Down but not out

Monday November 14^th was a down day.  Not sure why. Sometimes after a busy weekend I am emotionally flat.  Tuesday dawned bright and cool.  I rode my motorcycle down to the RnR.  After coffee and prayer with my pastor friend Mike I was feeling better.  Then as I motored down to Mardel’s, I caught a beautiful view of the mountains.  I figured ‘1,000gifts’ would get me in the mood for Thanksgiving! And can you believe it?  ‘1,000gifts’ was on sale! So I got two and two of Francis Chan’s ‘Erasing Hell’ the counter to Rob Bell’s ‘Love Wins’.  That and a $1 Bill Bennett book and things were getting better by the minute. I had Christmas gifts! I picked up some free Irish Cream coffee before exiting Mardel’s to sit on a bench and sip and preview my cool books.  A man driving a very old van stopped completely at the ‘in the middle of nowhere’ stop sign – I smiled.  Then a very pregnant woman with a very happy 3 year old came by. The little one was skipping with joy and unsuccessfully keeping her giggles inside out of the sheer happiness of being alive and out with mommy.  As I drove away, being careful to stop at that ‘in the middled of nowhere' stop sign, a mother and her toddler were meandering across the road in front of me.  The little man spotted me, broke into a big smile and raised a mighty arm to point me out.  My smile matched his.  Things were looking up as I looked forward to getting home and digging in to Ann Voscamp's ‘One Thousand Gifts’.  I walked into the house – the dog had pooped on the rug but it barely effected me.  I put three pieces of Sunday’s left over pizza in the microwave – even though I knew it would probably kill me & settled in.  I knew it was going to be a good Thanksgiving.