Ghost stories

Well, this has been an eventful week, and next week looks just as busy. First off let us discuss the most expensive part of the week. Our laptop was infected with some malware or some such cootie that has us worried about it sending out stuff we would rather it didn't send out. Not to mention the fact that it said it was running something like232 processes and keeping the CPU maxed out intermittently. So, the lap top is dead. I have never bought a computer before, our first was a gift from Grandpa, and everything behind it was hand me downs from my boss at work, including the laptop. So, I set off to do my homework, as does Angie. Angie gets some other folks involved with the decision process. These people she seeks advise from are the computer wizards and such from the YMX boards. These folks are IT guys from churches, web head ladies run the YMX board and a host of other smarter than me people. So, I listen carefully and take their advise. One of the IT people I am talking about uses the screen name MAC. So, you might guess which laptop I went with. It was a free-for-all when it came to suggesting what we should buy. They were all very helpful and Angie loves her new Mac. During this process a new phrase was coined, the "macgasm" The supporters of the product are rather rabid so I can see the point. I wonder if the term "macgasm" could be sold to apple for a advertising campaign? It might be a bit off color for that, but then again, have you seen any Cadillac commercials lately?

Next we have a visitation from the past. This was a strangely difficult experience for me for some reason. It was like I walked back in time to a place I used to be, but didn't belong now, Back to something I once was, but wasn't now. I was someplace I use to look forward to going, but now I had a feeling of anxiety and discomfort around me that made me eager to leave now. I was someplace where I used to fit in and was just one of the crowd, but I was misplaced now. This is difficult because I look around and I see a bunch of people, just like me. They are not any different than they were years ago when I used to come here. The place is a little local drinking hole named Foley's Irish Pub. A long time staple in the diet of Reading Ohio. I spent many and evening there with friends in years past, it was even one of the first places I took my soon to be wife some 15 years ago. This night I was again there with my good friends and happy for any opportunity to spend time with them because that time is more rare and more precious these days. We even got a babysitter, which is odd, because this is only the 5Th time since returning from China that we have both left the house together without Gracie. I was very happy to see my friend, at we were at Foley's for a benefit, so it was doubly nice to be out, on a date, with my friends, and doing something good for somebody else at the same time. However, before I even walked into the place, while we were just driving though the city of Reading, I could feel this shadow come over me. I felt like this was someplace I had been, but had left behind. The feeling intensified 100 times when we walked in the door. I looked around and all the people there seemed troubled, not happy like I remembered. The place reeked of stale beer, not the fresh smell of newly made hot wings like I recalled. At one point I had to go to the bathroom and take a leak. Upon completion of this task (for my long time readers, yes this is the second urinal story of the blog, I promise it will be a while before I enter another one) I happened to look down and notice I was standing in a puddle of piss about 4 foot in diameter. Nice, I don't remember that being the norm either. It was a couple of hours into the evening by now and in spite of the fact I was actually having a good time, I couldn't get past the feeling that I just didn't feel right being here, this is someplace I am not welcome. Don't misunderstand me here, I was welcome and comfortable with my friends, but not at Foley's and not in Reading. Then in dawned on me what the problem was. Ghosts. I was walking amongst my ghosts from the past. They remembered me, but I had forgotten them. They could see me, but I could not see them. This changed at one point in the evening. When I was a young man I had a small group of friend I hung around with, a posse, a crew, whatever you want to call it. Dennis, Darin, and Mike were that crew. Darin and I are still great friends, we have grown from pre-teen to responsible parenthood together. We have supported each other and helped each other through the many trials that life has brought us. Dennis disappeared on both of us shortly after I got married. Mike disappeared for the most part after he started college in his twenties. I had not seen Mike for more than a minute or two in years. This night Mike, a living and breathing ghost from the past came to pay us a visit. He walked up and I stood on my chair to give him a hug. Two grown men hugging in public, in a bar, oh well I don't care, its Mike. He talked for a while, we showed him pictures of Gracie, we talked a while longer and then we left. Mike is a high school football coach now. He works with kids, and loves his kids. He is not married, has no stable family, etc. He is stuck in time. He was very drunk this night, but he was Mike. The thing that disturbed me most was that when he looked at the pictures of Gracie and he talked about his kids at school, you could see the love and the pain in his eyes. Tonight I pray for Mike. Lord place your hand over him and guide him into the path of light. Send him a full dose of your mercy and help him find happiness and purpose within you. You have lead Darin and myself into your purpose and granted us many blessings, please Lord guide Mike and Dennis into this blessed place with us. Amen.

It will be a long time before I willingly go to Foley's again, but I hope its not so long before I see Mike again.

Then we come to Sunday at church. This is just a bit of irony that I choose to notice. One of the first series of sermons pastor Mark did when I arrived at Hartzell UMC was on the full armor of God. The last sermon I did at Hartzell also used this scripture from Ephesians 6:10-18. Today, pastor Tim used this scripture as the basis for his sermon. I took that as God telling me that as of last week when we decided to move to Crosspoint, we had indeed done what He wished us to do.

Gracie had a bad day today. She didn't want to take a nap after we got home. This turned into a feud that lasted almost 45 minutes. She said no, we said yes, the battle lines were drawn. Now, we being the parents are going to win eventually, but I thought this was going to be a border skirmish and it turned out to be more of a Long March.

On the administrative side of things, a quick thanks to my readers and you might notice I added Ythdudette to my link list. I don't think I should use her name here, but I have met her and she is a wonderful person. Please visit her when you have the time. I also would like to make a shameless plug for two other things as well. For the non regulars, please comment so I know who was here. If you have your own blog, please feel free to link to mine and let me know if you would like me to link to yours. Thanks. Chris.