The Meeting Ground

Every small town has it's meeting ground . . . you know, the place where people get together to hook up or to catch up on all things new under the sun. Arbuckle Creek has a few of those places. Today I went to one of them -- Publix. That's right, the grand supermarket located only about 20 minutes from my house is THE place to meet people. Well, let's just say it's where 30-somethings congregate; it's also where 80-somethings congregate. I can't tell you how many pastoral visits I've made in Publix. I'm like, "Hi, so and so! It's so good to see you! You're buying eggs today? Me too! Wow!" Actually, conversations go a bit deeper than that, but the eggs make a great conversation starter.

Today I had the wonderful opportunity to catch up with every family that had been in my 8 year old's 2nd grade class in only ONE stop! Unbelievable! We cart around to the back and what do you know, there is my daughter's teacher's son. As we back track, trying to find his mother, we run into one of her best friends' dads -- out to lunch with a couple of co-workers. Did they go to some really fancy restaurant? No way, Jose, (I hope that's not a racist phrase! Excuse me if it is!!!) they went to Publix! Which makes sense because he's something like an underwriter for agrarian real estate or something like that. So we caught up, then rounded the corner where we found her 2nd grade teacher and began talking. She too will be homeschooling in the fall so we're already looking for ways to connect during the schoolyear. We finally get to the check out lane where I see the former pastor of my church sitting in what I call the "waiting room" of Publix. If you've ever wondered what that row of chairs is at the front, it's where all of the retired men go sit while they wait for their wives. It's a WONDERFUL place to make church visits! The church men aren't so bored and enjoy having someone to talk to while their wives are choosing between Tide and ALL detergents. We begin to head over to the pharmacy (my daughter has an ear infection) and low and behold there stands 2 more parents from my daughter's class last year. We briefly catch up on their summer and everyone gets a few more hugs and finally we get to the pharmacy and pick up the antibiotics necessary for the future of my daughter's hearing health. (by the way, the doctor told me not to use Q-tips in her ears. Did you know that? Evidently, if it scratches the skin, even slightly, and then water gets in there, fluid builds and it can become infected. NEVER knew that!)

OK, well, I told you that I ran into connections from her WHOLE class last year. She only had 4 kids in her class and there's one more I didn't mention, but that's OK because the other "meeting ground" in my neck of the woods is the hospital. I'm serious. I go there frequently 1) because they have free coffee and 2) because my church members like to keep me on my feet. Anyway, the other girl in her class's father is an oncologist so I caught up with him on my hospital visit yesterday. Aside: we have a 2nd hospital that is a 7th Day Adventist hospital and their whole cafeteria is vegatarian -- WAY cool reason to go to the hospital in Sebring . . . unless you're one of those carniverous males!

I'll save the other "meeting places" for the future, but, if you happen in my part of the world, know that they are 1) Roserios Pizza; 2) The Watering Hole; and 3) Affinity Health Professionals. I'll say more about that tomorrow.

And that's the news from Arbuckle Creek: where all the women drive golf carts, the men are blatant carnivores (EAT MORE BEEF!) and the children watch for alligators in their backyards.