Now, what?

Since I am somewhat/marginally contiencious about my health, I go to the doctor for the obligatory annual check-up. This is the one that they euphemistically call the "mini-physical." No need, here, to go into what that is exactly, mainly because everybody knows or suspects they know about it. When you are all finished with the blood letting, and other odd/grotesque tests, you are cheerfully told that you will receive a letter in about a week with your results.

So I am going through my mail about a week later and here is my results letter. The first short paragraph is sort of a cheerleaders' congratulations for going through with the check-up. The second paragraph says that my cholestrol is astonishingly high. Within this paragraph, there is a concise list of delicious food items that I will need to forego for the rest of my life, such as various kinds of grease, including, but not limited to, milk, butter, ice-cream, cheese and other dairy products. Also, there is a stern warning/encouragement to transform any future days that I may have left to live into a sort of gauntlet of strenuous exercise.

Sadly, the letter goes on. The next paragraph suggests that my bone density test is iffy -- something to be "watched." It feels like some sort of veiled, yet cheerful threat. The suggested remedies for this possible, potential bone problem is to use more dairy products, such as milk and cheese. It is also recommended that I take a calcium pill with vitamen D. The letter ends cheerfully.

Now, my very first thought, as I read through the upbeat letter, was, did anybody proofread this letter?? Because, while there really aren't any typos or misspellings, there is a kind of fundamental contradiction. Did anyone catch it besides me? As in any good writing, there is conflict in this letter.

While the ominous second paragraph suggests that eating is really no longer an option for me, the third paragraph suggests to me to grab the car keys and hurry to Sonic for one of those nifty blasts -- any flavor is fine.

So, I am trying to work a plan/scheme whereas I walk 2 miles 4 days a week, yeah, right, and on those days, I don't go to Sonic. But on the days that I don't walk -- otherwise known as my favorite days -- I go on to Sonic, but I don't eat the ENTIRE blast -- just quite a lot of it. Importantly, I now feel fabulous. Of course, I also felt fabulous before I went to the doctor, so no change yet. For now, I will remain cheerful!

Top 10 Favorite Books

11. Stars Wars Trilogy -- George Lucas
10. Universe in a Nutshell -- Stephen Hawking
09. Psycho Cybernetics -- Maxwell Maltz
08. Pilgrims progress -- John Bunyon
07. Catcher in the Rye -- J.D. Salinger
06. The Once and future King -- T.H. White
05. Les Miserables -- Victor Hugo
04. Sense and sensibility -- Jane Austin
03. Lord of the Rings Trilogy -- JRR Tolkien
02. Mere Christianity -- C.S. Lewis
And my favorite book (except the Bible, of course)
01. Jane Eyre -- Charlotte Bronte

The Church in Guayaquil Ecuador

Last Thursday, Scotty, Tommy, and I, along with our good friend Brent jumped on a plane to begin our journey to Guayaqul, Ecuador. It is not a terribly long flight, but with the layover and plane-change in Miami, it makes a long day of travel. Guayaquil is an enormous, bustling city of 2 million people. There was very little presence of the Church of Christ there until 2 1/2 years ago when 5 native Ecuadorians graduated from the Quito School of Biblical Studies and made a journey of faith to the huge city. They prayed for much of their final year of studies about planting a church in Guayaquil and moved as a team some 200 miles from Quito, the capital city in the cool mountains of Ecuador to Guayaquil, a coastal city with a climate like Houston in August! The team has been dynamic and busy. They are already on their second rental building, having outgrown their first one very quickly. We had the joyful pleasure of worshipping with them this past Sunday. Of course, the service is conducted in Spanish. But we recognized many of the songs and sang them at the top of our lungs in English as the Ecuadorian brothers and sisters, numbering about 90 that day, sang at the tops of their lungs in Spanish! It was glorious. The people we met are very patient and kind about our limited Spanish. They are also very affectionate. We had the privilege of being invited to two different members' homes. The architecture is heavily Spanish -- much concrete and stucco. Iron gated, tiled courtyards are very common. We saw no beggars or street people the places we went. The river walk, not far from our hotel, was modern and vibrant. Scotty, and our great friend, Hal, were in meetings with the team much of Saturday. So, Betty, one of our party who is from Oklahoma, and I joined some of the ladies and kids and we walked to the markets along the river. It was fun. Some of the boys got Cokes in gold plastic bottles, and as they went along they shook them really hard. This activity is boy behavior the world around! We stopped at a busy McDonald's situated right on the river. There was much techno-style salsa music playing with ear-throbbing decibels in the markets and on a riverboat cruise that we took and thoroughly enjoyed. We even got a tour of a private academy where our wonderful interpreter, Maria, teaches school. I loved the great, green iguanas that roamed around the campus grounds and in the park near our hotel. They reminded me of ponderous dinosaurs or Oxfordian professors. The Lord blessed us with a safe, grand trip. We came home with a joy that comes from having all of our senses filled with a people and culture so different from our own. And yet, the common bond of loving our Lord -- Ecuadorians often call Him "El Senor" -- and Christian worship and fellowship is a thread that runs so truly throughout the world.

