Each Day Already is a Challenge

When will I learn?

Our small group's appointed time for working the booth at the festival was 7:30 to 10 p.m. A few of the younger women had committed to being there the whole time. That left us older folk the choice to decide if and how long we would be there. I was actually thinking that if I felt able to be there, I would try for the whole time. But plans are supposed to be flexible, right?

One of our neighbors was sitting on our porch and sharing kitty and kid stories with me and hubby. I'm not sure how much bonding with older (and hopefully a tad wiser) folks this young woman has had in her life. I've been trying to get her, her boyfriend and their two children (about 18 months and almost 5 years old) to come with us to church...or to find a church to their liking. So, I figured the porch talking was a good thing.

I finally did make it to the booth about 8:30. A little while later, our neighbor and her boyfriend showed up at our booth. Later, when we were all home again, her only comment to me was, "It looked like you were having a great time with your church friends." I was! And I'm glad my neighbor got to see that. Well, you know. Some folks think that all church folk do is fuss amongst each other.

We sold sodas, iced tea, bottled water, and lemonade - all bottled and convenient - for $1.50. The sign on the booth said that all of the proceeds from that booth were going to the township recreation center. So, I take it that our church does this to be neighborly. We did have our church banners at the top of the booth and brochures that folks could take if they were interested. But, as my neighbor pointed out, our camaraderie was probably the best advertisement.

I'm not sure if the township collected money from the first shift (5-7:30) or if what we ended the night was from the whole evening (5-10), but we figured that there was over $1,000 in the money box when we turned it in. That's lots of $1.50 sodas. And, many were sold in the last 30 minutes before the fireworks started at 10.

I did have fun, but was reminded of something this morning when I finally got out of bed. Everything I do takes its toll on my energy level. Since I went to church (and I do clap and sway and actively praise Him) and then worked that booth all in the same day - with a very short nap in between - I think I used up some of today's energy yesterday.

Golly gee whiz that makes me mad. I'm only 55 for pity's sake. I should still be dancing!

On a whole different note...

Have you seen this New York Times article? Scientists’ Tests Hack Into Electronic Voting Machines in California and Elsewhere. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/28/us/28vote.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&or... With Presidential elections looming (and primary voting even before that), this is a pretty scary discovery, if you ask me. It also does make one wonder about those last elelction results. But that's another story...

Devvy Kidd, contributing columnist for NewsWithViews.com said, "The only way we the people will know if we have fair and impartial elections is paper ballots, hand counted inside the precicnts before they are transported to the county clerk. Anything else will be a continuing illusion and a tragedy for this nation. Do Americans want fast-food style elections or honest ones? High-tech can be good, but we cannot allow it to steal the ballot box in favor of speed." http://www.newswithviews.com/NWVexclusive/exclusive118.htm