While Lugging Trash To The Curb

Ever meet a total stranger and strike up a conversation as though you two were long-time friends?

That’s what happened to me Friday.

I’d been straightening the garden shed and when I lugged another garbage can full of debris to the curb, I met a lady who was waiting for her son, one of our neighbors, to arrive.

She was just passing through Jacksonville on her way from her home in another city to Savannah for another son’s college graduation.

We struck a cord.

After only a few words, I invited her back to sit with me in the garden to wait (her son did not know she was coming to his house till she called him on a cell phone so he was off across town getting his hair cut).

In just moments this lady (I’m not sure I even caught her name; I think it is Betty Jo) and I were chattering away as though we’d known each other for years.

She went back to her van and brought over some Vernon’s Ginger Soda, (a brand hard to find in Jacksonville) and we talked about the song Under The Boardwalk. I thought the Beachboys recorded it; she said it was by the Drifters.

We talked about computers. One of her sons recently gave her a Dell laptop and she’s learning how to use it.

We talked about her work. She manages a Popeye’s Fried Chicken restaurant in her home city. She says hiring good, conscientious help is her biggest problem. She thinks America’s work ethic seems to be disappearing.

We talked about gardening and squirrels and lizards and the virtues of different types of barbecue sauces.

She asked me about good places to visit in Savannah. I told her about things Ginny and I enjoyed on an anniversary second-honeymoon there a few years ago.

All in all I suppose we talked about inconsequential matters and I doubt that we’ll ever met again, but it was a pleasant interlude on a hot afternoon.

Her son arrived and they drove off to buy him a new shirt to wear to the graduation.

I went back to organizing my new shed.

I suppose over the past few weeks I’ve written everything there is to say about tearing down an old shed and building a new shed…. Except…

Except…

Well, there is that disturbing Bible passage in Luke Chapter 12 from verse 13 through verse 21 where Jesus said…

But, I just don’t want to go there.

That’s not something I want to think about right now.

I should have pondered that Scripture BEFORE starting all this work.

For Date Night, Ginny and I went out to enjoy a special offer at an AYCE barbecue place (the letters stand for All You Can Eat) and I made the management regret their special offer.

We anticipate a carefree weekend of love and relaxing and talking and pleasure gardening. No more sheds to reconstruct, trenches to dig, electric lines to splice, or doghouse foundations to uproot.

Thanks be to God!