Days of Infamy, Week-ends of Restoration

My house is cleaner than it has been since--oh, since the last time we had people coming to stay with us.

My sister-in-law and her grown daughter arrive today.  And then we have no more holiday guests from out of town or holiday travel.  It's unusual for us.

I have papers that need to be graded, but there will be time for that.  I had hoped to get them done this week-end.

Here are some of the things I did instead:

--On Saturday, I met with my quilting group.  I have a vision of making a different fabric art piece for each week of Advent.  Here's what I made on Saturday:

--On Saturday evening, I took my spouse to Broward College for his early rehearsal for the evening's concert.  Then I met friends at the Flashback Diner for an early dinner before the concert.

--The concert was wonderful!  A mix of sacred and secular music, with a great selection of Christmas music.

--Yesterday, I had a great writing morning.  A friend had written her view of dying and being in purgatory.  She's an atheist, so part of her outrage comes from not simply dying and ceasing to exist.  We talked about her story and other views of the afterlife at our quilting group.  And yesterday, I wrote a short story from the viewpoint of God.  I managed to stay faithful to modern Physics and the ancient concept of grace and my own views of the universe.  And my friend liked the story.  It was a fun exercise, and I felt spiritually renewed too.

--Yesterday was one of my favorite yearly events at church:  the annual decorating of the gingerbread people, followed by the eating of the gingerbread people.

--After an afternoon of cleaning and organizing, we took a drive around the neighborhood to see the Christmas lights.

Today I have the anniversary of Pearl Harbor on my mind.  When I was younger, I knew more people who could still remember where they were when the attack happened.  Now, most of those people have died.  This event has receded into history, one of those events that seem like the far-distant past.
Today is also the anniversary of my very first day of working for corporate America. Yes, back on this day in 1982, I started my job as salad bar girl at Wendy's. It was the first time I had done work other than babysitting and yard mowing.

I was desperate to get a job in high school. I was convinced that if I didn't have a job in high school, I'd never be hired anywhere--yes, go ahead and laugh, but I really thought I'd get real world job skills with a high school job.

Then we were in a bone-crunching recession. I was lucky to get that Wendy's job. I had applied at almost every other fast food place, including where my friends worked, and even a personal connection didn't even help.

I've come a long way, and you wouldn't have thought I would, if you could travel back in time and watch me on the clock at Wendy's.   I wasn't a fast sandwich maker, and I couldn't remember the proper order that Corporate had declared we put the condiments on the bun and the burger. I couldn't be promoted to cash register operator without being a sandwich maker--there were strict corporate rules.
It looked like I would always be the salad bar girl--luckily, I made other plans.  I'm not sure they were these plans, but I'm happy so far.

Speaking of which, it's time to get on the road to my current job--with a stop for spin class.