Two Encounters

While I was in the office today, Lola Flushpoole the church pianist came by. She sat down in my office to chat. In the course of our conversation she told me of a recent thunderstorm she'd experienced. Shaking back her gray hair, adjusting her glasses, and then nodding her head in reminiscence, she described how in that storm lightning had struck just outside her back door. "It made a blinding flash and then came the biggest bang of thunder I'd ever heard. I have three cats and three dogs. All six animals disappeared under six different pieces of furniture and pooped. I saw that and said to myself, 'This is life's darkest moment.'"

Billy-John, Myra MacDonald's husband, called me too. Billy-John is almost 70. He's completely bald and wears glasses, and usually has on a plaid shirt, jeans, and cowboy boots. He'd rather be outdoors than inside, and I often see him on his riding mower outside the MacDonalds' house. Today he called to chat about church trustee business. Before discussing that, I asked him how he was doing. He grinned. "I'm doin' so good, I think I'll franchise myself."