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Three Hours

Posted on August 29, 2023August 29, 2023 by Pam

What began as a typical Monday outing turned into three crazy hours of shopping. I missed the mark. I don’t know why it bothers me so much except that I view time as my friend and I don’t like it wasted. I was mailing something to my sister so success at the post office except never go on a Monday as the lines are longest after the weekend. Then a donation, but that line was long because the good people who had weekend garage sales brought their left overs. I used up an orange tank top so wanted to find a replacement. No one seems to like orange but me, or another way to look at it is people do like orange and two stores were sold out. I managed to find two others I liked on a sale rack. That is a fail because I want to shop more in the man-style. It is my experience that most men that need an item look for that item, purchase it, and leave. What is it in my DNA or training that my eye goes all over a store. I can’t be trusted to the one task on hand. This whole time I am people watching and visiting with fellow shoppers waiting in some additional long lines. Now I’m hungry and thirsty and while I wait in another long line find a well-priced box of English shortbread cookies. Guess what I ate for lunch? I know myself and none of this is a surprise but a disappointment. Chalk it up to being retired and having spare time. All of this may not seem crazy to you but two people I noticed were having a crazy time. One woman had her dark fringe of bangs gathered into a pony-tail jutting straight out from her forehead like a horn. She also seemed to be pacing and her elderly parents held her purchases and tried to act calmly. They have trouble in their lives. Then a junior-high looking young man was walking up and down the sidewalk talking very loudly into a phone. When I passed him the phone was blasting music so who was he yelling at? I have never seen anyone do that other then older crazy looking men but this was a child. I am disturbed by my crazy three hours but what could I have done for these others? Any suggestions? I did chat with the parents of the hair lady about how hungry we were and how long the line was but nothing important. How do I spend three hours and end up with two tops I don’t really need but like and some cookies but no gospel connection? I know that I could have misjudged these situations (except for the long lines) but I really don’t know what to do sometimes and I do want to help…crazy.

"Thoughts from a genuinely evaluative mind."

Pam writes so that must make her a writer. Recently retired, she can now fill days with family, friends, missions, writing, creating, and showing up for whomever needs her. Pam loves the Lord and people. The Bible is God’s love letter to us (and who does not need more love) so she studies and writes some more.

Pam lives in the Pacific Northwest but was home-grown in Southern California. She attended San Jose Bible College and finished a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry at UCLA. She became a teacher, then a Research and Development Chemist, then she built two successful real estate businesses in two states. Pam also pursued study at Fuller Theological Seminary and just completed six months serving in missions abroad.

Pam has two amazing children, married to two precious in-laws, and five sweet grandchildren. Pam is a gifted connector and communicator and the Northwest has the perfect climate for staying inside and writing – or baking! She has been writing since a wee one and is currently converting many years of blogging, by topic, into ten books. The first is a collection from 2011 titled, Beautiful Enough. The second is a yearly day-timer titled, Weekly Planner - Lessons in Life, Glory, and Grace. Number three is in progress with the working title, Christmas Today.

Ten facts about Pam in no particular order:

  1. On the team that developed an insulation for the Alaskan oil pipeline.
  2. Loves looking at homes, decorating, and has flipped five homes.
  3. Likes being tall.
  4. Films have helped define her vocabulary.
  5. Comes from Colorado tenement farmers with history traced to Wales.
  6. Was lost but now is found.
  7. Baking makes her happy – as does eating sweets with coffee, of course.
  8. She thinks mission work is the most important work in the world.
  9. The church started in Rome so she is learning Italian.
  10. Pam is a work in progress!

“I will be your God throughout your lifetime - until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you.” Isaiah 46:4

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