Spontaneous Thriftshopping

Busy day.

Got up, made grits.  Made coffee.  Fed Katie (grits).  Fed Thatcher (cat food).  Fed Earl and Sawyer (dog food).  Drank coffee.  Got ready.  Drove to church.  Arrived late.  Again.  Walked Katie to her Sunday School classroom.  Attended adult speaker series.  Learned about Epiphany.  Laughed out loud in the circle we adults sat in when someone read aloud from the Bible the part about the wedding where Mary urges Jesus to perform his first miracle by turning water into wine and one of the wedding guests says wow, usually people offer the good shit first and then bring out the cheap stuff later after everyone is drunk, but this is some good shit, Jesus!

I'm paraphrasing.  I've never been good at memorizing text or speaking in movie quotes or anything where I have to remember verbatim something someone said.  When I write dialogue it's how I remember hearing the conversation, not necessarily what was actually said.

Anyway, I thought that was a funny story, and I enjoyed thinking of Mary pushing her son to perform his miracles.  A Jewish mother prodding her thirty year old son to show off his talents.  And everyone is smashed and not ready to see this party end.  How cool is that?  I didn't know the Bible was entertaining.  I thought it was full of pious sanctimonious rules.  And an occasional bit about love and peace and usually doves or some lamb or some harmless creature.  But certainly not funny stories about drunk people.

Here's the translation of Jesus' biography we were reading this morning, if you're not into my version:

John 2
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
The Wedding at Cana

2 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. 9 When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

Makes you wonder how easy it is for people to write down stories exactly as they happened.  I read that exact quote above, from John 2, and look at how I paraphrased it.

Ever played that game "Telephone" when you were a kid?  You sit around in a circle with six giggly girls and one of you whispers a sentence to the person next to her.  That person whispers what she thinks the first girl said to the girl next to her, and it goes all the way around the circle until the last girl says what she thinks the sentence is out loud.  Everyone giggles because it went from, "my cat, Butterscotch, likes to nap on the sofa in the sun" to "my mom likes scotch when she craps on the sofa for fun".

That's how I think of the Bible.  But I might get around to reading the whole thing if it turns out to have other entertaining stories in it.

After I laughed out loud at that story during the adult discussion, I picked up Katie from Sunday school.  Then it was service, stars, jazz, singing, praying, sermon referencing a Joan Osborne song, hearing what a lot of other people call "God" and thinking to myself, I think I call God "The Universe".  Then we sang some more.  Prayed some more.  Listened to more jazz.  Drove home.  Made lunch.  Ate lunch.  Took Katie to the park.  Walked around the lake.  Hung out with Will.  Took Katie to her first choir practice at church.  Found myself with forty-five minutes of free time.

What'd I do?  I did a little spontaneous thirftshopping.

City Thrift is a mile-and-a-half from the church.  I'd been wanting to shop there ever since I heard it opened, but I never got around to it.  This was my chance.

Here's what I found:

2 pairs of jeans for Will
1 pair of corduroys for Will
5 pairs of pants for Katie
1 sweatshirt for Katie
1 hooded sweater for Katie
1 KU t-shirt for Katie
1 sweatshirt for myself

All for $38.03.  Which is donated to the City Union Mission to help people who are homeless and poor.

I love saving money and helping people in need!  Macklemore was my earworm as I drove back to church to pick up Katie.  Drove home.  Ate awesome dinner that Will cooked.  Played Ms. Pac-man on Super Nintendo with Katie.  Tucked her in.  Hung out with Will.  Now I'm hanging out with you.

Busy, beautiful day.