Good News and Bad News

The good news first: Steve and I went away for the weekend. To Charleston, South Carolina. Stayed at the Charleston Marriott. Great view of the river (not sure which river) from our top floor room. Oohed and aahed at the colorful sunset on Friday night. Ate a pile of deep-fried hush puppies at Hyman's last night. Excellent marriage conference. Time alone. Together. Talking. Laughing. Eating. Drinking. Listening to funny and inspirational speakers. Saw a couple from our church, from the marriage class we are taking on Wednesday nights. Met an engaged couple and committing to pray for them as they enter the challenging and exciting part of their life journey called marriage. Met another couple that I wish lived closer - Angel and Annette seemed like a fun-loving pair.




Took this photo in a bathroom mirror at Williams College this past summer. We were in Billsville (otherwise known as Williamstown, Massachusetts) for our 20 year college reunion. Took this photo on our final night there. I was finally ready to go join my classmates outside on Baxter Lawn to reminisce, eat, dance, and try to relive our glory days. I was happy. As you can tell. And I could see - thanks to my very cool glasses.
Read on...
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The bad news from this weekend: I LOST MY PRESCRIPTION EYEGLASSES. I still cannot believe they are gone. I have absolutely no reasonable explanation for their disappearance.

But these are the facts as I recall: I don't need them to read. So I took them off at the hotel restaurant on Friday night before I read the menu. That is the last time I used them. Less than an hour after we finished dinner, I noticed that they were missing. Since then... nothing. We asked at the restaurant hostess stand, the bar, the front desk, housekeeping, the hotel lost and found, the conference directors' table. Nothing. We asked each of the above two or three more times - each. The speaker at the conference made an announcement from the platform. Nothing.

Steve, being the generous soul that he is, told me that they were cool glasses, but not as cool as the ones I'm going to get this week. Not to brag or anything, but they were very cool glasses. They had polarized transitions lenses that turned the perfect shade of gray in the sunlight. They were exactly the right size and shape for my face. The reddish brown frames matched the red highlights in my hair and the chocolate brown undertones in my skin. They had colorful stripes on the inside of the frames, not because anyone could see them. Not because they helped resolve my vision problems. Nope, those stripes were there simply to make the glasses look cool. Perfect strangers have complimented me on them.

I miss them terribly, and not only because they looked so cool. But also because I need them to drive, to watch movies, to read the screens at church, all that sort of thing. Thanks be to God I don't need them to read or write. Or I would truly be sunk!

I know, I know.

There is a war raging in Iraq. There is war simmering in Afghanistan.
Genocide is still taking place in various countries in our world.
There are millions who are homeless after earthquakes, typhoons, and cyclones.
There is a record-setting drought gripping the southern region - and elsewhere.
There are billions of people on the planet living on less than $3 per day.
I know I should stop my whining.

But still...
I miss my glasses.