My day was shot to bits with errands–drive this person here, take this to that person there, go buy these things, and so on. It ended with me driving the girl who came to fix the shower home, half an hour away. I wish I could say it started with me being rousted from bed around noon to help her with the plumbing (and of course the reason she was here was because I couldn’t fix it, so why am I helping her?). However, it of course began with me getting up at five to get kids on the bus, about an hour after I got to bed, and then getting back to bed around seven–and then being awakened around ten because the dog was whining about needing to go out and no one else was around to open the door for her.

So I’m still not in a particularly good mood, as I see how late it is and how long it has taken me to get this far and how much I still have to do and how soon I’m likely to be interrupted yet again; but let me take a breath, and move on.

Special thanks to the cook who made the delicious dinner without interrupting me once except to hand me a plate. That was indeed helpful.

–M. J. Young

Taking my mother-in-law shopping was only one of the errands of the evening. On the other hand, it might be classed as the most successful. One place I was supposed to stop didn’t seem to be where the map said, and I never found it; one of the errands I did had me ordering something I will have to cancel tomorrow, because it won’t arrive in time so we’ve already gotten it somewhere else. Thus a fair amount of time was lost.

I perceive that there is still a fair amount ahead of me, so I’d better plough into it.

–M. J. Young

I did a bit of editing on the Romans notes last night, but I never did get into the pool.

Today was one of those days when there was just too much to do. In fact, it is one in the morning, and there’s still too much to do. I just finished serving dinner, my own plate now sitting beside me awaiting moments when my hands are not needed for typing and can move food to my mouth. I can’t say I got a late start; it just was not an early start. My mother-in-law had to go to the store, but one son who was going to stay with one of his brothers came home with his mother two nights back and was obligated to return to his brother’s house today, so that also had to be done. He was taking maximum advantage of his visit home, and so asked if we could delay our departure while he had lunch with a friend. I consented.

My consent was in part because I wanted to talk with my pastor about my next book–not exactly about the book itself, but about whether it would be inappropriate to give a copy of this terribly rough first draft to our Sabbath school teacher, in view of the fact that the Sabbath school program for the next quarter seems to cover a great deal of the area covered by the book (in different ways). I knew he would be at the church picnic, so I ran down there to see him and to visit with some of the others before making my trip. He thought it a good idea to pass the book to her, so I did. That set me back a bit, but not terribly as by the time my son was back from lunch I was headed back to the house to get him. My mother-in-law was not so prompt, and it was late by the time we were out of there, and I had to drive to Delaware to drop off the boy, and so it was ten thirty by the time I managed to get the roast in the oven, which I had had the foresight to defrost before leaving.

All of which puts me here, now, with much still ahead. That makes it time to move ahead.

–M. J. Young

I was awakened from a dead sleep late this morning (of course, one must recognize that I did not head for that sleep until early this morning–when you are going to bed while others are rising, late morning is an early time to awaken). The phone was for me. The person I did not have to retrieve from half an hour away the other day needed me to retrieve her today, in half an hour. Needless to say, I was late, as I am not a quick starter from a dead sleep. Then my wife was nervous because she was expecting me to drive her to work–the new car was getting some work done this morning, and even though it was back in time that she could have driven herself to work, that’s an adjustment we’ve not yet made. In retrospect I feel less sympathy for her, though, because apparently she was aware that I would have to run this errand this morning, but neglected to mention it to me.

I made a couple stops while I was out the second time to pick up a few needed items, so that put me behind a bit more. My morning study thus fell into the late afternoon–and then my Internet connection would not connect. I took a brief nap in front of a television show, until receiving a call asking me to run yet another errand which is still in front of me; I’ve also changed my mind about what to make for supper at least six times, and still haven’t decided, but with the sky darkening my options are declining. I’m just not really getting focused.

I was a bit unfocused last night, too. It kept coming into my head that I really should get the web pages ready for the announcement of the release of the new book About the Fruit, so I wrote some text and did some layout, and I’m completely dissatisfied with it but don’t know why. I was going to ask my wife for advice, but she had seven other things on her mind all of which are more important to her than my efforts to get this book in print, so it was not discussed. Still, it’s a start, and for reasons of financing it appears that the book will be delayed yet another week anyway, so I have time to address the matter.

So let me go deal with this errand, and tackle supper, and then I’ll be back to view the forums.

–M. J. Young