Yesterday we had about 150 to 170 folks over to our house for a party. It is an annual event where we have all the choir members and their families over for hot dogs and performances. So far this does not sound like such a big deal, well maybe. But the choir is what is amazing. There are over 80 individuals in the choir which my wife leads and organizes. The choir members are adults with disabilities. I am bad but I call them kids even though Joe is the oldest at 80, yes I said 80. And by the way the party was a giant birthday party for Joe because it was his 80th. We do it every year but it was sure special to honor Joe. Joe lives in a group home and is loyal beyond anyone's expectation. He never misses and is never late unless his caregiver is late.
In fact that is one of the great things about this entire group. They are always on time or early and always excited to be where ever they are going. Now I don't know about you but most NORMAL (I will argue about who is actually normal and the better folks to be around) folks are LATE and UNDEPENDABLE and draggy butts, grippy and tired. If you don't believe me go to a Sunday School class that starts at 9 A.M. on Sunday and I guarantee that 90+ % of the class is late to the tune of 15 to 30 minutes. They drag themselves to church if they can get their draggy butts out of bed and go spend a little time praising God (that might be a stretch if you look at their attitudes). In fact I want to quote a friend who called me this morning, Kermit Milburn (I do have to ask forgiveness every week from God because Kermit is a close friend and LAWYER which is like being friends with the devil), he said, "..that was one of the greatest parties I have been to because everyone was comfortable with no pretenses and everyone was friendly and wanted to be there".
Now another thing about this crowd I love is there are folks like Rachel Fielder who every time she sees me she says, "I am so excited to see you Gary" and then she comes and hugs my neck. Then there is Aaron who always flirts with me and Betty who always tells me how to act. I could go on and on about how friendly everyone is. Oh ya, I forgot about the subject of the story.
Back to the story. When I got married I said, "I do" many times and she said, "I do" many times. What I did not know is that 'I do' means "TO DO". In fact "I DO" means "I will do" and for her "I DO" means I will make a list for YOU TO DO. You see with this party yesterday my wife informed me she had a list of TO DO's and that I needed to stay home and get her TO DO'S done rather than go to work. The fact is I have been doing "TO DO's" for over a week just for this party. Shouna, my wife, can make up TO DO's faster than I can DO. I started the day yesterday on a mad dash moving as fast as I could and throughout the day my TO DO's got longer and longer rather than shorter and shorter. Mike McGaugh was there and witnessed the facts so if we go to court I have a solid witness. Mike and I laughed all day long about the TO DO's. One time she told me 3 TO DO's and as I started moving QUICKLY she said I need youTO DO another "TO DO" before you do your "TO DO's". Then around 5 P.M. she told me to go get cleaned up for the party as folks would start arriving about 6 although there were already about 5 or 10 helpers that showed up at 4:30 to help which she immediately gave them "TO DO's" which they immediately got after. So I take a short shower which I deserved a lot more than that and as I got out of the shower thinking my "TO DO DAY" was over she gave me some "TO DO's".
OK, so what do you learn in the Osage?
In fact that is one of the great things about this entire group. They are always on time or early and always excited to be where ever they are going. Now I don't know about you but most NORMAL (I will argue about who is actually normal and the better folks to be around) folks are LATE and UNDEPENDABLE and draggy butts, grippy and tired. If you don't believe me go to a Sunday School class that starts at 9 A.M. on Sunday and I guarantee that 90+ % of the class is late to the tune of 15 to 30 minutes. They drag themselves to church if they can get their draggy butts out of bed and go spend a little time praising God (that might be a stretch if you look at their attitudes). In fact I want to quote a friend who called me this morning, Kermit Milburn (I do have to ask forgiveness every week from God because Kermit is a close friend and LAWYER which is like being friends with the devil), he said, "..that was one of the greatest parties I have been to because everyone was comfortable with no pretenses and everyone was friendly and wanted to be there".
Now another thing about this crowd I love is there are folks like Rachel Fielder who every time she sees me she says, "I am so excited to see you Gary" and then she comes and hugs my neck. Then there is Aaron who always flirts with me and Betty who always tells me how to act. I could go on and on about how friendly everyone is. Oh ya, I forgot about the subject of the story.
Back to the story. When I got married I said, "I do" many times and she said, "I do" many times. What I did not know is that 'I do' means "TO DO". In fact "I DO" means "I will do" and for her "I DO" means I will make a list for YOU TO DO. You see with this party yesterday my wife informed me she had a list of TO DO's and that I needed to stay home and get her TO DO'S done rather than go to work. The fact is I have been doing "TO DO's" for over a week just for this party. Shouna, my wife, can make up TO DO's faster than I can DO. I started the day yesterday on a mad dash moving as fast as I could and throughout the day my TO DO's got longer and longer rather than shorter and shorter. Mike McGaugh was there and witnessed the facts so if we go to court I have a solid witness. Mike and I laughed all day long about the TO DO's. One time she told me 3 TO DO's and as I started moving QUICKLY she said I need youTO DO another "TO DO" before you do your "TO DO's". Then around 5 P.M. she told me to go get cleaned up for the party as folks would start arriving about 6 although there were already about 5 or 10 helpers that showed up at 4:30 to help which she immediately gave them "TO DO's" which they immediately got after. So I take a short shower which I deserved a lot more than that and as I got out of the shower thinking my "TO DO DAY" was over she gave me some "TO DO's".
OK, so what do you learn in the Osage?
- they lied about saying "I do" unless you ASS-U-ME it was am implied "I will do" when you get married
- If you live in a pity party thinking you have it bad come join this choir just for a week and you will see YOU have a bad attitude and they will adjust it for you
- Life really is like a box of chocolates and you don't know what you are gonna get but if you work hard and have a great attitude you will be one of the richest and happiest persons alive
Thanks for you time,
gary@thepioneerman.com
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