A month that starts with Easter has to be good, right? Mostly. I do want to acknowledge that the celebration of Jesus’ victory over death is a joyous day. And it should be observed every day. It is only through His death and resurrection that I am forgiven and saved to live in fellowship with God forever.
If you don’t know Jesus and the gift He offers us since the very first Easter, click the contact tab at the top if this page. That link sends me a private email and we can arrange to visit by messaging or talking on the phone. There is nothing more important that I could do.
On Good Friday a couple of friends came by for a visit. And then we drove out to my Mama and Papa’s house to see them and my PawPaw for Easter. We sat on the deck (the weather was perfect) talking and eating ice cream. The day after Easter, my sister and I met in Dallas for lunch and shopping. This is a good start to the month. Fellowship – whether it be with sweet family or friends – feeds my soul like almost nothing else.
Circling back to the mall trip with my sister, I feel I must be authentic and not only mention the good things, but the hot mess things as well. Upon leaving the mall, I found a Lexus SUV parked extremely close to my driver side door. SUV doesn’t seem quite the right word as it was roughly the size of an elephant. I did not dare try to squeeze in by the normal route for fear that my 2013 Toyota might graze the luxury vehicle and cost more to repaint than my entire car.
Yep, I had to crawl in from the passenger side. Those that know me IRL might be giggling already. For the rest of you, let me ‘splain. I am a large person. And I don’t mean in that “larger than life, center of attention” kind of way. I’m over 5ft 9. In college, a flirtatious co-worker measured me from hip to ankle to announce that I had 6 feet of legs. And now I’m overweight to boot. I also have an elevated center console between the front bucket seats, making this more challenging.
After assessing the situation, I decided I needed to go butt first over the center hurdle. After removing the drinks from cup holders and everything occupying my front seat, I handed them to my sister. I almost immediately ripped the shirt I was wearing, so I took it off. It was dripping in fringe and I didn’t want to get further tangled in it. I eased into the passenger seat and hoisted my behind up onto the console.
At this moment my sister exclaims, “Why am I not filming this?!?” I manage to duck my head and slide my backside off the console and into the driver’s seat. My many years of yoga practice did not prepare me to tuck my knees up one at a time near my adam’s apple so I could get them from the passenger seat into the driver’s side floor board. Once I did, panting and sweating and still laughing, my sister asks, “Are you alright?” “I think I may have tweaked my back”, I answered. “But mostly ok.”
Thankfully, I did have a tank top on under the shirt I removed so there was no arrest on the way home. Just a weird cat call from a dude driving a food truck. The end.
My Allie girl started work at her first job. A little ice cream and candy shop on our town’s Main Street. So proud of her initiative and pray it continues to be a good experience for her. I had to take off a day of my work to go get my second vaccine. Almost exactly 12 hours later I woke up shivering uncontrollably with a headache and body aches. It lasted about 12 hours and then pretty well disappeared as quickly as it came. Glad to have that behind me.
We finished up the month with Allie’s annual high school jazz show. It was incredible. So much fun to see my girl and her friends in their element. And she had a large cheering section of family that came into town to see it. That was fun too.
On a trip to the used book store, I picked up Eat Cake. Be Brave by Melissa Radke. Am I glad I did! This author is hilarious. I kept retelling parts of the book to my family (I was indifferent to their indifference). That’s how you know you have a good book. So I subscribed to her podcast and now want to watch her reality show!
I checked out Good Vibrations: My Life as a Beach Boy by Mike Love from the library. Can’t say that I enjoyed it. The author’s self-importance is off putting. And the dark subject matter? Depressing. Destructive drug habits, infidelities, family betrayals and broken marriages made we wish it was over. But I have a weird thing about not finishing books. I can’t quit unless it is extremely profane or unbearably dull. Some applaud the commitment and discipline. Some call it insane to waste time on something neither enjoyable nor beneficial. Whatever it is, this is me.
