My friend Anne called from Selma yesterday.  Word has it, we can expect more than one casserole to get delivered at the farm when we arrive.  Our new neighbor came by and mowed the lawn in front of our new  house. This is the same neighbor who, according to Anne, has a great ‘man cave’ that maybe the Mallowman might get to see one day.  At church on Sunday, the Assistant Bishop of the Diocese of Alabama announced to the congregation that not one but two priests were moving into the neighborhood.

In Tallahassee, our girl is settling right in and was too busy to call yesterday.

And here, in Fort Lauderdale, life has slowed down to a crawl in some respects. Yesterday, I had time to listen to the driver of our moving van tell me a bit of his story.  Two years ago, his brother and step-son were driving a moving van like the one he drives when another rig plowed into them and killed them both.  He and his wife have ended up adopting her grandson who is twelve and autistic.  She works two jobs and he is on the road for long stretches of time but they are finding ways to be family.

Later in the afternoon, Sherod and I were waiting for Sherod’s car at the condo where we are staying when a young man wheeled himself up to us in a motorized wheelchair.  I am not sure what he has, whether MS or something even more serious, but though talking was obviously a tortuously hard effort for him, we stood there for about 5 minutes doing our best to communicate.  He could not get his name out with enough clarity for us to understand him but when the valet person drove up with Sherod’s truck, we asked.  When Sherod turned around and said, “Bye M.”, the young man’s face broke into the biggest grin imaginable.   Some days I think all I really want to do for the rest of my life is practice being kind and see, really see, the people who cross my path.

Today we sign all the papers for the sale of our house (actual closing is tomorrow), do the last clean up at the house, pretty much hang out for the rest of day.  And then, faster than the blink of an eye, it will be tomorrow.