Just an Ordinary September Sunday

Maybe I should have said in my title that it's an extraordinary Sunday.  As crazy and busy as this summer has been the ordinary becomes extraordinary AND very much appreciated.

It's quiet here at the Lovestead.  Horses have gone to pasture.  Dogs played up and down the lane and now lie at the base of a tree staring upward as a squirrel taunts them from above. 

Bill's eating his breakfast, and I'm upstairs typing a little earlier than usual because of the one part of an ordinary Sunday that did not arrive in our paperbox this morning.  

It's the third time in ten days that we have NOT received a Spokesman-Review newspaper in our box.

And, yes, on this third time in ten days, I did erupt as I walked into the house and picked up the telephone to call one more time.  Since it's the weekend, someone may call me back from that answering machine or maybe they won't.

As I said to Bill, when considering all the stuff this week that didn't quite go according to plan, one does wonder about what's happening in this world, responsibility-wise. 

Every morning when I walk inside and  tell him the Spokesman didn't come, Bill analyzes out loud how it could be so hard to put two papers in the box when they do so almost every day.  Meanwhile, I think about my $54 and how I'm not exactly getting the bang for my buck. 

As a news junkie, I really don't like to read yesterday's news when they send the paper the next day.  News junkies find ways to know what's going on and yesterday's news is "so yesterday" to a news junkie. 

I happen to be one of that dying breed who just plain enjoys sitting down in the morning, sipping on coffee and reading about the world outside the Lovestead.  

I like to read opinion, I like the editorial cartoons, I gobble up the sports and feature sections , and I just enjoy whatever items appear in the paper that I may not have seen during several cursory glances a day at the news online. 

Anyway, the no-paper problem is only one thing out of the ordinary so far for a September Sunday. 

Much of what's going through my mind today is futuristic, such as getting those two story assignments completed and submitted to the editor by Tuesday.

They've come together nicely with information.  Now comes the polish, repetitive self-editing and shortening wherever possible.

Tuesday deadline day is the same day we have our last class reunion meeting for the big 50th-year gathering this Thursday and Friday.  We need to iron out final details, and we may even have some folks show up who've already arrived in town.  

I'm telling my editor at Sandpoint Magazine NOT to get back to me on my stories until AFTER next weekend when life will take a new turn withOUT reunion planning, which has been going on for the past year.  

As a poor multi-tasker, I would like to put all my focus for the rest of the week into reunion matters and cast aside worries about those stories.  

The stories should be okay for a week, since that magazine doesn't come out until November.  This is a week to deal with "urgent"  and "important" items, dealing with more than 100 classmates and spouses coming to town. 

I will kinda miss all this reunion stuff when it ends later this week but will also be looking at making up for all that did not happen this summer, due to hot weather and a sore body from summer injuries. Hopefully, both will settle down and with help from Advil, I can climb on a horse and enjoy the autumn days out on the trails or the roadways. 

After the reunion, I can also look ahead to Annie's visit the following weekend.  She arrived home safely from Japan last night and, within an hour, had booked her flight to Spokane.  

She also told me that Japan had been great, but she sure missed pizza after a two-week drought.  So, I said, of course, we'll have pizza that weekend.  

We'll go through Post Falls on our way home from the airport.  As we turn off the freeway, she'll do speed dial on her cell phone and order her favorite Second Avenue pizza---large-- so plenty will be left over for the weekend. 

Things will definitely get back to ordinary with many family members back to school and Friday night meals dominated by school-related happenings and eventually, we'll be looking toward basketball season and, no, I won't utter that redundancy just yet.  

Gotta save something for winter. 

Happy Sunday.  May you have an extraordinary day!