August 15, 2023 - A Lighter Day

     I realize that some of these recent blogs have been a bit heavy.  It is pretty tough to deal with cancer without it being heavy.  It is a load to carry.
     I thought that I’d lighten things up a bit as I share a hodgepodge of stuff, none of which is enough for its own blog.
     You couldn’t be reading these blogs without knowing that I have two very sweet sisters.  The world would be a better place if all siblings got along as well as the three of us do.  It would be an even better place if everyone was like my sisters.
     After Friday’s blog, when I shared about there being no bell in the lobby area of the Cancer Center, I get a text from Jan.  She says, “I have a bell by our pool.  I rang it for you this morning.”
     How sweet is that?  I texted her back and said, “It’s the next one that I am the most concerned about.”
     She texted me back and said, “Then I will get a bigger bell.”  Maybe she can just ring the one that she has more than once.
 
     When I came to church on Sunday morning I found a pan of brownies from a lady in our church.  She didn’t know that this week I had a craving for her brownies.  I’d even thought about texting her to see if she might be making some this week.
     There are few things I like to eat more than Diane’s brownies.  They’d be in the top five, along with Reese’s Cups, a hot Spalding’s doughnut, the cinnamon sticks at Gatti’s, and Teresa’s cinnamon bread.  (I have learned some things over the years about being a husband!)
     We topped off lunch with brownies and vanilla ice cream.  It was a good celebration for finishing the chemotherapy treatments in Lexington.
     When I began the treatments five months ago I weighed.  I decided then that I would try to be within a two-pound difference when the treatments were finished.  When I weighed on Friday I was exactly two pounds from the beginning weight.   It’s a good thing Diane didn’t give me those brownies a week earlier!
 
     I have been sharing about what hat I might get after the major chemotherapy.  Teresa Glancy walks up to me on Sunday with a gift bag that contained two brand new Daybreak hats.  It was a dual effort.  Jeremy at H2 Promotions wouldn’t let her pay for them.
     Thanks, Teresa and Jeremy.  I will wear them proudly, just maybe not publicly for a while in late September!
 
     One more.  On Saturday when I drove to town to get balloons and fishing worms I didn’t realize that the pet store that sells the fishing worms didn’t open until 10 a.m.   Adjacent to the pet store is a “Quickcuts” salon, so I decided to get a haircut while I was waiting.
     My thinking was that I have two weeks before Mayo and two weeks at Mayo before the anticipated stem cell transplant.  My hair was too shaggy to wait that long, so I slipped into the salon to see how long the wait might be on a Saturday morning.
     There were numerous stylists and one of them indicated that her chair was open.  I perceived her to be in her 50s.
     Of all the barbers/stylists that I have had over the years this lady was the most introverted.  Tough calling for an introvert.  I tried carrying on a conversation with her, but to no avail.
     She did a fine job on the haircut.  When I got up from the chair she said, “It’s only $7.00 if you happen to be over 60.” 
     She might not have said a lot, but if you want to make a person who is 68 have a good day, question them about whether they are 60 yet.
     Even before that, I had pondered about the tip that I would give her.  I knew the senior special for the haircut was only $7.00.  A 40% tip would only be $2.80.
     The place I usually get my haircut charges $15.00 for the cut and I usually give the stylist a $5.00 tip.
     What would you have done in this circumstance?  I reached for my wallet and took out a $20.00 bill and handed it to the lady.   She began thumbing through the cash that she had, looking to see if she could make change for the difference.
     I said to her, “It’s for you.  I don’t want any change.”
     “Are you sure?”
     “Yes, I am sure.”
     The first smile on her face since I walked into the salon was all the thanks that I needed.
     I tip from three motivations.  If there is some possibility that I may be seen as a professing Christian, then I never want a server or a stylist to think that I am stingy.  Stingy and being a follower of Jesus ought to be mutually exclusive terms.
     I tip based on the service I receive.
     And lots of times I tip based on my perception of need.  I perceived that this lady needed the almost 200% tip far more than I did on Saturday.  It didn’t cost me a penny more than if had I gone to the usual salon.
     I have never had the desire to be filthy rich.  If by some chance there would be a way to win the lottery without ever having bought a ticket, I think I would get great joy over leaving tips that might change a person’s life.
     A $13.00 tip didn’t change this lady’s life.  I am pretty confident that it did change her day.
     I need to be open to the Holy Spirit’s leading to discern those opportunities each day.   It will likely be in far more ways than an unexpected tip.