Tuesday a.m.

Rebecca with her Costa Rican sister

Good morning again! The days surely pass quickly. I hope you have taken the time to notice how beautiful the leaves are right now. I really thought after the extreme drought that they would be dull, like me, but instead they are quite brilliant, unlike me (ha ha). They really are about as pretty as I've seen in a long, long time. I was having a conversation about this and other things with Jimmy S. the other day on a run. He just burst out, "Man, I love living! Don't you?" Yes, I do, and it's great to hang around a guy who is such a bright spot in a dark world.

That's why, in part, I drove to Bedford last night to run a few miles. We have a wonderful group of people who run together. I didn't feel like running last night, but the power of a like-minded community keeps me on track. It was a perfect evening to run.

My day started out in the dentist's office. I broke a tooth, a big one, number 19, I think they said. It was big and a bad break. (Too much ice crunching and too many atomic fireballs over the years.) I've always done pretty well as a dental patient, using my learned tolerance for pain and my ability to distract my mind, but I was really dreading this fix. It went OK, but the Dr. was concerned about its depth, so he really numbed it. It took a while, but we got it fixed. It hurt and gave me a headache later in the day but all is good now.

Rebecca made a long trip to Nicaragua yesterday; 9 hours. She was able to quickly check in via a text message to Kedra. She will be there for 10 days, staying with another local family. She had to fill out a paper before leaving Costa Rica, indicating whether or not she could handle living in a place with no running water in the house, etc. She may end up in a fairly primitive setting. She seems prepared for that. I think being in Honduras a couple of times will help her. She is doing really well.

Yesterday was a busy day. The dentist appt. took a little longer than I thought it might. I took a few minutes to recover and then took off to see some people in Bedford. I sat for a while next to a man who is on his death bed, literally. He's ready. He was fading in and out, but we were able to talk a little. Death is interesting thing. Even Jesus struggled with the thought of dying, and he had a deep faith that he is Father would raise him from the dead. Several have said to me over the years, "I'm not afraid of being dead. It's the getting there that bothers me." True.

Wow, I have rambled on here this morning. I won't keep you any longer. Enjoy the day. Do some good for someone in someway.