I’m really not normal. I’ve been weird for years. I see patterns where they barely exist. I just love for things to make sense or have a rhythm, or better yet – a rhyme! Or even better still – rhyme with incorporated alliterations! That is sheer happiness.
I remember glancing through my calendar one day in the spring of my junior year of high school. I freaked out and immediately began to convince my youth minister that we HAD to plan a Crazy Eight party for 8/8/88! He, and the majority of youth council, failed to see the “once-in-a-lifetime” kind of opportunity we were facing. I moved across the country that summer and had to work quickly to persuade a new group of stranger youths to schedule a celebration for the second week of August. To all my Pullman peeps: I meant “stranger”, like “didn’t know ya yet”, not “stranger” meaning increasing oddity. (I was the one doing all that) As I remember, I was able to charm a few guys and girls into at least coming over to my house to play cards. I just could not let a matchy-matchy date like that go by without notice.
Well, this week the Olympics are upon us and I am absolutely thrilled that someone on the global scene saw the marketing benefits of 08/08/08. Every time the rainbow colored peacock posts a blinking reminder across the bottom of my TV screen, I grin with satisfaction. “Summer Olympics from Beijing…8.8.08” Yes! The perfect balance of being significant and memorable. Brilliant!
Realizing no “Crazy Eight” party of mine could compete with the International Olympics, I have no choice but to blog a little celebration. (I find it hardly coincidental that this will be my 188th post).
Eight Reasons Some People Think I’m Crazy, But Others Love Me Anyway
1. The idea that it would even enter my mind to make a colossal commemoration of a random date & time.
2. My consuming desire for de-cluttered living spaces: “Mom, can we finish the picture we just sat down to color, before we put the crayons away?” “Cari, honey, I’m just gonna fold back these sheets and put this throw pillow right over here on this chair until morning, ok?”
3. My obvious love and appreciation for the vast “outdoors”. (The fact that this is fiction in my God-given household is the crazy part)
4. My communistic meal prep regimen: “Plate, plate, plate, plate, plate, sandwich, sandwich, sandwich, sandwich, sandwich, chips, chips, chips, chips, chips, apple slices, apple slices, apple slices….”
5. When folks ask the old “If you were stranded on a desert island alone…” question, I just start daydreaming and drooling, because I think I’d love to be stranded on a desert island alone for a while…assuming I was stranded near a quaint little shack with plumbing and climate control…just the bare necessities, you understand. Alone, though. I suppose Philip could fly in and be stranded with me occasionally, but for-the-most-part, blissfully quiet & alone. (Who am I kidding? I’d miss everyone and come swimming back, but it would be fun for a while!)
6. I paint my own toenails and drive an old car so I can stay home with my kids…and many days it causes me to want one more baby.
7. I believe (with all my heart) that cabinet doors should be closed. It really doesn’t matter if you’re unloading the dishwasher and there may be something else to put away in that cabinet. Close the door, please. Seriously. Now.
8. The fact that I take this goofy blog so seriously that I’ve sat here forever trying to figure out what an appropriate “numero ocho” would be.
Some not-so-crazy 8’s.
Genesis 8:8 “Then [Noah] sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground.”
Zechariah 8:8 “I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God.”
Matthew 8:8 “The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.”
Mark 8:8 “The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.”
Luke 8:8 “Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.” When [Jesus] said this, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Acts 8:8[after Philip had preached and healed many in the power of God] “So there was great joy in that city.”
Romans 8:8 “Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.”
I just read this draft to Philip. He smiled and said, "You're a very funny girl." which we all know is code for "You're crazy, but I love you anyway!"
