Posted 3/29/21
God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. 1 Kings 3:29
Another happy Monday at the Digital Cornbread Table! I hope you had a fun, life-giving, and uneventful weekend and are ready to get to work. Mine was fine. I jogged 18.5 miles Saturday in preparation for my Runnin’ Til I’m Purple event in June. I really need to lose another 20-30 pounds by then if possible. I am still just below 250 pounds and wear a size 14 clown shoe running along, so the more I can lose, the better the outcome for the run. 🙂 The trail is very pretty, but it has some small challenges that become bigger ones in summer: snakes (of which I am only moderately afraid), shade (which is good for fighting the sun, but bad for badly needed breeze), and spiders (I am leaving by 6am if possible and will get to clear the trail’s spider webs on my way through.) Perhaps my biggest concern, one that gets me grief and ridicule from peers and an unnamed spouse of mine (Spoiler…I only have one spouse) are members of little devilish group of stinging things such as wasps, bees of all sorts, murder hornets, and the like. If it stings, it chases me and it stings me. It just does. Maybe it smells my fear or sees that I am a wuss…who knows? I have been stung at least 20 separate times in my life and have likes said sting exactly zero times.
My topic is not unlike the Kansas City Northeast News front page from one day last week. The publication left the entire front page blank as a reminder of what you lose should they fail due to the challenging economy. I know nothing of this paper’s politics, its stance on climate change or the existence of the Chupacabra, or even its relative worth as more than a bird cage liner or outhouse “reading” item, but what I do know is that it stinks when discourse is hushed. In a Representative Republic like ours, information is critical because the nation is managed, vicariously, by We the People, and when we don’t know, we cannot accurately choose our destiny nor hold our representation accountable for it.
We are at a stage with mom now that is blank. Mom is nearly unable to communicate anything to us. She still smiles and mumbles and seems happy and not in any pain (Praise the Lord…things could be worse), but beyond that her page is blank. In honor of her struggle, I will join this paper in leaving the rest of the body of this piece blank. I love my mom and miss her many words filling my page.
Update section: Nothing new to report. I get my 15 minutes of visiting Thursday this week. Words or no words, I will never stop seeing her as much as I can. I will speak for her when she can’t speak and I expect you will for your loved ones as well. Terrible disease…we desperately need to #EndALZ .