May 12, 2025Monday, May 12, 2025

Just a thought… Drink Coffee! Do stupid things faster and with more energy! [Darynda Jones]

Well, we made it through a Mother’s Day/Lauren’s 10^th anniversary double hit yesterday. Deep breath, full heart, and on we go.

As I told you last week, in the days leading up to May 11^th I’m often looking for signs that Lauren is still with us. By now, like good golf shots, there are just enough to keep us going, but not enough, never enough, in the long run.

So let me tell you about a few this past week, and my futile and funny attempt to make one happen.

Knowing we’d be away (up island in Courtenay, BC) for our own long weekend, I visited Lauren’s bench at a park in Sidney to spend a few minutes, listen to her sing in my Air Pods, and just be with her.

As I left, I thought how nice it would be if she’d make herself known to me.

While briskly strolling home, I saw something I hadn’t yet seen on a walk this spring: a little bunny on someone’s lawn. I stopped and said, “Hi, Flower,” using one of the nicknames we called Lauren. I know Flower was the skunk in Bambi, but since we don’t have skunks on the island, I decided in that moment that the bunny was my “hello” from Lauren, and was happy with that.

Then, a few blocks closer to home, I looked down. There on the road was a crushed carton. It took a second to register, but the brand on it was a version of that nickname, that we’d shortened to rhyme, not with “show,” but with “how.” Here it is:

A clearer, louder sign, or just a flattened carton? Look, when you’re starving and you’re offered a crust, you don’t ask for a croissant.

So on the weekend, after two futile attempts to charge our EV in Campbell River at uncooperative stations, we drove further out of town to a Shell station. Once we’d plugged in, we wandered into the gas station store. I decided that maybe we were led by those two other exasperating chargers to that place we’d never have stopped, so that I would buy a winning lottery ticket.

Well here’s where the sublime turned into the ridiculous: I had absolutely NO idea how to go about choosing my numbers or playing 6/49. I thought: People do this regularly. How hard can it be? but nope – I was literally clueless. Fortunately there was a lovely cashier who came over to the kiosk and tried to explain it to me; using numbers special to Rob and to me, I ended up ticking off enough for about $60 worth of tickets – HARD NO! – and finally left with three nights’ worth of draws.

Now this is where I should tell you that I awoke yesterday, that heaviest day on our calendar, to learn we were ten million dollars richer. Uh, no. Not even one number. But the good news is, I have two more chances to lose!

Somehow in my life I’ve missed out on learning the basics; How to put a loonie into the right cart at the store (did it on Friday and placed the coin in the cart ahead, so I had conjoined carts until I ran to the car to get another coin); How to do self-checkout without having to get assistance while I melt down with embarrassment; How to buy a damned (in every way possible) lottery ticket.

I figure when stupid stuff happens, as it always does to me, it’ll be a good laugh on the podcast. And if you missed last week’s “fart-walking” topic, you can still listen and have a wonderful cleansing laugh yourself. Just go to gracefullyandfrankly.com and join Lisa Brandt and me. Between the two of us we have stories in which you’ll see yourself, or be darned glad you don’t! Have a gentle week and I’ll be back with you after the long weekend next Tuesday.