I-d-o-n-t-k-n-o-w

Possibly the best line of the night, and it was said by one the audience members who were called up on stage at Minot State University Summer Theatre's Saturday production of The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee! The criterion (yes, criteria is the plural form – now I'm showing off) for being called up to the stage to participate in the spelling bee with the rest of the actors was to be from a Putnam County. It turns out I grew up in Putnam County, Florida, so along with three audience members and six of the cast we spelled words, participated in musical numbers (there's an especially funny one where we kicked our legs up and the sandal I was wearing flew off!), and did a high five that SO missed. I got the words “Mexican” (oh, I had to ask for definitions and sentence usage as well, and those got funny; no offense meant, but the sentence with Mexican was “Water is the Mexican cure for diarrhea.”) and “apoop”, but “hedonacious” tripped me up, making me the third person eliminated.

 

Boo. It was fun being there with Martha, Mary, and Breanna (we elected not to bring the kids this time; they would not have had as much fun sitting, we learned, and neither would we), and after the play we picked up the kids at Allan and Lesa's, brought Breanna and Josceline home, and went home to crash ourselves. Sunday morning came; we were at Bethany Lutheran and after communion we headed downstairs to help set up treats for coffee hour, and I'm told quite a few people in church wondered why we were just heading out of the sanctuary after taking the bread and wine – in the kids' case, bread and grape juice. We're just such a fixture in the third pew on the south side … incidentally, that's the same pew my parents and I sat in when I was growing up (but at a different church). It was great to be working together as a family serving and cleaning.

It was also my second day after Jeffrey and I got our hair cut really short by Abi and Konnie at Ultimate Cuts. Feels great! I joked give Jeffrey a mohawk and he was all for that, but I want to live to see our tenth wedding anniversary a week from Friday! And after we got home from church – bear with me for telling these events out of order, sometimes writing just occurs that way … I'm hoping to avoid that with the novel manuscript I'm editing right now, but anything can happen. So after we got home from church, Martha decreed it's time for us to clean house; on Saturday since we figured that fewer family members would be able to show up for a birthday party on Jeffrey's actual birthday day (which is tomorrow) that we'd hold it early Sunday evening. I was a mite apprehensive about that, but yes you can actually see more of the carpeted floor in our house as well as a neat (for seven and soon-to-be-six-year-olds) room Sarah and Jeffrey made without being harped on. Too much.

So last night fourteen family members – us four, of course, then Martha's mom and dad, her three sisters, Margaret's two daughters, and Malesa's three boys – shared cake and ice cream and played outside for a while. Space was at a premium outside because the previous week we'd had out lawn rototilled and it was all dirt easy to sink in! When Jeffrey actually turns six tomorrow (one-third of being a legal adult, that is pretty unbelievable) we'll treat him and Sarah to dinner at an establishment of his choice – and likely steer them toward someplace where kids eat free, there's a few in town on Tuesdays! It ought to be fun; NOT so fun is Martha deciding she has to work a few extra nights at McDonald's by the mall, but right now our creditors want their money and don't care why we can't pay. And I hate, I hope Martha does too, not keeping to our obligations. For the sake of those God has entrusted me with, I have got to do – they deserve better than – this.

Happy Canada Day, David