today is from yesterday

waiting on brunch ©2011 gary garbett.com

Today was spent with my past. After receiving a phone call earlier this week about a hurried attempt for a family reunion, we made the hour and a half drive to be outdoors, sit in lawn chairs under big shade trees, and spend time with people that I haven't seen for decades, some since I was a child. I'm unsure what was more satisfying, the wonderful and genuine conversations or the numerous tables lined with dishes upon dishes of home cooked foods. So many of these people seemed exactly the same as when I'd last seen them. Both the food and the people were comforting, real, and a gathering of numerous yesterdays. 

I listened to stories of hardships and illnesses, each of which all closed with faith, hope, recovery, and a smile. There was talk of joys, proud graduations, new marriages, and others of decades long. I met the children of the children of the children that I use to play with each summer at the river and shared meals and laughter with at all of those winter holiday family gatherings during my youth. 

The pace of our society and our hurried lives make it awfully easy to put off attending an event like today. It was one of those personal moments of reflection and I am so happy to have taken the time and initiative to spend the day with my family from my yesterday. Although I rarely see these kinfolk, they've all contributed to my life, and good or bad, each can take a smidgen of credit for me being me.

Gathering with all of the grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters, and children of the children made me feel like I was a kid again…just forty years older. 

a promised reprise

lights on in apt 317 ©2011 gary garbett.com

The next few days promise me a reprise from my regular routine. What I’ll be doing with the freedom of a clockwork schedule isn’t quite sure. There’s been an interest recently to obtain a few things in my life, some of which certainly seem a bit out of the norm. Whether they’re a flashback to days past, curiosities, or another stab at defining the make-up that makes me original is unclear. Nor are these quests a prerequisite to follow my path. Then again, maybe they are. Whatever the case, my potential future may very well involve a mood ring, an acoustic guitar, and a sock monkey.

Looking at the list, it makes me lean much more to the original theory than anything else. Beyond these goals, plenty of coffee, faded blue jeans, a bag of cameras, an occasional pair of shoes, and mess of damn fine music will make up the bulk of a week.

Every day I thank God for a lot of things. I think I’ll add relaxation to the list.

smelling the gospel

©2011 gary garbett.com

As summer days are slowly drawing shorter, fruit from our garden have become much more present in the kitchen. Following a thought engaging morning service, I exited the church parking lot turning eastward rather than my usual western direction. I had a plan and it required a quick stop at the grocery store to pick up a package of turkey bacon and loaf of 12 grain bread.

Within an hour, I'd cooked the bacon, broiled the slices of bread with olive oil and grated parmesan, and sliced a few of our beautiful vine ripened tomatoes.  After a splash of mayo and a dash or two or three of salt and pepper, we enjoyed some of the finest sandwiches we've had in a long, long time.

My faith is my own. I fall way short of being a Bible scholar, but I don't ever recall reading any scripture passages about such a glorified sandwich. If the gospel were to have an aroma though, I'd like to think it smelled like BLTs. Amen.