"Confidence isn’t walking into a room with your nose in the air, and thinking you are better than everyone else, it’s walking into a room and not having to compare yourself with anyone in the first place." ~ copied

I'm sitting here at the wife's little laptop here in our home watching the weather and flooding maps. Very serious stuff this morning and I'm taking a wait and see approach. Meanwhile, I welcome you back to where things are somewhat more like they should be on this back-to-work Monday, April 18, 2015. I say that because the wife has returned from her Louisiana visit. Now we can sing that Barbara Streisand tune, "The Way We Were". I actually don't know that song but maybe it should be changed to "The Way We Are" as in back to normal. I like things to follow their normal routine. I know. Some people call routine a rut. And a rut has been called a grave with no ends. Give me a break! Who ever heard tell? I recently read a little ditty posted on Facebook by an old school mate of mine. I think we were in school together from the 3rd grade forward. That was the grade I was in when we moved to that little rural Louisiana town. Here's her funny little story: "I have been to many places, but I've never been in Cahoots. Apparently, you can't go alone. You have to be in Cahoots with someone. I've also never been in Cognito. I hear no one recognizes you there. I have, however, been in Sane. They don't have an airport, you have to be driven there. I have made several trips there, thanks to my friends, family, and work. One of my favorite places to be is in Suspense! It really gets the adrenalin flowing and pumps up the old heart! At my age I need all the stimuli I can get!" I can identify with that little story. Rut indeed! 

Most of us typically run on auto pilot. I can open the gate with the security passcode here at the Company front gate without even thinking about it. What I have trouble with is when I fail to operate automatically and I do think about it. I sit there in my truck looking at that keypad like I've never even seen one before. It doesn't happen very often but it does happen. I've done the same thing at the bank. You know. I've drawn a blank at the bank. I will not even try to guess how many passwords I have scattered around. At one time I was trying to be extra careful with my identity security and I prepared all kinds of variations for Amazon, Ebay, Twitter, Facebook, and numerous other programs and emails, etc., etc. That's a good idea. Right? It is if you can keep up with all of them. The good news is how I typically can find the right combination by searching out my old emails from when they were originally set up. This is another facet of my personal aging experiences. Back when I was a young technician and the master computer scheduler for a large company, people were amazed at how I could keep up with hundreds of jobs along with all of their prerequisites and dependencies. These I kept on file and available for immediate recall from my brain. I've got some news. Not anymore! Now I have to follow the Einstein rule of never remembering anything that you know where to go and find it. So far, it's working pretty well, except maybe when I am sitting at the gate hoping for a burst of enlightenment. (I'm not so sure what the game plan will be when I don't remember it and I also don't remember where to go and find it.)

I find myself being a little agitated about this from time to time, but, I also recognize that to a great extent it comes with the territory and I can be thankful that my recall works as well as it does. I believe my attempts to throw words on the electronic page each day helps to stop even more gray cells from escaping from the reservation. Yes. I am aware of the old saying. It's too late to close the gate after the cows have left the barn. That's the way I heard it growing up. I believe the original usage went like this: "Closing the stable door after the horse has bolted." Whatever the case, we do what we can each day and when we hit a snag I've found that being able to laugh at myself helps. That's not so easy for me but it does help when I can do it. In the past, I've given folks advice in how to deal with their forgetfulness. Write it down. Just do it. It may be time for me to follow my own advice. You know. "Physician heal thyself." (Based on a parable spoken by our Lord as recorded in Luke 4:23) It's just so much more fun to give advice as opposed to taking it. I need to work on that. Maybe I should write that down. Okay. Let me remind us all that our All-Knowing God is aware of the nitty gritty details that we deal with each and every day. He knows and He cares. That you can take to the bank and you don't need a password to access it. Amen. ....More later..