Thursday, October 15, 2015

October 15, 2015

Still Spending Time Catching Up
October 15, 2015


Group of Bee balloons

How can five days out of town, put me two weeks behind at the office?  Well, it started with the fact that we were gone at the first of the month.  Next, there was one day out for the air conditioning problem.  Another was the bank statement was 5 days late (that is a major issue in my monthly reports).  My new allergy medication that makes me too sleepy to get up and going in the mornings is a factor. 
 A better picture than the one I posted before, 
of the Roadrunner from the old cartoons.
 
On and on goes the list of reasons for the backlog.  There are many factors that figure into this problem, but it is getting resolved.  This morning I did a stack of filing and it felt good to have that all caught up.  By the end of the day, the "to be filed" box was filling up again.  How in the world?
This zebra was so cute
 
Ron was in the office most of the day and the morning was a little quieter than recent ones.  In the afternoon he went on a couple of jobs and I was waiting on customers most of the time.  One was very interesting.  The man is 73 (he told me) and I would guess his first language was Spanish.  His English was pretty good, but he seemed to stop and mentally translate everything that was said.  To pass the time while I was cutting his keys, I started telling him why we were not at the office about 10 days ago when he had stopped by. 
It is amazing how much personality can go into one of the smaller balloons.
 
First I told him that we took a vacation.  He looked excited and said that was great.  He asked if we had gone to Las Vegas.  I told him no, that we had gone to Albuquerque for the Balloon Festival.  I asked if had ever heard of it.  As we talked a little, he said yes, he had seen a show on television about it.  When I told him that the first day they launched 550 balloons, he just could hardly believe it. 
A view of just a small portion of the balloons launching
 
Continuing to tell him about the Festival, I told him about the balloons that landed in front of us and pulled out my cell phone to show him a few photos.  When I showed him one of a large number of balloons in the air he was astounded.  The things I told him made him smile and we were having a good time chatting.
Some of the fun character balloons
 
Then he asked if the balloons touched each other.  I said that on the ground as they fill them, many touch one another, but in the air they try to stay a safe distance from each other, but sometimes will touch on purpose.  There are some smaller balloons of cute little bees.  Honey bees, I told him.  He started waving his hands and said, "NO bees!  No bees!"  I told him that the balloon crews try to get these to touch each other so it looks like they are kissing and the crowds will clap and cheer.  He said he did not want to hear about bees.
Green frog balloon
 
At this point I really looked at him and could see he was very serious.  I asked why he did not want to know about the cute bees.  It turned out as he shared his story, that 2 weeks ago he was mowing his yard and ran over a bee hive on the ground or in the dirt.  They attacked him and he had well over 100 stings.  He ran into the house and continued to brush them off.  He called his wife and she took him to the hospital as he began having trouble breathing. 
More traditional balloon
 
They put him on oxygen as his throat swelled and administered medications and three nurses spent a long time pulling stingers out of his skin.  He pointed out places all over his arms where he had been stung.  He was kept at the hospital for a while and is still in some pain.  If I understood him correctly, he still has stingers working their way out of his skin.  I had him sit down as I searched for one of the cups we often give away and when I found one, I gave it to him, while going over the scripture on the cup: "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  Jeremiah 29:11

Another traditional balloon

I told him that even though something bad had happened to him, God had a plan for his life and it was a good plan.  I told him God had a reason for not allowing him to die from all those stings from the bees.  We talked more and he told me he wanted to put the bees behind him and focus on a happy future.  I am sure he will.  He was a very good humored man and so interesting.  As he left he said, "God bless you." and I know God had blessed me already with his visit.  
 When pigs can fly

For the evening, we met our friends for supper at a different place.  The food was fine.  It was noisy.  Tile floors, metal chairs, close seating, and a close kitchen make for lots of noises in my ear!  We did have a good visit, but my friend had to repeat most things to me me at least once and some, more than that.
I had a whale of a good time talking to my customer.

1 comment:

  1. Your childhood desire to be a missionary is being fulfilled daily.

    ReplyDelete