Pets, peeves, picks & pans … my brain in a blender
There is one definitive thing I can say about my life.
I am never, ever, EVER bored. It is just not possible in my world. I am occasionally exhausted, but never bored. Currently my brain is whirring in a million different directions, so that means it is time to unload. Thank you for indulging me.
I eat the same breakfast every day and it is purchased between my house on Manning’s Sunset Drive and our temporary quarters on Boyce Street. You know the joint.
I get a yogurt parfait and a large sugar-free vanilla iced coffee. $3.48. I throw the granola that comes with the yogurt out because for me, it feels like eating rocks.
The drive through line at this joint is truly designed for express service and nine out of 10 times, it is just that … express.
But every once in a while I am behind someone whoorders $40 worth of breakfast … at the drive through. What? If you have an order that large you need to get out of your car, go inside and pop a squat while those lovely people at the Golden Arches assemble your breakfast buffet.
I’m just saying.
Is it just me, or does filling my nearly empty gas tank make gas prices go down?
I heard two pieces of news from the cancer front this week, one of them very good, one of them not so good.
Manning Police Investigator Carroll Harrington has been a very open and forth-coming warrior in his battle against prostate cancer. When a lower backache began to bother him, he immediately presented himself to his docs who did a bone biopsy on his lower back. That in itself took some guts, because I understand that procedure hurts like crazy.
Anyway, it took a week or so to get the results and I found out last week that what looked like recurrent cancer was arthritis of Carroll’s spine. Oh, how his fellow cancer warriors celebrated. No one wants arthritis, but you can treat that.
Cancer is a beast and has no hesitancy about whom it attacks.
One of Relay’s fiercest volunteers, Donna Gordon, has been diagnosed with breast cancer. How is that for patent unfairness? Donna volunteers in about a million different ways and if I know her like I think I do, she will fight like the dickens to let this diagnosis be little more than a bump in the road. Any one who knows Donna knows she loves a challenge! Did you know she oversees folding about 10 go-zillion Striped Bass Festival t-shirts? This woman is not to be underestimated. Her surgery will be June 16 – the day after her Wyboo Women’s Golf Club play a “Rally for the Cure” tournament. We need to be in prayer for Donna and her husband Chuck.He is a cancer survivor too!
Have you noticed the progress at Weldon? It is really starting to look like something very special … not just a school auditorium with a fresh coat of paint. It is going to be so cool to have a venue for “cultural” things. Whether it be family movie night or live musical performances or your kid’s dance recital, it is all going to be here, in Clarendon County. Be prepared to have your socks knocked off.
Last Friday night I went up to Turbeville for a benefit gospel concert by an Alabama fellow named Harlan Burton. This was another fundraiser for the Todd Morris Project, Turbeville’s own “Extreme Home Makeover.” Nearly $6,000 was raised at an event that had no ticket price and sold nothing. People donated food and desserts and those who came, gave as their hearts were lead. It was an awesome thing to watch.
It was also very humbling especially for Todd Morris. Though his body is crippled by cerebral palsy, his mind is perfectly fine and seeing all of those people reach out to help him was very emotional for Todd.
And from the “nobody cries alone,” section of my life’s rulebook, I got emotional right along with Todd. In fact, A LOT of people got emotional. It’s good to see we are all so in touch with our human-ness.
If you have ridden out Hwy. 521 from Manning towards Sumter, you will see that one of our vintage, “Manning, Matchless for Beauty and Hospitality” signs is no more.
A motorist lost control of his vehicle, crossed the road and came to an abrupt stop in the tangled mess of the sign.
The sign is a thing. A material object. The motorist was smart enough to have had his seat belt on and suffered only a few bumps and bruises. The sign can be replicated, that motorist, who is a husband, father and grandfather cannot. We are now in the midst of the “100 deadliest days of summer,” according to the S.C. Highway Patrol. These coming days between Memorial Day and Labor Day are often filled with an increase of vehicles on our roads and highways. That increase brings with it an increase in fatalities, many of which could be prevented.
Wear your seatbelt. Don’t drive if you are impaired. Don’t drive if you are distracted by your cell phone. Wear your seatbelt (it bears repeating).
Summer is a wonderful time of year to play and have fun, but a really lousy time to go to a funeral. Please be careful out there.
Lecture over!
