"People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be." ~ Abraham Lincoln

Hello and welcome. It's Tuesday, July 24, 2018, and I bid you greetings from my steno chair to wherever you happen to be. That's right. A steno chair. For typing. I realize touch typing is not on many front burners anymore, but, I still use it and that's how the electronic text gets built each day. I've used the typing skills I learned in high school throughout my career. Career is a way overblown term for me. My working background is a better way to put it. I can remember when I was an administrative assistant in the public affairs office at Fort Polk, Louisiana, back in the late 1960's, I had an Underwood upright typewriter. Everything for the government had to be in multiple copies. Yep. Carbon paper. Make a mistake and corrections had to be made on the original and all the copies. Do that without the carbon paper smudging and you had accomplished something. The Seargent Major was in charge of the admin function. He and I were a two-person team. He couldn't type although he did, occasionally, attempt to use one finger to type out some forms and maybe do a simple report. That meant the majority of the typing landed on me. We reported to a Colonel, or a Major, depending who was occupying the Chief Information Officer slot at any given time. Some of them were very persnickety when it came to the information we produced. If they didn't like the way something turned out, they would put a big X on it and send it back. Nowadays, I can let my fingers do the walking on the keyboard and the computer program (blogging utility) captures the keystrokes. And, I only have to worry about getting my work approved by me, myself and I. Sure, the Grammar Program has its say as well, however, it spends most of its time sulking in the corner because I hit the ignore button so often. I am aware that kids today can text almost as fast as I can type and many of them can do so without even looking at the keys on their phone. Me? I'm always wishing for a bigger keyboard for my phone. Many of you know exactly what I am talking about.

We had a southern Gospel group at our local fellowship this past Sunday evening. We had a large number of folks who showed up to be blessed by these professional singers. Many times there are groups that attend these events. Groups of ladies. Often, older ladies. The pew where I was sitting had a group of ladies in the pew in front of me and a group of ladies in the pew behind me. Just so you know, I was not in my regular spot even though I got to the Church one hour before the concert was scheduled to begin. A person I did not recognize was actually sitting in my spot. He appeared to be well pleased with the location of his view. The nerve! What he didn't realize is how many people actually key off of me being in my regular seat. In fact, I once ran late from my Sunday morning Bible study and someone did the same thing. They were in my seat. Two of the fellows who always sit near me looked around, found me, and came to where I was sitting. They said, "This will not do. You have to get back to your seat." For some reason, the lady moved to another seat and I jumped up and ran down and got into my seat. Out of breath, I looked around and both of my pew buddies were giving me a thumbs up. Ministry, folks. That's what having my own pew is all about. Ministry.

Back to my story about the lady groups. One lady in the group in front of me was a walking encyclopedia on the singing group that was to perform. She knew their backgrounds, their families, and the latest this, that, and the other. Pity the lady sitting next to her because she confessed that it was her first time to see them. I thought the know-everything lady was going to fall out of her seat. "You have never gone to see these fellows sing?" I think we might have discovered at least one of the unpardonable sins. The know-everything lady kept flipping her hair she was so disturbed by this most distressing confession. Behind me, these other ladies were catching up on all the news that pertained to their families, their health, and anything else they could come up with. One older lady seemed very proud of herself because she knew how to Google. She obviously liked that word. She used it about twenty times. "I will have to remember to Google that. When I get home I'm going to see about it. I will Google it. I will. I really will." The other lady was playing a guessing game. "Guess who else was in town today singing?" No one knew. I'm 100% certain I didn't. The shame of it? "They were singing at their old Church and no one let them know about it." "Missed them, we did, we missed them." "Can you believe it?" "At our old Church!" Several people stopped by to comment on the fact that I was all alone. They asked about my wife. When I told them she had left me again, they didn't seem surprised. They don't know me well enough yet to not be surprised. What I have to put up with. No wonder I'm in the shape I am in. Please don't write and ask was I referring to the pear shape. I can only handle so much. Enjoy the rest of your day and if you can't figure out what to do next, just Google it. May God bless. Amen. ....More later.