ROBBED AT THE MALL -- me and Scotty

I got ROBBED yesterday. It was all very classic. My purse was hanging on the chair BETWEEN me and Scotty, my husband of 35 years, at the mall food court. We were eating our Sarbo Japanese -- (formerly Edo). This wonderful, polite young black man in beautiful clothes walked up and asked us for directions to Martin High School. While we were carefully and diligently giving directions, his "friend" was behind us stealing my wallet out of my purse. A couple of guys across the food court from us noticed it and hollered to us. We ALL started chasing the young man who spoke to me and Scott. We caught up with him and Scott GRABBED his arm. This guy was about twice Scotty's size. He kept saying he didn't know what we were talking about and that he had to pick up his cousin at Martin High School -- that was the reason he needed the directions. Scott said, "You're going nowhere. You stole my wife's wallet." (At this point we really were confused because we never even saw the other partner in crime. We were just going by what another guy told us that he saw. But we knew that the young man we were pursuing was involved somehow.) All this time a young man following behind us is contacting the police.

Finally, the suspect sort of shook Scott off and bolted out the main entrance of the mall, jumped in a cooool old classic cutlass, (with no license tag), and blew out of that parking lot. I'm yelling to everyone "That man stole my wallet." By this time mall security was hot on the trail and a couple of regular cars followed them as well over to the Jason's Deli area. I'm standing there in the middle of the mall parking lot thinking that my credit cards, driver's license, insurance card, etc, etc, will have to be canceled and renewed -- an enormous hassle-ridden task that has repercussions for many months or years. At this point we can't see anything. The action has gone too far from our line of vision. But the young man on the phone continued talking to police and he would occasionally pause and tell us that the police have spotted them, or the police think they have him, etc. I'm hopeless thinking the wallet is gone and my life just got WAY more complicated. Plus, in the back of your mind is the fact that my driver's license has my address on it, so maybe they'll come to the house and try to rob that. So I was pretty low.

Next, a mall security officer drives up to me and Scotty and says the police have these perps, and would we please ride with him to ID these guys. Scott's car was nearby, so we followed the mall security vehicle over to that old movie theatre parking lot on Arbrook. There are three cop cars and about six officers and one of the young criminals is sitting on the ground against a squad car, CUFFED. The young man who spoke to us needing directions to Martin, was sitting in the back seat of another police car. Our eyes were big. We were told to stay in the car. The police officers came over to our car sort of in a one-after-another sequence and would talk to us and ask us questions. One of them hollered to the other officers to stand up the young thieves one at a time so we could see them. Scotty asked the young officer about the wallet and he told us that the hooligans threw it away once they saw all those cars chasing them, but the police were searching for it. So our problem still loomed. Then, in a little while, another officer came over and said they had recovered the wallet!!! They had previously asked how much cash I had in it and I thought it was approximately $50. Me or Scott didn't know precisely. (Scott often knows because he keeps it stocked. He had loaded it the previous morning, but he never has any way of knowing what I've spent in 24 hours -- and I sure don't know.) So the cop asked if it might possibly be $76. I said very possibly. So, I guess that checked out.........Apparently, one of the robbers had $76 in his wallet and he told the cop it was my money. Then, he commenced to tell the cops where they ditched the purse. The cop told us that's the best kind of confession -- the cops went straight to some bushes over by Jason's Deli, and there it was..........So, a little while later, up walks a wonderful -- they were ALL wonderful -- Arlington police officer and gives me my fully packed wallet. All the stuff in it was in different pockets, but it was all there -- right down to the Foley's coupon!!

