WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2007
We all have our quirks!
Have you ever noticed the odd things other people do that you think are very strange or downright silly? Maybe you even live in the same house where some of those ‘other’ people there do weird things. What about me? Perhaps people think I am the one with strange habits. No doubt we are all products of a variety of influences including our upbringing and background. I grew up in a very small rural town and that defined being ‘country’ for me. Yet, I once spent the night with a cousin who lived way back in a place called the river bottom. These folks only came into town once or twice a month and their entire lifestyle was odd even by rural standards. My point? I do know something about the subject at hand.
I guess the biggest single hang-up for me is my old fashioned, feather pillows. My typical sleep cycle is 5 to 6 hours each night; therefore, I am determined to make the most of it! The three pillows I sleep on and with have be
en made, remade, combined, and recovered more times than I can remember. They are covered with the old fashioned blue striped ticking, now very faded. Some of the feathers have to be 25 years or older, maybe much older. I thank God for my grandmother and my mom who passed down some of these pillows and especially my sweet mother in law, who, before her death, gathered up some reserve stock for me. My wife is a committed foam person and over the years she has purchased many alternatives guaranteed to solve ‘my’ problem. Once she thought she had finally found something to take the place of my three pillows. I’m not sure exactly what it was, some kind of goose something, but my verdict after really trying hard was simply: Not even close! (The pillowcases are a completely different subject that will have to wait for another day!)
Laugh if you will but I once packed an extra suitcase for a couple of my pillows for a week spent in New York City. And, I also once shed a tear or two after I left a couple of them in a hotel outside of Dallas but they never were able to identify them and have them returned even though I agreed to pay for all shipping and handling. Obsessed? I wouldn’t call it that but you might. As the years roll by my pillows lose feathers. It’s sort of like the socks in the dryer deal. Where they go no one knows. But with the pillows, they do tend to shrink and that’s why the ongoing repair is needed.
I somehow handed down this trait to one of our three sons. Fortunately, he was willing to part with one from his stash after I lost the others. My wife was able to combine all that we had into the three I currently use. The real challenge now is to make them last as long as I can because I think we have exhausted our supply. (If it happens to go the other way and I go before they do, that solves the issue once and for all!)
The point here is we all have our own quirks. We can tolerate these because in the grand scheme of things they really don’t matter. God would have us to put up with each other’s differences that fall into this category. You like your steak turned into leather, I like mine medium rare. Who cares? While there may be a countless variety of these types of peculiarities and preferences, this doesn’t mean there are no ironclad, absolute truths that cannot be changed or altered for anyone or for any reason whatsoever. Those fundamental truths are the ones we live by and the ones that assure us that God is who He says He is and He can be counted on to always be for us and with us, forever, and ever, Amen. More later…………
I guess the biggest single hang-up for me is my old fashioned, feather pillows. My typical sleep cycle is 5 to 6 hours each night; therefore, I am determined to make the most of it! The three pillows I sleep on and with have be
en made, remade, combined, and recovered more times than I can remember. They are covered with the old fashioned blue striped ticking, now very faded. Some of the feathers have to be 25 years or older, maybe much older. I thank God for my grandmother and my mom who passed down some of these pillows and especially my sweet mother in law, who, before her death, gathered up some reserve stock for me. My wife is a committed foam person and over the years she has purchased many alternatives guaranteed to solve ‘my’ problem. Once she thought she had finally found something to take the place of my three pillows. I’m not sure exactly what it was, some kind of goose something, but my verdict after really trying hard was simply: Not even close! (The pillowcases are a completely different subject that will have to wait for another day!)Laugh if you will but I once packed an extra suitcase for a couple of my pillows for a week spent in New York City. And, I also once shed a tear or two after I left a couple of them in a hotel outside of Dallas but they never were able to identify them and have them returned even though I agreed to pay for all shipping and handling. Obsessed? I wouldn’t call it that but you might. As the years roll by my pillows lose feathers. It’s sort of like the socks in the dryer deal. Where they go no one knows. But with the pillows, they do tend to shrink and that’s why the ongoing repair is needed.
I somehow handed down this trait to one of our three sons. Fortunately, he was willing to part with one from his stash after I lost the others. My wife was able to combine all that we had into the three I currently use. The real challenge now is to make them last as long as I can because I think we have exhausted our supply. (If it happens to go the other way and I go before they do, that solves the issue once and for all!)
The point here is we all have our own quirks. We can tolerate these because in the grand scheme of things they really don’t matter. God would have us to put up with each other’s differences that fall into this category. You like your steak turned into leather, I like mine medium rare. Who cares? While there may be a countless variety of these types of peculiarities and preferences, this doesn’t mean there are no ironclad, absolute truths that cannot be changed or altered for anyone or for any reason whatsoever. Those fundamental truths are the ones we live by and the ones that assure us that God is who He says He is and He can be counted on to always be for us and with us, forever, and ever, Amen. More later…………
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