Minutes to Memories

It has been an interesting day. Lots of little things interspersed as always, including a dry run at the hospital (went to see three people, and all of them had been discharged today!), but the day was dominated by six lengthy conversations.

#1: The day began with a wonderful visit with the wonderful lady pictured above, Jeannie Stevenson. Jeannie owns Salmagundi Shop in downtown Ocean Springs, and she agreed to pose for a picture for my Ocean Springs photo-project. It was such a pleasure meeting her; our conversation ended up concerning Hurricane Katrina, and it was interesting to hear the stories from her perspective.

#2: My day continued with an excellent conversation with our youth minister, Trent Bryant. Trent & I have a standing appointment each Thursday where I sit in a mentoring seat at the request of our elders. I thought our visit today was particularly good as Trent continues to grow into the proper balance with his teenagers: part-disciplinarian, part buddy.

#3: I then went to my standing Thursday lunch appointment with my friend, Bruno Schroeder. Every conversation with Bruno is beneficial to me, and today was no exception. We talked quite a bit about our conversations on the "Houseflies" blog, which led to quite a few interactions about Leo Tolstoy. Bruno recently completed Anna Karenina, and I'm 2/3 of the way through War & Peace. I think he and I are similar enough to be able to make a good reading group!

#4: From Bruno's house I went to an appointment at the Villa Maria Retirement Apartments. There I met Marjorie Priester, a lovely lady in her early 80s. The manager of the Villa insisted that Marjorie was the person for my Ocean Springs photo-project, so she and I walked into the parking lot to snap a few pictures. Afterward, we sat in some lawn chairs on an unbelievably gorgeous afternoon and had the most delightful conversation. What a wonderful new friend!

#5: Late this afternoon I drove to an elementary school in St. Martin to take a picture for my OTHER photo-project of our church family - this trip for Stella Henley. Stella is one of the most amazing women you could ever meet. She teaches first grade, but it seems she loves on the entire school - including the teachers and staff. I promised to just take five minutes of her time, but instead we carried on my fifth great lengthy conversation of the day.

#6: There was still more room for one other tonight! I went to Lowe's to order the materials for the deck my wife and I (and now our sympathetic friend, Tom!) will build. There was a lot of material to buy, and the kind lady at the Project Desk worked with me for an hour and a half! I told her early on to just push me to the side and wait on other customers, so I watched her work for a long time, and I was simply amazed at her knowledge and patience. She was so calm and helpful to every one she met. It was worth the trip simply to watch her in action.

That was my Thursday. Six long conversations with six wonderful people. Not a bad way to spend a Thursday at all.