The police officer explained that he and some other cops were sitting in plain cars in the mall parking lot because there had been a rash of car thefts. So, when they got word that these kids were running out of the mall, they blew RIGHT BY his unmarked car. He took off after them and made the collar. He was so cute, delighted as he told about it. He said in five years of law-enforcement, he's never had the criminals run practically into his arms. He said usually when a crime is committed, he's across town somewhere. Anyway, that's why I couldn't see that the police ever got into the act -- they were in a plain cars sitting there on the parking lot, and they were the ones we saw take off after our thieves. This all took place over about an hour. They asked me if I wanted to press charges and I said yes. And they booked those guys and drove them away -- and towed off that coool old cutlass. I was late picking up our son at our meeting place at the mall, but I told him that THIS time I have a good excuse.

Japan Q & A

I got an e-mail from Jason Caskey asking about my trip to Japan. I answered him in e-mail then I decided to throw the answers over to the blog.

Question #1. How was the trip?
1. The trip was awesome! The grandest part was being with my magnificent son. I LOVE Japan. There is NO trash. And, for an entire week, whenever I saw a price for taxi, food, beverage, or goofy souvenir, I paid "no" tax and left no tip. The price is the price. Tipping is insulting and the taxes are built into the service or product pricing. That is pretty nice. There is no guessing and virtually no math -- the yen is worth about a penny -- around 100 to a dollar -- it fluctuates daily, but that's close.

Question #2. What was the most interesting thing you experienced?
2. The most interesting thing I experienced -- actually puzzling -- was that the kitchen and bath in Aaron's BRAND NEW apartment building was sort of primitive. You had to stoke up the gas for the hot water. The built-in oven is smaller than my toaster. The washer IS NOT EQUIPPED with a hot water connection. There is no dryer. Few people have them. I know EVERYTHING is built for thrift and conservation. I knew it would be plain and austere, but I never guessed it would be THIS plain and austere. And Aaron said his apartment is quite large compared to most. I mean this is the highest tech country in the world, but I found out that is pretty much for EXPORT -- not for the folks, unless you are quite wealthy. I talked to several of Aaron's friends, some who have been there for years, and they agree that life for the regular folks in Japan is a basic, plain-jane existence. Now, there is nothing poor about it, and these people do not feel deprived in the least. But, if you want hot water, it doesn't just come tumbling out of the faucet. You have to sort of call up the gas line, then you must turn off the gas after you are washed up. That is puzzling to me. But, I did talk for quite a while to one of the AET's that Aaron knows. She is from Australia. I was marveling about this complete lack of hot water for the washer, and she said, "we never used hot water to wash at home." So, now I'm thinking maybe it's not just Japan. Now, of course, we stayed in two beautiful hotels on our travels, one in Tokyo, and one in Kyoto. The hotels have instant hot water, but these are westernized big-time. I'm not talking about hotels, I'm talking about the way people actually live everyday. Tourist don't see that. It's extremely interesting. I'm just saying that here, even the poorest people in the projects have the hot water spigot ready to go.

Question #3. The biggest culture shock?
3. The biggest culture shock was the sun comes up REALLY early -- Jase, you would love it. The sun rise was like at 3 or 4am. So at 5 it looks like 9:30am here. VERY disconcerting for the week-long visitor. I never adjusted to the time. I stayed on Texas time the whole week. So, when I got home I wasn't tired or irritable -- I just jumped right back into my every day routine. On the day I returned home, we got to the house from the airport at 6:00pm, scarfed down a burger -- I was ravenous for some TEXAS beef -- and went straight to an Arlington High football game. We got back home at 11:00pm. It was great!

