For more than a few weeks I've worked hard, helping out at election headquarters. Between that and minimal housecleaning, and doing some nursing shifts, I'm not sure where I left off here.

It may have been when I stayed in this small room several days, waiting for the furnace to be repaired. It wasn't bad, for I discovered it's much warmer, getting through winter either sitting here at the computer, or snuggling into a bed I made here from my old futon. I about lost count of all the covers on it, but then, whose counting!

This time of year is when I get more serious about self improvement, and learning new things, or sharpening what I may know about some. Reading three books may not sound like a lot, but compared to none, it's a good number. I started with Max Lucado's "Next Door Savior", then added "More Jesus, Less Religion" by Stephen Arterburn and Jack Felton and am almost through one called "The Reflective Life". by Ken Gire. This last one gets into some, though not heavy Psychology, which makes it more appealing to me. Mostly, I really like how the three authors write.

In "The Reflective Life, the author engages the reader by leading him or me, carefully through how to apply his teaching. Keeping it as simple as I can, he encourages some pauses in our days, to read the moment, (See what's on the surface of things), then reflect on the moment, (see what's beneath the surface), and thirdly, (to respond to the moment). Moment, of course is understood to be whatever we notice or take in during our day. and responding is giving what we've seen a place to live in our heart.

I've been trying to pay attention more closely, for this sounds like good advice. It might get us out of our own little worlds for a while. But you know how busy we all seem to be, rushing around as fast as ever, and after all, have a lot going on.

I decided I needed to fight off cold weather doldrums. Felt some cabin fever closing in, and did what any smart woman would. Grabbed my shoes and my purse and drove to the nearest store. Needed hair coloring and a few other things, and wasted more time than either of my daughters' would, choosing some. It's a silly ritual I don't think I'll ever shake, that awful Great Depression soft shooing about the prices of everything.

Chose the middle price this time, and headed to a check out lane. On the way to the hair coloring I had noticed a special edition of Time magazine about the election, but didn't like the price. Good grief, it was almost as expensive as the hair coloring.

I am crazy about books, and looked at some new ones, then passed on them, but I really wanted that Time magazine. I did some fast aritimetic, hurried back and switched the hair coloring to the cheaper one, which would make the magazine about half price, and with that silent agony completed, hurried back to the check out line, stopping only to get my magazine.

It's kind of nutty to waste that much time picking out anything, then not want to stand in line a few minutes. Lines are where people who live alone get a chance to meet others, and today two customers were ahead of me. The first was a couple, who didn't have many items, and then there was a lady all by herself.

I'm bringing up the end of the line. The clerk rings up the couple's order. It's a black man and a white women and they look about in their early sixties. The line gets quiet while they figure out what they can leave off,
a package of wrapped cheese slices. The clerk sets them aside, and completes their order, but I call out to her, "It's O.K., I'll buy it". The couple
picks up their bags and are starting to leave, but I call out again, "It's allright, I'll pay for it". I didn't want to embarrass them, or call attention to myself. But I just thought it sad that they didn't have that small amount of money, or couldn't spend it for some cheese they wanted.

The clerk rang up the customer in between us, and I'm standing there, thinking, I'm paying more for a magazine I don't have to have, and they can't even pay for the cheap kind of cheese. You'd have thought I had done a really big thing. They thanked me over and over. My stuff was still on the counter, so I just stood there, holding my Time magazine, and when they thanked me again, I held up its picture of our new president, and smiled at them, as they both said "God bless you", as they were leaving.

I'm not expecting overnight fixes for so many huge problems with our country, and our people. I don't know if I'll ever stop doing my little depression era mental shuffle thing. But I think I understand more now what the book about reflective living is trying to teach me.

I walked to my car, and noticed that the store clerk had bagged my magazine separately, so it wouldn't get messed up. I turned up the volume of Springsteen's "Born In the U S A." Jimmy Buffet's Margaritiville, and Cheeseburger in Paradise didn't seem big enough exclamation points for me, for today. I boogied with the "Boss" singing all the way home.

In checking for phone messages, a new one was from another place I'd applied for a nursing job, and when I started to put my grocery receipt away, I noticed the clerk had given me a three dollars off coupon for more hair coloring. Then I remembered that the book about reflective living mentioned something about how Our Lord uses ordinary everyday things, to get us to listen to Him.