I saw a picture of my friend Jack, sitting in the driveway surrounded by Trick or Treaters. He was in his element. Jack was my daughters’ psychology teacher in high school. He was our neighbor. He is friend to just about everyone he meets. He is a great storyteller. He’s colorful and deep and has an ever present smile. When I commented on the photo, I posted “King Jack, holding court!” He wrote back, “I am the king of soft edges and play, I think.”

I couldn’t agree more.

I got to thinking about that. I am proud to say I am a “Queen of Soft Edges”. I’m posting the accompanying photo to show the difference between then and now and how I got all those soft edges. You may have seen this picture floating around Facebook. It’s a reminder to the girls of today…we may be Boomers, we may be gray, but we were super cool…back in the day.

I mean…look at us. We owned the planet. We acted like it, anyway. Inside, we were more than likely a bowl of jelly…totally unsure of ourselves…all legs and hair and feigned coolness. I don’t know about you, but I had a whole boatload of sharp edges in my young adulthood. I wasn’t always empathetic. I was too often self centered. I had a lot of hurts and hurt people hurt people.  

There’s a funny thing about the School of Hard Knocks. If you rap the edges of flint, you get sharp edges that cut like a knife. If you take a piece of marble, you can rap on it and shape it into something it isn’t…a statue…an imitation of something else. But, if you take sandstone, you can chip and nibble and sand away till it’s smooth and soft and lays in your hand gently.

We all go through the School of Hard Knocks to some extent. It’s what you’re made of that determines your outcome. You can change your make up at any time. You can give up being flint and having a cutting edge. You can give being marble and becoming something you aren’t. You can choose to be sandstone…like peachblow,for instance…glowing softly with lovely, smooth edges. Water rolls off. It’s strong enough to build buildings and soft enough to smooth with your hands. I like the idea of being a Queen of Soft Edges…among other things. I love that I am softer now. Life has knocked off most of my sharp edges and I go with the flow a lot easier than I used to.

We arrived safely in Columbus at around 5:00. I was not happy with the hotel I initially booked because it had the doors that open to the outside. I like a interior hallway for safety. I had reserved through the hotel.com app. You can make a reservation without paying up front. I went in and asked to cancel and told them why. The young man behind the desk directed me to a nice hotel just a little ways down the street. It was much better, and once they found out I am a patient oat OSU, they gave me a reduced rate that was better than the other hotel. Free breakfast, I get points for my stay, they gave me a full sheet of restaurants that deliver or have curbside service. We ordered soup and salad from Roosters and it was wonderful and affordable. This will be our go to hotel when I come here for medical services.

It’s supposed to get down to 29 degrees tonight! Time to get the warm jammies and fuzzy slippers out!

?

“Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.”

1 Corinthians 14:20 ESV