Question #4. Your favorite thing about the Japanese?
4. My favorite thing about the Japanese is their extreme respect for the very old and for the very new. It was very apparent in the care they give their magnificent ancient temples and shrines. None of that is swept aside in the name of progress. And the new is shiny and clean, carefully maintained. I didn't see anyone sick. I love that -- and that is something I ALWAYS notice. There were lines and crowds. We were on buses and trains, but everyone was apparently healthy. No one serving food coughed on my sushi. I never heard a sneeze. Actually, I was the sickest person there. I was allergic. They go REALLY heavy on the feather pillows and comforters. Give me synthetics, any day, thank you very much. And, they have a ton of flora and fauna. That surprised me. I never thought about Japan being lush and green -- verdant -- but it was. It was very beautiful, and, blessedly, I had my Allegra 180. Otherwise, I would have died and Aaron would have had to ship my body home. They cremate everyone there -- no space, you see. So, unless Scotty approved lighting me up and sprinkling me over the Japanese flora and the fauna, there would be shipping charges involved. I briefly wondered if American Airlines lets you substitute your seat ticket for cargo space?

Question #5. Your least favorite thing about the Japanese?
5. My least favorite thing about the Japanese is my lack of their language -- it REALLY keeps them very separate from the world -- and they like that. I hate to say this, but there is some racism towards "foreigners" -- not necessarily Americans, just any foreigners. Aaron and I didn't encounter it on our week of traveling, but he encounters it occasionally in the work-a-day world. The people in Japan drive like maniacs -- I can verify that. Aaron lives in a big city and he has gotten used to people speeding right up to stop lights, then suddenly stopping. A couple of weeks ago, he was standing with his bike at a busy traffic circle and some blue-collar types in a huge crane truck sped up to him so fast that he seriously thought he was about to be killed. He said his life truly flashed before him. Within inches of Aaron they slammed on the brakes and he looked up at them in the cab of the truck and they were dying laughing. Aaron said he instantly thought of the way a black man may have felt in southern smalltown, USA when the same thing happened to him. It's racism both places.
One day, as Aaron and I were on a tour bus driving through Tokyo he was gazing out of the window and he said, "Mom, I'm counting."
I said, "What are you counting?"
He said, "I'm counting foreigners."
We were driving through one of the biggest cities in all of the world. As we crawled through late afternoon traffic, there were scores of people walking through every intersection we crossed -- as in any big city.
I said, " Oh, how many have you counted?"
He said, "Zero. Try it."
So, I started paying attention to all the people walking through all the intersections and I NEVER saw a single person except Japanese that afternoon. The only foreigners for miles around, apparently, were the dozen or so right there on the bus with me! This is a nation made up of people who all look alike and think alike -- completely OPPOSITE from our notion of community.

Question #6. Finally, is Diggs going to come home with a lovely young woman in a kimono?
6. Here is what Mr. Diggs says about the possibility of coming home with a lovely young woman in a kimono -- because I have been asked this question several times, so I asked him.

He has a few basic parameters:
1. She would have to be Christian. That's knocking out 95% of the entire population right there.
2. She would have to have a VERY EXCELLENT command of the English language and want to live in the USA. That knocks out probably 90-95%.
3. She has to be fine. According to Aaron, that knocks out about 90% of the women.

So, we are working with some very tiny probabilities, here. Stranger things have happened, so we don't rule it out, but it doesn't look terribly likely from here.

"It is so nice to see you today"

McDonald's was the setting for a precious memory. Aaron and I were walking around Mito on Monday morning after visiting the two schools where he teaches English. Our train to Tokyo was due soon and we had not eaten, so we stopped in McDonald's which was very near the JR -- Japan Rail -- station. Aaron was definitely the one to manage any counter situation because he speaks some Japanese and I do not, so he was standing in front of me in line looking up at the menu. A precious little Japanese boy, probably about seven years old, walked up so sweetly and tentatively and looked up at Aaron's back and said, "Hello, how are you, it is so nice to see you today." He said this very carefully and slowly in excellent English. Aaron turned and saw the little fellow and instantly bowed low to him and said, "Hello, I am fine. It is so very nice to see you today." Aaron said this in slow, careful English. Then he said to me, "Mom, this is one of my students." Then he spoke Japanese to the little boy telling him that I am his mother. The little boy's mother, a beautiful, petite young woman was nearby. She was beaming and proud about her child walking up to his teacher and speaking so well. She appeared to have no English at all, and was positively delighted when Aaron told her darling son that I was his mother. She smiled and nodded to me so beautifully. It was a moment that I will never forget -- a mother and son moment for both me and for a beautiful young Japanese woman. There was no language barrier between us as we both glowed with smiles from delight in our sons.

