We were cutting it close, too close. But we made the stop anyway. I could say that the car needed gas. But the truth is, we needed gas – coffee!
So, we found an unknown. It was the only shop Google found for us. We even needed to backtrack a little bit.
NO! It would not be open for another 6 minutes. But an eagle-eyed passenger noted that others were walking by our parking spot and entering, (what’s this?), another coffee shop!
In the first January article, I noted that my 2025 word-of-the-year challenge is to be a warmer person.
I knew that would be a difficult goal but that’s the point of this annual exercise – to improve in areas where one needs improvement.
But today, I’m not feeling warm. All I can think about is the windchill of minus 30 degrees. I’ll take a break from that warm person thing since there’s less chance than a cold day in hell that I’ll see anybody today. I’m off the hook while shivering in place. Sounds fair.
I will take this time to wrap up in a blanket and read a book. Before picking up the novel, I will spend a little time reinforcing the I-never-want-to-forget memories from yesterday.
"War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children." (Carter’s speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination in 1976.)
Given the circumstances of this past week, many Jimmy Carter quotes have been published. When reading this one, I thought of the Sermon on the Mount. I imagined Jesus responding, “But I say to you, until you love and care for every child, there can be no peace in the world nor your heart.”
I fear I have “bitten off more than I can chew”. That common metaphor has never been truer than today.
You might be aware that ‘it’s that time of year’, I recently waged a small internal battle to determine my 2025 Word of the Year. I won’t know about the results of this ‘war’ until “it’s that time of year”, next year. I know - you can hardly wait.
This is the 12th year I have taken part in this annual discipline. Looking over the words and phrases from the past, one might lean toward discouragement – one like me, for instance. You’d think by now, after spending a year with each of these words/phrases, I might be extensively improved. But I think, well OK, I’ll be honest, I know I am not the new and improved version I seek to be.
