Lazy Saturday

I an having a lazy Saturday. Got up late, ate a leisurely breakfast, took my walk, watched golf, replied to emails. Nothing scheduled for this evening. This is a new experience in my life and I am enjoying it.

Saturdays were big when I was a young kid. My father was a teaching minister in a rural Lutheran church and school. We lived in the “teacherage” - ala “parsonage”. There were a couple acres of land that went with that. So there were gardens to weed, what seemed like acres of grass to be mown with the hand mower, corn to be  husked for the chickens and cows and manure to be piled up

  

While I was doing this my dad was “up at church”. He cleaned the church, posted the hymn numbers, practiced the pipe organ and prepared the Bible Class he taught every Sunday for decades.

I felt like a had a role in helping dad in his ministry. My job was to polish shoes, especially his. They were always patent leather black. They had to be able to give off a reflection from the buffed shine. I loved getting them ready for him.

In my high school days I attended Concordia Academy, a boys only ministry prep school. We had classes until noon on Saturday. During football season we ran directly from class to the University of Texas football stadium. For 25 cents each we could sit in the end zone and cheer on the Longhorns. In my four years there twice I had a date. They were nice - and led to nothing exciting.

Saturdays at college were wonderful. Sports and dates, especially the three years with Jane who is now my wife. If I had set enough pins in the bowling alley to have a bit of cash we would take the El to the Chicago loop and see a movie. Always (except for one 1:30 a.m. permit per semester) required to have her checked in to her women’s dorm, by 11:00 with the house mother waiting to make sure our good-night embrace did not last too long or ever dare to end in a kiss witnessed by another person.

Then came 50 years of teaching, administering, raising kids, traveling the world. Saturdays were always full.

But now I have passed my 85^th birthday and I am keeping my vow (most of the time) to be retired. Today I am doing that. I wonder if it will be true for me that on this Saturday I will be ready for bed at around 9:00 pm.