Energizer Bunny? Hardly.

This past summer I accompanied my husband on a work trip to Seattle.  It seemed like the perfect opportunity to visit what I'd heard is one of the  most beautiful places on earth.  

I heard correctly.  It is.  Beauty everywhere you drive. 

But the truth is, I didn't do any driving.  No wheels for this old chick.  The hubby had the rental car during the day so I was pretty much sequestered in the hotel which was in a lovely  area about 15 miles from his workplace.  And 15 miles equaled a 90 minute drive time for him to and from work.  Yes.  90 minutes for 15 miles.  Just one way.  It was a total of 180 minutes, THREE HOURS drive time each day for him.  Which served to extend my sequestered hotel time to approximately 12 hours each day.  


So I took the opportunity to learn how to use Snapchat on my phone. Valuable skills.  Perhaps skills that will add depth and appeal to my resume.  

Or not.  

Hey, I'm not looking for a job anyway. 
 R-E-T-I-R-E-D.  Don't you forget that. 

Re: snapchat and this picture.... Just to clarify, there was no mini-bar in the hotel room.  And to further clarify, I don't really drink.  

No complaints with the no-car bit, my feet work and Lord knows I need to rise up out of my chair and use them more often.  So I did log a lot of steps during that week along the walking path near the hotel. Lots of beautiful scenery but zero stores or shops or even a Starbucks anywhere near the walking path.  Just office buildings and techie type work places everywhere.  

After a couple days of taking ridiculous Snapchat pictures of myself and doing laundry and walking the same lovely path over and over, I decided to exercise the Uber app on my phone instead of my feet and get a ride to a quaint little shopping center a few miles away.  Sounded like a great way to spend several leisurely hours until the Mister got home from work.  

Have you used Uber?  It's an okay way to get a ride, though we found out it can be pricey depending on the time of day in Seattle.  Rush hour to our hotel from downtown Seattle one way?  $75.00  😲 But from the hotel to this little shopping area it was pretty reasonably priced. 

Shortly after ordering a ride I found myself in a car with a very pleasant man whose language skills didn't include fluent English.  And  me with my hearing deficit.  Delightful combination.  Plus he was new to the area and the route was complicated with road construction re-routes.  Imagine that.  It was a cumbersome trip and I was ecstatic to finally open the door and depart the car.  At the intended location, though the driver ended up dropping me off towards the back of the shopping center at the service/delivery entrance near the trash bins instead of the customer parking up front.  Why, you ask?  I have no earthly idea.  Language barrier.   

Country Village, Bothell, Washington.  So quaint, so lovely, so many fun shops to stroll through.  I parted with quite a few coins but mainly I took photos because it was just so picturesque.    

         Isn't it lovely?  I bought coffee and a scone and wandered around taking one picture after another after another after another.                                                                                    

  

And I learned something about my new Samsung phone's battery capacity.  It ain't so very whippy when you've been taking one picture after another after another.  Then posting them on Facebook.  And using the battery-depleting Snapchat app.  And using the Uber app to summon a vehicle.  And using Google to find Country Village shops because your Uber driver doesn't understand what you're saying.  

Why is battery life on my phone of any consequence to this story?  Because.... in order to return to my hotel I would have to use my Uber app on my phone to request another car.  And after only a little over  1 leisurely hour spent at Country Village I glanced at my phone to see the battery was down to 2% which meant it was on the verge of shutting down and leaving me stranded. Though I was nowhere near being done with my leisurely shopping trip,  I found it necessary to quickly order up an Uber car and then shut off my phone to try and preserve battery.  

Then I stood out by the front of the shopping center at what I thought was the main entry road.  There were several different entry roads to choose from.  Which posed a problem.  I didn't know which entrance the driver would select after the first Uber driver dumped me out at the service/delivery entrance.  I didn't know what the car looked like because I'd shut down my dying phone before checking on the model/color of Uber car.  Or how long my expected wait would be.   And the driver couldn't call me because my phone battery was dead and wouldn't start back up.  And....if you aren't where you're supposed to be when Mr. Uber arrives, they leave and charge your card for the trip.   Oh.  My.  Word.  

