Ha! I’m back. The ol’ blog has suffered mightily at the past six weeks’ worth of home improvement projects and graduation parties, but I’m going to try to get back on the blogging wagon.

To pick up where I left off….

Thursday, April 9th, was the last day of the Diakonos Habitat for Humanity trip. If you recall, Wednesday had been a very physical day for me, and I awoke on Thursday tired and with a very sore back. I went into the common room, and after everyone had breakfasted and assembled, I found out that I would be going with Ombudsman (Craig) and a team of students to a teen shelter in Akron. Craig was to take a vanload of kids with him, and I was to take four students in my car. Fair enough.

I got “my” students together, and Craig gave me directions. We piled in to my car, and we waited for Craig to lead the way in his van. We pulled out following Craig, but after just a mile or so, Craig went straight, while I was sure going right was quicker. After all, that was how I had been going to Dunkin’ Donuts for the last few days. So, we zoomed off to the right and went the Dunkin’ Donuts way. It was not until I got to Dunkin’ Donuts about 15 minutes later that I realized that my shortcut was great to get to town, but was not near the entrance to the highway that would take us to Akron. No matter! I figured if I headed west all would be well. At 25 mph. Through a stop-light-ridden town. Needless to say, progress was slow.

I was not recognizing anything, but we were going west, so I kept going. After a very long while, I saw a sign that pointed to the highway, so I turned that way. After a mile or two, I recognized that we were near Kent State University, which, while not way out of the way of getting to Akron, certainly was in the “scenic” category. Anyway, for those familiar with the area, we came out next to the restaurant Mike’s Place, and we stopped for a group photo in front of the X-wing fighter.

We did finally get on the highway, and I had one of the kids call Craig’s number so he would not think we were in an accident. We got his voicemail, and so left a message, and we drove on to Akron. We got off the highway, and then could not find the street we needed. We went right for about two miles with no luck, so we turned around. We went back to the off-ramp and kept going for a couple of miles, and had no luck. So, we went back to the off-ramp and took the last option – going on what looked to be an on-ramp to the highway, but turned out to be the road we were looking for. So, with no further adventure, we got to the teen shelter about an hour or more later than we had planned.

The teen shelter had just acquired the property, so our team was there to haul out old scrap metal and other debris from the basement (where there was going to be a nursery for pregnant teens), and then to do some painting. Craig laughed at my compromised sense of direction, and then asked if I had any ear protection. One of the projects was to use a saws-all to cut down old pipes out of a very small closet space, and the noise was terrific. I did not have any hearing protection with me, but I offered to go get some. Craig gave me some money and I went and asked some workers upstairs where there might be a hardware store. They indicated that if I went down the road out front and then turned once, I would come to a hardware store. Thus prepared, I went on my way.

I first knew it was not going to be my day (in a directional sense of the word) when the road I had been told the hardware store was on suddenly ended in a “T” crossing. I picked a way that looked promising and drove on. And on. And on. I stopped at a Walgreen’s and asked the clerk if she could point me toward a hardware store. She gave me directions that got me way on the northwest side of Akron, but I finally got to a Home Depot. Heady with my success, I asked a clerk to point me to the ear protection. He showed me the way, and I got there to find they were sold out. Apparently, early April is the start-up time for lawn care companies, and they buy hearing protection in bulk. Sigh. I bought a few packages of the squishy in-ear kind of ear protectors, and made my long trip back to the center. I think I was gone about an hour and a half.

When I did get back, I took some pictures of the students doing their thing. They had been doing a good job, and it looked as if we were going to run out of work by early afternoon. Craig was kind enough to put me on a detail paining job that was around an air-intake for the furnace; that way I would not have a  totally useless day. We broke for lunch and had a good time in fellowship (including Craig and me telling the students how we met and wooed our wives); it was quite relaxed and fun. After lunch, I finished up my small paint job and helped do some small amounts of clean-up (there was not much clean-up left to do), and we all loaded up to head back to Camp Carl around 2:00 or so.

Needless to say, it was not my finest day of service ever, but I think in some ways God was being merciful to me. My body was a wreck from the work on Wednesday, and all of my efforts were in good faith, but resulted in my not having to further abuse my back.

We got back to the camp to find that all the other students were back from their projects, and that the final packing was underway. I packed up my stuff and got it all into the car, and then I asked Craig if it would be okay if I took off. It was not yet 4:00, and if I was efficient, I could get to my chiropractor and get my back taken care of. Craig understood and let me go, and I was most happy to find that Dr. Knop could take me quickly. My back was not perfect after he was done, but at least I could move properly again.

I drove home and puttered around the house, waiting for the time I could go pick up Meredith at the airport. As the time approached, I went to a Giant Eagle grocery store and picked up a dozen roses. I almost never buy flowers for Mer anymore because of financial concerns, and I wanted her to know that I had missed her. I got up to the airport fairly early, but I was able to pass some time chatting with a CVCA teacher whom I ran into (the video teacher, Eric). Eric was there to pick up his college-aged daughter. Her flight was a bit late, and Mer’s flight was early, so my wait by myself was fairly short. I stood outside the gate area, and as people started streaming out, I put on my sunglasses. Now, I know it is dumb to have sunglasses inside, but Mer finds them attractive, and I wanted to look as good as possible for her. She came around the corner and saw me and was all smiles, and I gave her a kiss and her flowers (zeugma). I’m pretty sure the group of three women were “awww-ing” behind me. It was great to see Meredith again. Even after almost 11 years of marriage, I really do not like being away from her.

We got Mer’s things from the baggage area and headed away from the airport. I wanted to take Mer out for some food (I can’t remember now if it was dinner and dessert or just dessert), and after a few tries of finding closed restaurants, we found an open Friday’s. It was a nice end to a busy few days.