Road from Nikko to Tokyo

I just saw a monkey. There is a great forest on the outskirts of Nikko where little monkeys play. One was sitting on the guard rail along the highway as we returned on our bus from seeing the beautiful shrines and temples. It rained today. We bought umbrellas. I bought one for me, not knowing that Aaron was busy buying one for me and one for him. So now we have three extra umbrellas and several silly souvenirs. The ancient temples and shrines are amazingly graceful, beautifully maintained. There are still priests and apparently devout adherents, especially of the Buddhas. My favorite things are the quaint tiny stone temples "used for illumination", as our guide phrased it. They are little stone houses set on tall stone stands where candles were placed for light all around the temple complex. Now, they have patches of moss on them and candles are no longer used. But, they were in active service in the days of the Shoguns for hundreds of years. I am always intrigued by antiquity -- that something was built so beautifully and intricately years ago and then so very carefully preserved for all of these centuries, never swept away in the name of progress. Something I admire about Japan is that the most high-tech buildings in the world can coexist peacefully within view of something built a hundred years before Columbus was born. There is tremendous respect here for the very new and for the very old.

Happy Super Terrific Day

Sunday was such a great day in Mito. Aaron and I went to his church. We walked probably 4 or 5 miles. In Mito humidity, though, it just seemed like 20! There were SO many Japanese people at church -- I had thought it would be mostly AET types -- there were LOTS of those, too. It was a standing room only crowd. The service is done in mostly Japanese. Then after communion, the "foreigners" go to a different room for the sermon time -- much like our Kids for Christ dismissal. In the foreigners' service there were announcements, songs, and a devo style sermon. Then we met back upstairs with the Japanese church group for closing. It was VERY nice. I met so many super sweet people. Aaron and I went with two lovely young women to lunch at a curry place called CoCo's. It was delightful. This is a great favorite place of many of the AETs, and Aaron and his friends highly recommended it. They ordered the very mildest curried rice and veggies for me. I loved it. Then we went to Starbuck's and got vanilla cream shakes. I loved that, too. I had never had any of these treats before. The girls, blessedly, had a car and dropped us back to Aaron's apartment. We were going to read for a few minutes, take a little nap, then walk around downtown, maybe shop and enjoy the sights. That was the plan at 2:00 yesterday. The next thing we both knew, we woke up and it was 7:30 at night! I didn't even know if it was day or night. For some reason I had jet lag -- but so did Aaron!!? So we sat around in shock for an hour or so, then we commenced to cook yet more pasta and bread for dinner, and do laundry in the odd little "washing machine." In Texas, this thing would be classified as a toy, but never mind. So then I hung out these wet items or ironed them sort of dry. Apparently, only the Emporer has a dryer and he is very careful about using it. We had a ball, as usual. We watched some of the new Simpson's season 5 DVD that I had packed for Mr. D., and it was funny. Aaron was slightly appalled at how much his apartment had morphed since I had come with all my gear everywhere, not to mention the laundry hanging all around and the ironing board set up and smoking. I got up this morning (Monday) at 5:10am just like yesterday. Aaron is appalled at that, as well. See, this sun, here, rises at 4 or 3 or something. Anyway, by 5:10, it looks for all the world like 9:00am to my asleep brain, and I'm not sleeping with all that midmorning light in the room. So I took this happy, super terrific bath. Not exactly the fabulous public baths that are so famous in Japan -- Aaron has done that, uh, it's probably not for me -- but a delightful bath none the less. The bathtub, which has never been used, is short in length, but really deep. It is SO great. I mean, I had that hot water up to my neck. Now, Aaron's electric bill will probably be $1000.00 just for this one bath. People speak in hushed tones about hot water and electricity usage here. Aaron's washer DOESN'T HAVE a hot water hook-up anywhere on the appliance! The concept of washing with hot water isn't understood. No wonder there's a language barrier. We're operating differently, here. No, it's gone beyond different planet, different region, different culture, different language -- we're operating on an entirely different dimension, here. We're heading, Lord willing, to Tokyo in a few hours. We are going to visit Aaron's schools -- if our ride pans out......then, on to Tokyo Station and, maybe, Kabuki Theatre tonight -- if we can get tickets! Yes, I see all the ifs!!

