gimp

Saturday past was a day of the completion of a goal, a culmination of hard work, the last steps in the walking of a long mile and of reaching the fulfillment of a dream – I finally finished the blueberry bed beside the driveway! This was something that I had wanted to do since the plants were installed during the winter of 2002. The most difficult part of ensconcing the border blocks was the semi-circle on the top end of the bed and getting the blocks to come out even without having to cut one of them.

In the physical, the bounds of my exuberance were limited, but I was doing mental back flips from the joy of a difficult task accomplished. When the last handful of straw was placed, I went in to drag the Spice out to admire my handiwork. She was glad for me but didn’t show quite the same feelings as I felt – “It looks better than I thought it would” said she. That wasn’t exactly the swooning or the oohing and aahing I was looking for but it was enough – that and the sense of accomplishment I felt.

Now it is on to the other tasks that are goals to be completed before we leave for Texas on the 30th. The tack stripping is to be taken up out of the basement bath in preparation for tile to be placed – the cement floor of the room also has to be scrubbed clean. The garage is to be “straightened up” – this involves much more than that phrase sounds like and may take a couple of days – and many things need to be moved to other places or to their place of origin. Some things in that location and others must be taken to the dump, which is another large task in itself.

Some words have several meanings and sometimes they can be opposite ones. Take the word ‘gimp’ as an example. According to Webster’s, one meaning is to limp or walk in a halting manner and according to that, I got up a bit gimpy this morning. But according to another meaning, used chiefly in the Northeastern US, it means spirit, vigor, or ambition and I arose with some of that meaning present as well – at least mentally so. So my problem was that with this second gimp present, how do I work through the first gimp to make the better gimp meaning a systemic reality?

As I am wont to do, I supply the answers to my own questions. The way I work my way through gimpy-land is a two-pronged method, first is the generous application of the topside of our wonderful recliner to the backside of me. Second is that between these applications, I stay busy doing something, even if it is just minor stuff and even if I don’t feel like it.

Today’s ‘stuff’ to do started with gathering up the trash and the cardboard boxes that have been accumulating in the garage – of course the boxes had to be broken down to their flat state for the dump to take them. Loaded all these in the truck and headed to the garbage collection site. After that was the post office to get our mail and to Bi-Lo, our local grocery, for a ‘few items’. The few turned into many and I wound up ‘investing’ most of 50 bucks into the coffers of the grocery chain.

None of these activities were very strenuous and in the final outcome, did help to work out some of my gimpy-ness. Before all my problems began, these trips were a regular part of my week and I am grateful to the Lord that they are getting back that way again – and I am also glad. ec