So there I stood, looking closely at every one of the many many cars that were driving by me.   No one showed any interest in looking at me.  I get that a lot.  😏  Finally I looked way across the parking area to the far entrance and thought I saw a white Prius driving slowly while the driver glanced here and there.  Typical Uber driver behavior.  But the distance between me and that car was substantial.  And I am not what you might call fleet of foot.  Long in the tooth, but not fleet of foot.  With no other real option, I did what I never do.  I ran after the car, which had now made it deep into the interior of the shopping center proper, even further from me.  Great.   Let's be honest, no one who saw me at that moment would have defined what I was doing as "running".  More like a panicky waddle.   Plus I was carrying more than a few bags of stuff I'd bought during my brief time shopping.  

The driver of the white Prius eventually looked my way and motioned me to stop where I was.  I think the sight of my panicky waddle frightened him a bit or perhaps he was thinking "don't make me use my CPR skills, lady".  He then started to slowly drive toward me.  Sure enough, he was an Uber driver.  With the trademark lack of fluent English skills.  At that point I didn't even care if I was the rider he was supposed to pick up.  I just got in his car and prayed that he'd take me to the hotel.  He looked at me and spoke words that I loosely interpreted as being my name.  Close enough anyway.  

Made it to the hotel.  Very happy to open the door to our room, drop my bags on the floor, and flop into the closest chair.  Oh, and plug my phone into the charger.  The entire leisurely shopping adventure ended up whittling a mere 2.5 hours from my 12 hours of sequestration that day.  But it was an eventful 2.5 hours.  

In response to the eventful experience I could have chosen to become more athletic,  working out and running marathons so that next time chasing an Uber car would have been easier.  Instead, I purchased an external battery type phone charger that fits easily in my purse.  No more dead phone batteries. Problem solved.   

Very awesome little gadget.  Get yourself one.  

Right there

June 8, 1993 is a date long past.  Twenty-four years ago.  It's a day I will never forget.  Not because of some national historic event or holiday or  family birthday.  

My mom at age 78 went to heaven on this date.  Her heavenly birthday.  She was hospitalized for two weeks because of weakness and congestive heart failure. Her condition quickly deteriorated, so quickly that there really wasn't a clear cut cause of death. Four months earlier she had fallen and fractured her hip.  Her heart apparently didn't recover.    

We were all taken by surprise when she went downhill so fast and passed away. I worked at the small hospital where she was a patient.  Those last two weeks I kind of just stumbled through the days, trying to hold on to hope that her condition would turn around.  Going through the motions. 

But she didn't have that turnaround.  I left the hospital after she passed and drove home through a flood of tears.  Completely broken-hearted.  Sadder than sad.  

 It was an abnormally cool calm day for June. For whatever reason I remember wearing a heavy sweatshirt that day. I pulled into our driveway and slowly made my way from the car to a chair on our back deck.  Didn't have strength to make it into the house just yet.  As I sat there with tears flooding, a very gentle, very warm breeze wrapped itself around me.  I could feel it moving the tears from my face.  It just felt like the presence of God wiping the tears from my eyes and holding me close.   I remember feeling at that moment like God was telling me Mom is with Him, all is well.   Even now, 24 years later, I remember exactly what it felt like.

In the days that followed I could make it through the daylight hours pretty well but once the sun went down it was like a heavy cloud of sadness would just settle on me.  Often I would find myself going out into my yard and looking upward into the skies, at the stars and moon, just staring at the sky with tears flooding,  missing my mom, longing for heaven.  Just wondering.... how far away.... 

A few months ago I read this from a devotional book by Beth Moore.  The scripture was Acts 7:55: “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God,” words of Stephen as he was being stoned to death.  Beth continues:  "Stephen, the very first martyr; heaven was opened up to him and he saw Jesus at the right hand of God, on his behalf. What I want you to understand is that Heaven is right there.  We look up at the sky at night and the expanse of stars.  He is literally just an open window away from us, sitting on His throne.  His presence is in us and on us.  God upon His throne is just that near.  We just can't quite see it yet."  

God....is just that near.  

Sometimes He feels so far away, especially when we're in the midst of deep grief and sadness.  But ....He is so very near.  We are literally surrounded.  "just an open window away from us".  He's in the warmth of a gentle breeze.  And the silent beauty of a starry sky.  And the graceful flight of a beautiful butterfly.  And the sweet smile of a baby.   All of creation surrounds us with his undeniable presence.  Right there. With us always. 

I leave you with this quote that I treasure from Oswald Chambers:

"There will come one day a personal and direct touch from God when every tear and perplexity, every oppression and distress, every suffering and pain, every wrong and injustice will have a complete and ample and overwhelming explanation."  

Until then.... keep looking up.  Heaven is right there.  

Rev 21:4  He will wipe every tear from their eyes...

no more death or mourning or crying or pain.