In Japan with most excellent son

I am here in Aaron’s apartment early on Sunday morning. Yesterday was a longish day. There is something surreal about jumping on a big shiny bird and then being across the entire world in a few hours. It plays with your head. It is glorious to be spending time with my wonderful son – to have seen his face as I was strolling out to the meeting area outside of Japanese customs. I declared nothing. I hope that doesn’t come back to bite me when I try to take my Nikon camera back home!! Hopefully, they’ll look at me and just KNOW I didn’t buy that camera here. I barely got it purchased functioning in my own language! Aaron and I ate Italian food right out of my suitcase last night – chicken/proscuittio (sp) tortellini (undeclared to Japanese customs), a French baguette with EVOO to dip in, and peanut butter cake to top it off. It was good old easy food from Texas, but to us it tasted like the nectar of the gods! Now, in order to have this pasta, we had to go buy a pot to boil the water. We also purchased two plates and two drinking cups and some forks at the Daiei, sort of an all-purpose high-rise dollarstore/house-wares/walmart/and grocery all in one. – a perfect retail establishment as far as I could tell. There was no colander to drain the pasta, and the kitchen (and everything else) is built for conservation and thrift MUCH more so than for convenience. Aaron hasn’t noticed such trifles, and for that I adore him. His apartment is new and very utilitarian – perfect for Mr. Diggs! He has no chairs. He purchased a rug (while I was buying the small stock pot), and we sat Japanese style on the floor on his brand new rug and ate our grand dinner. Scotty called to make sure we had found each other at the airport – everything went blessedly smoothly. Then, Aaron and I visited for a long time about not just what he has seen and done, but about the nuances of race, nationalism, and language. For me, this is Nirvana! And then I realize how ABUNDANTLY blessed I am that my God has granted me peace and joy on SO many levels from so many sources – all around the world!

Going to Japan

Friday, Lord willing, I am jumping on a plane to go visit Aaron in Japan. I can hardly wait. He has been there since April 1st and is getting very acclimated to a VERY foreign country. He's traveled a lot and he says this is BY FAR the most foreign place he's ever been. He is treated like a rock star at the schools where he works -- the ONLY non-Japanese face on TWO entire campuses! It seems so odd to him that Japanese people can go all day long and never see anyone that doesn't look and think exactly like themselves -- quite amazing to a young American -- and Aaron is American/Texan through and through. His size alone makes him stick out. He's a large framed, broad chested six feet and WAS 190 pounds, pretty normal for Arlington, Texas. But he towers over most people he works with. At his schools he is seen and noticed and looked at by everyone. If you placed Aaron's Japanese co-workers in the halls at Arlington High School -- nobody would even see them. At AHS every third person is of some completely different ethnic extraction, and that's how Aaron grew up. The Japanese have a work ethic that is mind-blowing. He's been working his head off. He's had two breaks. Once, he went to an Asian Missions conference in the Philippines with his church friends, and then this past weekend he climbed Mt. Fuji. But he hasn't had much time to tour the country of Japan -- see the shrines and antiquities. It's hard for the young people to take off work and it's extremely expensive to travel in Japan, so I'm going to accompany him on a Japanese 5-city tour for a week. We are going to ride the bullet train (Shinkansen) and see the sights -- Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Mt. Fuji, Nikko, etc. We DO have a Japanese bi-lingual travel agent. My agent works for a Japanese ONLY travel agency in Manhattan. She is extremely concerned about me and Aaron tooling around Japan. My Texas accent must have alarmed her. She has it set up to where they are practically leading us by the hand, so hopefully, we won't get lost in Japan, though that is quite a famous thing to do in Japan!! Her reps are going to come INSIDE our hotel in Tokyo and lead us out to the proper conveyance to begin our tours. They, then, hand us off to LICENSED English-speaking tour guides, who, in turn check us into our next hotel, etc. It's completely hilarious! I'm laughing my head off at all this. This agent is leaving NOTHING to chance. Aaron has said these are VERY precise people. Aaron rides a bike everywhere. That's another odd thing for a VERY American young man!! He has lost 20 pounds since he got there. I was frantic when I heard that. I said "Diggs, are you not eating!?" He said, "Sure, Mom I'm eating like a horse (he LOVES the food) but I'm on that bike at least 45 minutes every day. I'm all muscle!" He changes clothes four times every day because of his commute and the humidity. Sounds pretty daunting to me, but he thinks it is all awesome. He's absolutely unsinkable!!