I went to Emporia late morning. I stopped at Commercial Street Diner for breakfast. It was delicious as always with great service. I was digging in my purse for money to pay and a $100 bill fell out. I decided to leave it as a tip. I do this occasionally as it gives me great joy. I went up to the register and paid and left.
As I was walking down the sidewalk to my car, my waitress came running down the sidewalk. She wanted to make sure I hadn’t left it in error. Now that is what I love about mid America. How honest and thoughtful was that? That reinforced I chose the right waitress to leave a big tip to.
After having worked in the service industry for years, I understand well how hard waitressing is. This gal does one of the best jobs of it I have ever seen. She is very personable, efficient and kind.
I dropped a sack of books I had read off at the library to return them to the Friends of the Library. Then I went to the water department to get Tagen’s water put back in my name. I went to Walmart and picked up a few things I needed and then came home.
This afternoon I printed my blog off. I hadn’t printed it since May of 2024. I lost three years of my blog one time when the system was updated and somehow my data got lost. I have since started printing a copy and keeping them in big binders. It took a bit to get them all printed and three-hole punched and put in binders. Good to have that caught up and off my pending to-do list.
It rained on me while I was in Emporia. We got a bit more rain overnight here. We have a chance of more rain tomorrow afternoon. It will soon dry up and get hot and we won’t see rain again for weeks/months. Sure wish it could get distributed more evenly over the summer. After the rain on Saturday we are to have several dry days with the possibility of more rain coming in for next weekend. I trust it won’t rain the Royals game out on the 14th.
Found out when my nieces and nephew are coming in another week. I need to get hold of my kids and brothers and schedule a family day while they are here. It will be fun to have them all here and get everyone together. I have started making menus and grocery lists so we can get them fed while they are here. They are only going to be here for three full days and four nights.
I had a surprise phone call today. My Marine, as I called him, (Brian) was driving through Kansas today and called me. I hadn’t spoken to him in a long time. It was great to hear from him. He stayed with me for almost a year in 2019. He has completed his lineman apprenticeship and is now a supervisor. He is still traveling all over the US doing contract jobs. What I loved the most about doing the AirBnb is that many of my guests became dear friends. Another guest that stayed a couple times with me texted me today looking for a bed for the Symphony weekend. I had to let her know I had sold the big house and no longer have extra bedrooms.
The rancher I buy a beef from every year let me know she is taking one to the butcher on July 18. I will have an extra quarter if anyone is interested in it. I haven’t checked beef prices so not sure how much it will be. The rancher charges me livestock sale barn hoof prices and then there is a charge for the processing.
No plans for the weekend. One day next week I have to go to Emporia and deal with a CD that is up for renewal. I also need to go to City Hall in Cottonwood and renew the dog tags. Other than that, I have a very quiet week ahead.
Didn’t hear this week from the surgeon I am being referred to. Not sure if I should go ahead and get Max’s Celebration of Life dinner on the calendar or wait it out a bit longer. I think I will wait until after the visit from Kathy’s kids and then decide what to do. I do better when I only have one big thing ahead of me. That will give the surgeon’s office time to get hold of me. Good thing it isn’t urgent!
Sitting in a weird place tonight. Feeling a bit disconnected from life. I have way too much empty space on my calendar and I do better when I have more structure. Yet I hesitate to put things on my calendar until I know about surgery. This in-between space is hard for me. Reminding myself to relax into it and allow. Easier said than done!
Grateful for those that do the work of being a waitress, grateful I crossed some things off my to-do list today, and grateful for friends that reach out and surprise me with a phone call.