In Every Direction At Once

Dearest Rachel –

There are days when, as I sit down in front of the computer to write to you, I find myself dealing with writers’ block, even with – possibly even especially when – considering the events of the day or so past. Some days, there just isn’t much of interest going on; there are days that are much like the ones previous, and I don’t like repeating myself too soon or too often (and I’m sure, even as you admit we had plenty of such days, you’d just as soon not read about them over and over, either). And while I have a few weird thoughts that cross my mind from time to time, those I tend to want to keep in reserve for those slow personal news days.

This is not one of those days. If anything, it’s very much the opposite; there are so many things going on that it’s difficult to decide on any one to home in on. Stuff is happening in every direction at once, not always to me directly, but closely enough that I’m within observing distance. So maybe this letter is just going to be a few observations, like that one T-rex that always seems to be in every depiction of the Chicxulub meteor fall, looking up and appearing to think, “Well, that can’t be good.”

Well, hopefully there isn’t anything that bad…

***

I persuaded Daniel to join me last night to the Station; we haven’t been there in quite some time, now, despite the fact that we still have a bunch of gift cards to the place. The gang (and Logan in particular, as he likes the gatchapons that come as a reward for turning in five plates) seems to prefer Kuro, which, admittedly, as a chain that I saw outlets of in Keelung and Kabuki-cho, is clearly authentic stuff. At the same time, there’s something to be said for the local place that appeared here before anything else arrived from out of town, and has survived; it’s almost embarrassing that we’re no longer regular patrons.

As such, it was a mild shock to realize that it’s every bit as pricey as Kuro at this point; I thought things were otherwise, but it seems that inflation has caught up with the place. Every color plate now costs a dollar more than they used to – although I guess that they’d already hiked prices by a quarter while you were still around. I’m not sure if it would have come as a shock to you – if nothing else, we would have probably gone out a lot more often to the place were you still here, so we might have had time to accustom ourselves to the new pricing structure – but I was a bit taken aback by the fact that these cards don’t go as far as they would have if we’d used them sooner.

In any event, I didn’t know what to say to him, as I hadn’t any special reason to go there apart from not having done so in ages. I’m grateful he indulged me, but I wonder if he thought I had any additional motives for going there, other than my stated one of needing to burn a few cards; it turns out that I might have if I’d only waited a day…

***

On a much more external note, the first debate of the campaign was held last night, and while I felt like I needed to get up early today to work out, I decided to stay up long enough to try to keep up with it, and sort out how things went. You missed the entirety of this guy’s reign, honey, and while I think you dodged a bullet by doing so (unlike certain people), I could have used the support while fearing for the future of this place. I mean, this isn’t my eternal home, but it would be nice for the place I’m left to call such for now would be able to last as long as I (and Daniel) are likely to.

Obviously, since I’d rather not talk about politics (well, I like it well enough sometimes, but this is the internet – it’s not safe to do so out here), I’m going to speak in broad generalities, but this looks like a hopeful sign. On the other hand, the possibility that one of these guys is now being asked to step aside, presumably for someone no one has voted for for the position, seems rather, well… anti-democratic, regardless of any bleating to the contrary. The people nominated – or were railroaded into nominating – this guy, and they ought to stick with him; it’s not like his team didn’t already know who he was. If they chose not to acknowledge it until now, that’s on them, and the people who voted for him up until this point. Hopefully it becomes a moot point, but I will say that November can’t get here soon enough; I want this to be over with.

***

Now, I had to wake up early this morning because I wanted (do I mean that? Perhaps it would be better phrased as “I felt compelled”) to work out before meeting Pastor Scott for breakfast this morning. If I was to do so, though, I’d need to get out, get in my three miles or so, get home, get showered, get dressed… it’s a lot of stuff to take care of, honey. I was up mere minutes before my alarm was set to go off at 4:30, but I could barely pull myself together to actually leave the house before five. That was still enough time, though.

The odd thing is that, this time around, he contacted me. So I really should have known this was not going to be about any of my own personal issues – I don’t know why I briefly harbored thoughts that he might have had a suggestion as to someone at church who was looking for a husband who might be a good match for me (he did promise he’d help me look the last time we met for breakfast) – and it wasn’t. I won’t go into too many details, honey, especially since he asked me to think and pray about it before answering as to whether I’d put my hand in.

But at the risk of being like Joshua when the Gibeonites approached him and asked for a peace treaty, I don’t know how necessary it is to go to the Lord to ask Him about a matter, when it seems to me that He has decided to bring a matter to me. If He asks me to contribute to something in His plan – and spells it out so explicitly, by using someone else’s mouth – it would be churlish of me to refuse Him. I may even see what I can do to get Daniel involved in this as well, as he has the means of his own to do so; not to the same extent, by any means, but to get him into the habit of answering the call when it comes. I rarely hear such calls myself, but if I receive one by way of others, I will answer, and I should probably teach him to react likewise, even if in a much smaller way. It may be a long-delayed lesson (and one I wish I had knowledge of to talk to him about last night), but it’s better late than never.

***

And there you have it, honey; the evening and the morning of the day. All sorts of things happening; some right at hand, others halfway across the country. They will all affect me at some point, I imagine. But for now, I’ve just got to do whatever my part is in each of them. And with that having been said, I’m going to make my usual request of you to keep an eye on me, and wish me luck, as I’m going to need it.