I actually started a post on a particular topic the other night but it was very late and I was very tired and so the opening paragraphs of the post sit in my “drafts” folder. I will finish it at some point.
But that doesn’t help you, does it? (All three of you who read here.) You’re wondering what’s happening in my life, right? Ha.
We have a houseguest, the girlfriend of one of my sons. She is a delight to have around. Grace treats her like royalty and a sister rolled into one. Having a houseguest is a constant reminder to me to wash another load of bath towels because we are constantly out of clean towels because my children can’t seem to use a towel more than once before leaving it in a damp pile on the floor.
On Saturday, some of us went to the beach for the afternoon. I inched my mini-van into a parallel parking spot, backing up, cranking the wheel one direction, backing up another inch, cranking the wheel again, over and again about ten times. Normally I am a competent parallel parker but for some reason, the car behind me on the road decided to stop right behind me while waiting for me to park, totally cramping my style.
Finally parked, I opened the back of the van and pulled out beach chairs and discovered my umbrella was missing. My husband had just taken my mini-van in to have it washed and vacuumed and I figured the umbrella was removed from the back and mistakenly not put back. Not having a beach umbrella is certainly a first-world problem, but I was upset about not having it. Luckily, I had sunhats and sunscreen, so we managed. Having a beach umbrella once seemed like a fanciful luxury to me but now it feels like an essential. How did I live without a beach umbrella?
Two days later, my husband and I were talking about the missing umbrella again. And as we talked and considered where it could be, I suddenly remembered propping it against a chain-link fence at a park weeks earlier when my daughter had a soccer scrimmage. When I propped it, I said to myself, “Don’t forget this umbrella.” And then the game began and ended and I walked to my mini-van and completely forgot my umbrella.
I wonder if that park has a Lost and Found. I wonder if someone absconded with my umbrella.
*
You know what’s weird?
I found a Post-It note on my desk. It’s in my handwriting, so clearly I wrote the note.
But it makes absolutely no sense. It says this:
“accidentally kill
Meat Eaters
woman like two”
WHAT IN THE WORLD? The three lines seem unconnected. I just have no idea what it means. Am I composing Haiku, only not? Have I begun writing a novel about Meat Eaters who accidentally kill, only not? HAVE I LOST MY MIND? Why is Meat and Eaters capitalized? I can’t bear to throw away this nonsensical note until I can figure out why I wrote it.
*
This week my daughter has soccer camp and one of my sons is helping at Vacation Bible School at church. One of my sons is employed and the other is hanging out with his girlfriend. I am just trying to stop myself from losing personal belongings and from writing myself cryptic Post-It notes.
Wish me luck.