys were fabulous.

Scott and I talked later about retirement options, money, and health care. He is planning his escape from work now. I share what I did and do.

After that, I drove home, cleaned nothing, packed up everything, and went to bed. Ready to travel on Monday.

Thanks, M@! Thanks, Lowell! Thanks, Dondrea & Z, for the warm service and potluck! It was a good day!

Thanks for reading!