13 Jan 2013
Hanging out with my pal Dani has to be one of the highlights
of my life. She and her husband make me
laugh like no one else I know, except maybe my pal, Vestina, in Norway. I met Dani in 1983 when I was her supervisor
at my first job out of college. She hadn’t
been to college at that point, but she has since bested me by getting her AA,
BA and MA. She’s now a school
administrator working with troubled kids.
She’s an excellent “shrink” as she’s able to put spins on things I’d
never even think of. She’s also a cancer
survivor and one very sharp cookie. I so
wish we lived closer to each other.
We were hoping to go to church with her this morning but her
church had a big shake up and split, so she isn’t going there anymore. She reminded me we went to “church” yesterday in Redding, so she thought
that might “count.” She was raised
catholic so her guilt was coming through, but I assured her it was okay if we
all just hung out at her house and skipped church altogether.
Chris and Kory were outside in the beautiful (but chilly)
sunshine, washing vehicles this afternoon. Our rig was covered in rust colored
sand from going over the pass. Dani and
I hung out inside all day yacking away while Kaleb was glued to their big
screen TV and their dog. He was in hog
heaven when Abby was on his lap and he was petting her with one hand while
holding his nook, reading a book, with his other hand. He thought it was funny when the dog moved her
head and her nose accidentally turned the page for him.
It was a laid back kind of day and Kory kept remarking it
was so unusual for us to have nothing on the agenda. But I did, and I was doing it – just catching
up with my friend. I haven’t seen her
for a year when she came up to visit me for a long weekend last January.
Dani made a great fat free vegan stew for us for lunch and I
made pasta for dinner for everyone but we ate it quickly so we could hit the
road and get checked in at Gleanings for the Hungry – our first big volunteer
stop on this trip. It’s a Youth with a
Mission base not far from Dani’s house, south of Fresno, where they process
dried fruits and veggies for the needy.
In the summer, their dorms are full of high school and college kids, but
in the off-season they are full of Canadians volunteering for the winter,
trying to escape the cold from the north.
Ironically, there’s a cold snap going on right now so it’s a
bit nippy at night – like 25 degrees, but we bought a small portable heater so
we don’t have to run the furnace, and we are more than toasty warm inside. We have a great RV concrete slab with water,
electric and sewer and it’s in a quiet area – surrounded by orange groves. This is a huge complex, but there aren’t many
people here right now, so we’ll see how the week shapes up. We’re just here to serve in whatever capacity
they need us and it’s my best shot at giving Kaleb a taste of the “working
life” he doesn’t otherwise know anything about.
What’s so amazing about living in an RV is that we have
absolutely everything we need here.
Food, shelter, water, a bed, a dining table, electricity, a place for
everything and the ability to move around.
It makes me wonder what we are doing with so much other stuff in our
house, when life can be broken down to such basic necessities and we’re able to
function just fine with so little. It’s
certainly something to think about.
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