Another Pleasant (Green) Valley Sunday (Morning) - December 1, 2016
This Sunday was my first time being a Greeter at Church of the Good Shepherd, and I wanted to get there early. Why? To practise? I don’t know. I just can’t stand being late, and Laur is averse to getting anywhere early.
We got there “on time” and truly, with us two, that is the best you can hope for. Turns out I was the only Greeter listed. Normally, a very avuncular gentleman is there every Sunday and he is the Super Greeter. I felt a little lost. There are two different entranceways – what if I missed someone? I don’t know everyone at our church – what if I didn’t send a “newbie” to the visitors’ booth?
I missed Drew. I could not remember the right format. Do you open the door for people and shake their hand as they enter? Do you wait for them to get inside the church before you shake their hand? Or do you use the automatic door opener that is almost guaranteed to knock someone off their feet as it whips open, or crush them when it slams shut. So much to learn.
I simply love Church. Laur and I sit in the front row so that I don’t miss anything. Laur would prefer the back, in a corner, hidden. And no, he has not signed up to be a Greeter. Ah well. Part of the sermon was about having a “bucket list” of values that you want to model, and services you want to provide before the big door in the sky opens. (At least, we hope it will not be the other door…)
It’s OK to have the other kind of bucket list too, and on my bucket list for my time in AZ was to ride our bikes in the desert. There are mountain-bike trails in a swath of desert not far from us. What I had neglected to factor in was that our AZ Specialized bikes are not like our St. Catharine’s Raleighs. The latter are two wheeled tractors and get us through anything.
Trust me, Specialized bikes are not good in an area that has lots of gullies and sinking sand. We were glad to come to the end of the trail. We walked as much as we road. But, argh, there was a barbed wire fence separating us from the road. Laur found a path parallel to the road so we rode along it – barb wire on one side, a cactus forest on the other, and lots of unforgiving rocks underneath us. Not very smart, I know. And we forgot to bring our cell phone.
Thankfully the trail led us to a suburb with a gate that allowed us to enter it and we started to make our way back home. And then Laur’s bike got a flat. We were very grateful it didn’t happen in the desert – we didn’t bring a bike repair kit and an air pump. How foolish can we be? Well, when I proposed to Laur that I ride back to our trailer park and get our car and go pick him up, he responded, “How can you do that? You don’t have the keys?” And then he added, to himself, “She doesn’t even have the car!”
Anyhow, I managed to get back to the park, get the car, and pick Laur and the bike up. He had actually walked it as far as the bike repair shop, but it was closed. It is Sunday in a town geared to seniors. Our 20-year-old Cadillac – it came with our trailer – has a trunk the size of a storage locker, so it was no problem to fit the bike in.
I’m not certain, but I think I drove back into our RV Park wearing my Dory helmet. If Laur had been wearing his helmet, it would have been his “Red Devil” one.
We really shouldn’t be let out without supervision.
*****
Note: Helmet covers can be purchase from www.tail-wags.com
We got there “on time” and truly, with us two, that is the best you can hope for. Turns out I was the only Greeter listed. Normally, a very avuncular gentleman is there every Sunday and he is the Super Greeter. I felt a little lost. There are two different entranceways – what if I missed someone? I don’t know everyone at our church – what if I didn’t send a “newbie” to the visitors’ booth?
I missed Drew. I could not remember the right format. Do you open the door for people and shake their hand as they enter? Do you wait for them to get inside the church before you shake their hand? Or do you use the automatic door opener that is almost guaranteed to knock someone off their feet as it whips open, or crush them when it slams shut. So much to learn.
I simply love Church. Laur and I sit in the front row so that I don’t miss anything. Laur would prefer the back, in a corner, hidden. And no, he has not signed up to be a Greeter. Ah well. Part of the sermon was about having a “bucket list” of values that you want to model, and services you want to provide before the big door in the sky opens. (At least, we hope it will not be the other door…)
It’s OK to have the other kind of bucket list too, and on my bucket list for my time in AZ was to ride our bikes in the desert. There are mountain-bike trails in a swath of desert not far from us. What I had neglected to factor in was that our AZ Specialized bikes are not like our St. Catharine’s Raleighs. The latter are two wheeled tractors and get us through anything.
Trust me, Specialized bikes are not good in an area that has lots of gullies and sinking sand. We were glad to come to the end of the trail. We walked as much as we road. But, argh, there was a barbed wire fence separating us from the road. Laur found a path parallel to the road so we rode along it – barb wire on one side, a cactus forest on the other, and lots of unforgiving rocks underneath us. Not very smart, I know. And we forgot to bring our cell phone.
Thankfully the trail led us to a suburb with a gate that allowed us to enter it and we started to make our way back home. And then Laur’s bike got a flat. We were very grateful it didn’t happen in the desert – we didn’t bring a bike repair kit and an air pump. How foolish can we be? Well, when I proposed to Laur that I ride back to our trailer park and get our car and go pick him up, he responded, “How can you do that? You don’t have the keys?” And then he added, to himself, “She doesn’t even have the car!”
Anyhow, I managed to get back to the park, get the car, and pick Laur and the bike up. He had actually walked it as far as the bike repair shop, but it was closed. It is Sunday in a town geared to seniors. Our 20-year-old Cadillac – it came with our trailer – has a trunk the size of a storage locker, so it was no problem to fit the bike in.
I’m not certain, but I think I drove back into our RV Park wearing my Dory helmet. If Laur had been wearing his helmet, it would have been his “Red Devil” one.
We really shouldn’t be let out without supervision.
*****
Note: Helmet covers can be purchase from www.tail-wags.com