We had a stiff wind yesterday and a reminder that we can’t control the elements. It started out as any normal day for a couple of old retired folks. We generally get up early, do our morning devotion and talk for a while, The sky intermittently displayed various kinds of clouds, indicating we might be in for some rain or storm activity. May in Minnesota is wildly unpredictable. One day it can be sweltering hot and another might need to add an extra blanket to the bed. Other times. you might witness a scene from “The Wizard of Oz” and feel as though you’ve been transported to place nothing like Kansas.

As the day progressed, we were faced with all kinds of ups and downs. For a while it felt like we were on a roller coaster. That’s what makes life interesting – right? After getting his car in for an oil change, Paul needed to put some miles on his tires and then have them retorqued so we decided to take care of a few chores. First stop was Best Buy to purchase the Roku that will eventually wean us off of cable. Then we stopped to purchase some annual plants to add to the garden for some color. We also needed a new hose for that garden, because the other one had served us well for many years. Each of these stops came with a slight amount of panic as people appeared without masks – uncovering less than happy faces. By the time we returned home, we were already exhausted an occurance which is happening more often lately. A light lunch cured that and we were ready to dig into the projects we’d just created for ourselves.

It was then that the fun began. I was trying to decide where to place my new plants, cleaned out a few garden areas and again had to sit down for a while. SIDE NOTE – A couple years ago my husband invented a new way of playing croquet for us old fogies. We set up several little sitting areas in our yard so that you could tap the ball – sit down and have a little talk and rest – then move on to the next sitting area. Thus we have lots of those stopping off points. But as usual, I digress.

Paul was trying to salvage something from the old hose before installing the new. The wind picked up and suddenly he heard a loud snap. The lovely flowering crab tree next to our garage had split and fallen to the ground. Paul responded with his usual comment, “That was interesting.” Fortunately it’s a little tree, but I will sadly miss the beauty it added to our yard. There was no damage to anything else, but the adventures would continue. Now a new project opened up for us. We looked at each other and laughed. Our plans for the day now exploded into a much bigger undertaking.

Like I said, it’s a small tree. Our son is coming over to deal with it this week. But that wasn’t the last of our adventures. I sat down and looked at the mess. Sometimes we create the mess ourselves and sometimes God sets a roadblock up so we can put things into perspective. That’s what He was doing yesterday. As I went over to examine the fallen tree and begin clipping some of the smaller branches, the wind picked up again. This time it created an updraft which pulled our sun umbrella right out of it’s foundation – close to the spot I’d just been sitting and carried it to the back door. Just a few minutes prior, I could’ve been in its path. The door, which has a leaded glass window was undamaged. Some might call that a coincidence, but we looked at it as God’s protection once more.

I decided to call it a day, but my sweet husband continued to work at disconnecting the old hose and other tasks which needed attention. It wasn’t long before he came inside the house to cool off and he was laughing hysterically. “Now what,” I thought. He came into the kitchen to show me that his pants (which should be suspendered) were curiously sliding down. He would fit in with today’s fashion. We could’ve taken all these occurances as an indicator of our aging process, but everything was so comical, all we could do was laugh.

We were thankful that no real damage occurred to our property and that we were spared injury and/or embarassment. When life hands you lemons, there’s usually more than one, but the sweet taste of lemonade makes it much better.