"Yet as I read the birth stories about Jesus I cannot help but conclude that though the world may be tilted toward the rich and powerful, God is tilted toward the underdog." ~ Philip Yancey

Good morning and welcome to another day here at the ole blogger ranch. I had to assist our Jimmy in getting him to an early morning medical treatment and that's the reason I am running a wee bit late. It is Wednesday, January 6, 2021, and, we have a number of hours left to make something of it. This past Monday, I had an early morning blood draw to check out my diabetes status. Fasting, overnight, and then my waking hours from around 4 a.m. to 9 a.m., with no Community Coffee. That's a real challenge for me. The African-American lady who drew my blood had one of those effervescent personalities. She said, "Mr. Cecil, do you typically faint when you have blood drawn?" I told her I had not so far, but, perhaps today would be a different situation. What I wanted to say was, "Miss Technician Lady, do you typically have your patients faint when you draw blood?" I have mentioned before how easy it has been for me over the years to get that gushing vein going and finish the draw very quickly. Not so much these days. Aging. That fast lane vein is no longer as prominent as it was a few years ago. A little more probing and poking, but, we got it done. The technician then said, "Mr. Cecil, do you ever have a kid tell you that you remind them of Santa Claus?" I told her it had happened before. When we finished, I handed her one of my Santa Claus cards. You would have thought I had handed her a winning lottery ticket. She looked at it and shrieked and came about 6 inches off the floor. The other technician was just outside on the computer and she had this puzzled look as to what was going on behind curtain number three. I did get the results from my blood work. My diabetes continues to be well managed and the many other known but less than great numbers appear to be repetitively stable. That's my own attempt to mimic the garbled medical assessments we often get from professionals. No wonder we can't read their handwriting.

I think I will leave it at that. We pretty much have finished the Christmas takedown and we celebrated it last evening by having a wonderful dinner with the wife's sister and her husband at the steak restaurant. We had a wonderful time. It's not always like this but last night the food, the service, all of it, was top notch. We do thank the wife's sister for her many hours spent doing the heavy lifting, literally, alongside the rest of the team. Again, at our ages, if you are able to do things like this please do not take it for granted. Thank God. Again and again. It may not always be this way but we cherish the health and vitality we still have. We often hear from our friends and loved ones how quickly this can and does change. We read way too often, "I was just talking to them last week and they seemed to be doing so well." Such is life. That's why being grateful is so important. Okay. Enough already. Enjoy. May God bless. See you next time. Lord willing. Amen. .....More later.