March 9, 2014

Did You Change Your Clock?

March 9, 2014

It is "that time of the year" when we have to change our clocks to save daylight.  This is the bad change, where we lose an hour of sleep.  I am sorry it comes the morning after the Winter Texan Banquet; I would have enjoyed another hour of sleep this morning, but there is never a good time for the change.  In some ways, maybe this is a good week for it.  Locally, it is Spring Break, so the kids around town are out of school.  That gives them a week to adjust to the new time before returning to the classroom.

Last night we had the 8th Winter Texan Banquet at First Baptist Church.  The Winter Texans are always eager for the event and arrive early to get seats down front.  The front was filled with almost exclusively the Winter Texans.  I asked if they are back row Baptists back home.  Many said that they are.  It is funny how we get into set patterns.

Our attendance was down a little.  There is a stomach bug going around town and it rained yesterday afternoon and evening.  Both things knocked out some who had planned to come.  The stomach bug actually knocked out the pianist who had come from Dallas to accompany the singer.  Thankfully, the singer was able to accompany himself, but I am sure it caused him to make a change or two in his program.  Those who were there seemed to have a good time. Our biggest problem was too much food.

The decorations looked nice.  The setup was good.  There was a lot of serving help.  I am told the music was very good.  With my Cochlear Implant, I am not hearing music well enough to judge, but by the looks of those in the audience, they were enjoying it - many singing along with the music.  We had some nice door prizes and the winners were all delighted.  The first one was a hanging basket of Boston fern, won by a man whose wife was having a birthday.  I think he got off easy in his shopping since I later saw her with the prize.  If you look closely at her glasses, you may be able to guess her age.

Many on our church staff are out of town: our pastor and church school superintendent are in Africa with their wives helping missionaries who are home schooling their children.  Many of the responsibilities for the evening fell to our associate pastor Craig Smith who is a hard worker and never complains.  He just jumps in and does what needs doing.  His wife and daughter did a major portion of the work also.  Without help from them, the banquet would not have happened.

The Winter Texans enjoyed looking at the tri-fold boards with photos from previous banquets and remembering old friends who weren't with us this year.  There was a map where they could put a thumb tack to mark their summer home location.

I did share a lot with them about my hearing and Cochlear Implant.  At last year's banquet I was totally deaf and many had lots of questions about what all had happened since when they had left last spring.  I still had a lot of trouble hearing in the kitchen area where there was noise from workers, refrigerators, ice maker, clattering dishes.  At one point someone had tried to ask me a question a couple of times and I took them out into the gym to be able to hear the question.  As I mentioned, the music continues to be a disappointment for me since I just can't hear the individual notes correctly.

My arm with the previously broken elbow did get a real workout yesterday.  Lifting things showed me I still have a long way to go until I am back to where I used to be.  It is mostly when I put weight in that hand when the wrist is rotated.  There were several times yesterday that was a problem.  I almost (but didn't) dropped things two or three times.

The banquet was successful.  I am tired, but pleased with the results overall.