Every Day Life: A Teller's Life

By Beth M

This month I am in the drive through at the bank where I work. I like it back there, gets me away from all the lobby nonsense. It's cash in and cash out, nothing more. I don't have to answer the phone or sell gift cards or cashier's checks or deal with the 'special' customers we all love so much. I'm back there, by myself and I can read and listen to my own music and I have a huge picture window in front of me which offers quite a view of the parking lot and surrounding areas. All of the things mentioned in my post this week are things that have actually been seen by the drive through teller, most of them by me. And these are just the tip of the iceberg, but there are some things I just can't put in print.

I'm sitting in the drive through and oh the sights I see!

      A half naked man in a beat up car
      A mom who just came from a bar
      Three screaming kids who want some sweets
      Dogs barking and whining for their treats
      Skaters keying an officer's cruiser
      A wimpy little car with the license plate BRUZR
      Some redneck idiot in a giant wheeled truck
      Driving over piles of snow and getting stuck
      A fist fight breaking out over a parking spot
      Couple of thugs meeting to swap money for pot
      Four enormous people in a tiny blue car
      Some amorous teens who may go too far
      I sit at my window and shake my head
      Wondering how they have the brains to get out of bed.

I'll spend one month in the drive through, and you wouldn't believe the sights I'll see!

Beth is a gorgeous, size 6 blonde married happily these 20 years to Sean Bean, dreamy British actor. Their perfect children attend a boarding school in Scotland that they take the scarlet train out of King's Cross Station to each term. In her spare time, Beth likes to perform interpretive dance in local parks and raise awareness for S.P.E.W. Sean and Beth also own a German Shepherd named Chauncy who likes to nap. Beth M. and Lara were the brains behind our fun series on the Year of the Birthday. We are thankful they have decided to continue the fun with the Bucket List and Every Day Life.

One Word At A Time: Broken

By Ginny (MAD21)

One of the many things children have to learn while growing up is how to express the way they feel appropriately. Imagine what the world would be like if adults handled themselves the same way that a child does when they feel frustrated, angry or upset. Scary. Aside from one experience I had with a project manager throwing a temper tantrum in my office several years ago (I actually wondered if he was going to throw himself to the floor!), most adults I know handle themselves and their emotions a little more judiciously.

As a child, the first experience I can remember when I learned a hard lesson about self-control was after a particularly bad day. I don't remember the specifics, except it was a fight with my mother, but I remember the anger I felt, and the frustration in not knowing how to express it. The first thing I did was go to my room and start crying (of course). But then I noticed my box full of crayons.

I loved to color. I had tons of half colored coloring books and papers everywhere. Like most kids, I had a lot of crayons I had collected over the few years of my young life, and I had been keeping them neatly in one of my old metal lunch boxes (remember those?). For the most part I always took very good care of my belongings, including my crayons. What kid doesn't like to color with nice whole, unbroken, crayons? But in one fleeting, angry moment, I made a terrible decision, one that I could not undo.

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Faithful Friends

By Pat

I talked to a good friend of mine this morning. It was really nice to laugh and chat, but especially to share our feelings, opinions and insights on the most important issue of our lives-our faith. He is struggling with many personal problems, carrying loads he never dreamed he would have to carry. I also struggle with issues and situations I didn't foresee, as most of us do.

My friend and I have very different feelings and theories about many aspects of God and faith; why we are allowed to struggle, God's sovereignty, just to name a couple. I don't always agree with him, as I am sure he does not always agree with me, and yet as I walked away from the phone this morning, I felt enlightened and uplifted. I will certainly think about some of the things we discussed as I always do when I have talked to a friend. I value his insights.

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Who Is God?

By Ginny (MAD21)

I've shared with you all before that one of my favorite times of day is bedtime. Not because it's when the house finally goes quiet, but because it's one of the few times in the day when I have some good, quality time with my girls without distraction. This is when we talk about our day, good times and bad, tell silly stories or ask serious questions.

During one particular conversation about a month ago, my oldest was asking me some questions about God and what I thought about him. At one point she actually asked me, "Who is God?" Leave it to our kids to ask us questions that can take a lifetime to answer. Since she is only almost seven (I have to say that -so she says- because she'll be seven in a few weeks), I could keep the answer a little simpler than if an adult were asking me, but it really got me thinking. For one thing, she won't be seven forever and she has a little sister who is growing up right behind her who rarely accepts short answers even at almost four and a half (that half is important to her, too).

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Tasty Bites: Fajita Shrimp

By Beth V

One of my favorite grocery stores had avocados on special this week: 59-cents apiece. This recipe doesn’t actually contain avocado, but the avocados inspired me to create a Mexican meal for my family (and there may or may not be a link at the end of this post to an awesome guacamole recipe that I made as a side!). This works very well for those who may be doing a post-holiday carb reduction. Shrimp are marinated in a deliciously fragrant mixture of spices and lime juice and cooked with peppers and onions. You can choose whether you’d like it in a tortilla, over rice, over a salad or simply sprinkled with cilantro alongside other low-carb sides like pico-de-gallo and guacamole. I just love the fresh flavors of Mexican food!

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