The hubs and I watched Genius: Aretha. So much tragedy in the life of the queen of soul. We enjoyed this and the first season of Genius on Albert Einstein, but didn’t make it through season 2 on Pablo Picasso. Well look at that? I can quit something. We did get through The Taking of Pelham 123, even though it took three tries since my sweet spouse kept falling asleep. (He gets up early. He works hard. Whatcha gonna do?) As always, I love you, I thank you, and I pray May treats you well!
And now for this week’s featured post from the link up!
I just had to share Amy Jung’s article with you. Will I Pilot Life By God’s Truth or By My Feelings? is just what we all need to be reminded of. We live in a culture that is screaming at us that our feelings are our truth, and we are all suffering the consequences of it. Amy reminds us that God’s truth is THE truth, no matter how we are anyone else feels about it. And that’s good news.
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MAREE DEE – Embracing the Unexpected
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That is such a funny story. I’m finding parking very difficult as SUVs and Trucks are getting larger and larger but parking spots remain the same size. Thanks for the party.
Good point on the parking spot size!
Lauren, your mall story was hilarious. I’m afraid they may have needed the jaws of life to get me out had I gotten doubled up like that. LOL Thanks for hosting and many blessings!
I knew as soon as it was over that I had to tell it!
I can just imagine the car scenario. I’ve done that a time or two, but it was a long time ago. I don’t know if I could do it with our current car and the current state of my body!
I had not heard of Melissa Radke. Sounds interesting!
I’m the same with books. I usually feel compelled to finish unless they have awful language or sexual scenes. I do tend to turn off shows earlier on, though.
I am finding I have many more “finish books” compadres than I thought I would!
What a lovely month you’ve had Lauren! And wow you did well at the gymnastics!! LOL! I would’ve had a hope!
Bless you,
Jennifer
Gymnastics is a good name for it? I think I can honestly say I “briefly” did gymnastics! Ha!
Oh no! I love big SUVs just because I have always loved monster trucks but I don’t like them parked next to me either! It’s just so scary to be next to them for the fear of damaging the other car either by getting in the car or trying to leave the parking lot!! I am sorry you had to go through that but if it’s any consolation, it’s a very funny story and it made me smile. Your Allie sure has a lot of talent. That must have been a pinch me moment to hear her and her friends perform? I am also similar in that I like to finish a book even if it’s hard to get through. In my defense, it builds character! Lol I hope your weekend is going well so far and happy Sunday!
Maureen | http://www.littlemisscasual.com
I think the same thing about hard books building character! I even told my mom once that anyone can read easy books. Ha! And I do always love to see my girl perform. Thanks so much for reading and interacting with me, Maureen!
Thanks for the wonderful laughs today, Lauren. Your sister was not filming it because she is your sister and loves you! 🙂 It totally sounds like something that would happen to me.
Now I need to find Eat Cake Be Brave.
You won’t regret reading that book!
Good morning, Lauren.
I laugh every time I stop by your space! Thank you for brightening my day with your sense of humor and imagery.
The books sound great and not-so-great and I may or may not watch Aretha. Tragedy makes me a little too sad right now.
Have a blessed day!
Tammy
Tammy, I get it. I am having to be very intentional with what I read and watch right now. If I watch or read something hard or a little dark, the very next thing needs to be light or funny. A palate cleanser if you will.
That story was hilarious! Glad to hear I’m not the only one who has this kind of stuff happen! Hey-thanks for sharing my post! I missed the link up last week, but I’ll be back tomorrow!
It was my privilege to share such an insightful post, Amy. I look forward to reading more from you!
Oh my gosh, Lauren, I am literally laughing so hard that I have tears streaming down my face! Fortunately, I just used the bathroom or I might be in a similar situation as you were laughing with your sister! This is absolutely something that I can picture happening to me as well. I would be so afraid of dinging the luxury vehicle that I would climb through the passenger side as well. And I, too, am not a petite person so I can imagine a similar situation! Thanks so much for sharing and giving me a good hearty Sunday morning laugh!
Shelbee
http://www.shelbeeontheedge.com
Oh so you are laughing at my expense? Cause that’s exactly what I was going for! Thanks, friend.