Al Gore; you don't know nuthin' about being conservative! (No pun intended)

Em reading cards from TUMC friends

 After a very interesting Sunday of worship, visiting in the homes of a couple of friends who have been sick for a while, going to Wal-Mart prior to time for Super Bowl to begin (I am marking my calendar today to never, ever to do that again); went to a nice singing event at the First GB Church in Bloomfield, chased my son & family down & took up maybe 15 minutes of their priceless time in an eating place (not my home), I finally landed back home around dark thirty.


After yelling at mom, because of her severe hearing impairment & telling her about the sick & afflicted & their conditions & James Hendley's awesome testimony at church this morning (he grew up in church with her at Mt. Pisgah in Aquilla, so he's on the A list - he's a male, goes to church) answered varied other inquiries, checked the phone, all the things one does after being out a while, I went in to the kitchen & looked over to the right side of the table down on the floor where I saw something white lying there. At first, I thought it might be underwear that had fallen down off the back of the chair, since she often uses the backs of chairs to dry things such as this because it's close to the vent, but, I should have know better - we never do laundry on Sunday!  So, I leaned over further; it was 2 rolls of toilet paper. 


My throat was already scratchy from yelling, so I thought, let it be. I surmised that she had dropped them in the toilet stool while attempting to "reload" the container we have in front of the commode in which we keep toilet paper stashed. Actually, it's an old churn; did I kid you when I said we waste nothing around here?  I thought it was a pretty piece of pottery looking "stuff", so I sat it in the bathroom, put what I deemed to be a neat looking cleaning brush set for bathroom use in it. One day as I sat down on the commode facing it, I noted that Em had begun to use it to store toilet paper. 


This morning when I glanced to my right, (her chair is there because she refuses to move it - I once suggested rearranging the living room furniture, that's another blog), I noted she had the rolls of tp & scissors in her hand with the blazing lights on her side all on. She is also very vision impaired. One day when I was gone, she went into my bedroom, got a horrid  lamp that I had purchased from W-M with a plastic shade on it that I'm surprised hasn't melted or burned someone severely & moved it in beside her chair, so now when she wants to read she turns on a lamp that has 2 high wattage bulbs AND that floor lamp that snakes over the lamp. One would think the aliens have landed! I just put on my shades & smile. 


I didn't sleep well again last night, so I thought, I'm just going to observe & not ask questions. I will eventually figure this out - maybe. Of course, the phone rang. JJ called, delighted over a snow day, & I was still eying mom. She was carefully trying to unroll that dried tp off the roll a few at a time, cut them off, stack them up. Those gnarled fingers & hands that have done many things during her 90 years. She stacked up her "bounty" on the coffee table & after a while put them in an empty shoe box & took them to her "safe sanctuary", her bedroom, where she has quite an assortment of "goodies" that she would just as soon no one would ever enter or bother. For instance, she keeps it very cool, so there are canned green beans stored underneath her bed; again, Al, no wasted space.


When I saw Al Gore on the "Today" show a while back after he (or someone) had written a book on conserving our resources, I laughed to myself, you guys don't know nuthin'!  You would be amazed at what could be conserved, how long something could be used & reused. Ask my blogging instructor for instance about her Bible. Of course, we would have gladly replaced that for her, but we know it's a book of love for her; no dust on her Bible, never has been, never will be. It is held together with duct tape, tears, & love. My brother recently purchased a high powered magnifying glass for her so she can continue to read the word that is so precious to her. So, when Em turns on the space age lights, I know it's time to meditate on the word - it happens every day of her life barring sickness.


I'm not picking on you or anyone else, Al, but a dear friend bought me a sign that hangs on my wall that I really cherish because it's a true reminder to me of mom & maybe you & all the rest of us need to read & heed:  "A Bible that's falling apart often belongs to someone who isn't".  May your cup run over, Al, with the love of the One who supplied us with all these awesome resources!  Blessings, Barb