It’s been one of those weeks. When I was teaching, I knew that the weeks between Spring Break and the end of the school year were hectic. There was so much to do before school let out for summer. We teachers often ran around like chickens with our heads cut off, trying to get everything done. I have been retired for a few years now, so I was surprised when suddenly, this week, I was overrun with SO MANY things that needed to get done in a timely manner. It brought back memories of those crazy spring days in the academic world.
There are several completely unrelated issues that need attention, and they all seem to need undivided attention from me. I can’t keep up. Yesterday, I was in no less than 3 different group chats with different groups of people talking about 3 completely unrelated topics, all at the same time. My phone was dinging like no tomorrow with everyone texting input about every item discussed. Close to 20 people weighing in with their opinions and suggestions. I could not do a single thing in the real world because I was tied to the electronic conversations as we participants tried to resolve outstanding issues, with me being the only one who was being tugged in 3 different directions at the same time. It was kind of exhausting. And, my concentration and topic-switching skills were taxed.
As I sit down now to write my blog, my brain is still reeling from the technological ordeal. It keeps popping off here and there thinking of things I shoulda said or questions I shoulda posed. I can’t quite settle my brain down enough to formulate a cohesive blogging article.
Rather than fight it, I decided to write about Random Stuff, Like Ginger.
Random Item #1. My parents decided to name me Ginger. Then at the last second, in a moment of uncertainty, they pivoted and named me Gwendolyn. My mom said that she feared that classmates would tease me and call me ‘Ginger Snap.’ That doesn’t seem to me to be a terrible, childhood-ruining nickname, but, whatever. I did recognize that Ginger, the posh and sophisticated movie star who was shipwrecked on Gilligan's Island, was très chic. Even so, I haven't thought about it in years and I never really formed an opinion, being happy or disappointed, about the name switcheroo. I’m just letting you know.
Random Item #2. Whether this has anything to do with the baby-naming matter or not, I will never know….but, I absolutely love ginger, the spice. I really love it. I would eat that $$$t on anything. I am currently drinking one of my very favorite beverages, Ginger Limeade from a local Korean coffee shop. It is so incredibly good, with its tiny chunks of ginger resting on the bottom of the cup. I don’t buy this drink often, maybe 3 or 4 times a year. For one, I’ve cut WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY back on sugary drinks, opting for water instead. For two, it’s such a special drink that I don’t want to cheapen it by drinking it all the time, causing it to lose some of its magic. Instead, I save it for just the right moment, and then I fully appreciate every single swallow. Which brings me to…..
Random Item #3. My family has little house in a beach town in South Carolina. My grandparents built the house in the 1960s, so I grew up going on wonderful family beach trips. My kids did, too. When I took my kids to the beach house, we would invariably go to the grocery store to stock up on food. The one item my kids always insisted that we buy was the regional soda Cheerwine. They loved drinking the cherry soda that was crafted and sold in the Carolinas. It was a tradition. While tasty, it was more about the tradition than the flavor. One year, we were surprised to see that back home in Georgia our local Publix grocery store started carrying a tiny selection of Cheerwine. My kids said, “NO!!! We can’t buy it here! We can only drink Cheerwine at the beach house!” so we never bought it anywhere else.
Random Item #4. I am Presbyterian. I don’t know much about Catholicism. But I do appreciate Pope Francis. That pope was dope. His vision was to embrace the downtrodden, to give people a voice, to make the church relevant to all, to chip away at some of the old stoic decrees and provide inclusive opportunities for the huddle masses. The People’s Pope. I realize that some people thought that he went too far, and some people thought that he didn’t go far enough. But, I liked him. He was a good Man of God.
In 1987, Pope John Paul II toured the USA and, surprisingly, scheduled a stop in South Carolina, where we lived at the time. Pope John Paul II planned to cruise around in the popemobile (shipped via air cargo) and then address people gathered at William’s Brice Stadium, the football stadium on University of South Carolina’s campus. Reports said that South Carolina’s population had a very small percentage of Catholics, just 2.1%. But, the news media insisted that people would travel from all over to come to see The Pope. Thousands upon thousands of people. Newscasters sounded like hurricane forecasters as they warned us day after day to stay off the roads if we were not planning to go on campus or to the stadium to see His Holiness. It will be chaos, they said. So many people, they said. So we did. Stay home, I mean.
The Pope had a nice visit to South Carolina. But, the crowds were not nearly as big as had been predicted. There were no traffic headaches. No congested sidewalks. As recorded in The State newspaper, “the size of anticipated crowds around the city did not live up to the pre-visit hype.” It didn’t shut the city down. Just some orderly pilgrims traveling to see the Pontiff. No big deal.
During that time, we were season ticket holders for University of South Carolina football games. We were amused that, for something like 2 whole seasons, every soda that we bought in the football stadium was served in a plastic Pope cup. I guess they had a lot of leftover inventory. I mean, A LOT. Which was weird, because on any given Saturday in fall, there were significantly more fans in the stands to watch football than there had been on one day for The Pope’s visit. How many souvenir Pope cups had organizers been expecting to sell?
Miraculously, I was able to track down a photo of a Pope cup from William's Brice Stadium for sale on Ebay.
Random Item #5. Speaking of religion…As religious figures of the world go, I do have a book recommendation. In The Book of Joy the author presents a group of conversations between the Dalai Lama and Catholic Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Those two men came from two vastly different theologies, but they had a genuine fondness and respect for one another. They were like buddies. In the book they discussed their takes on human behavior, man’s existence, philosophies on life, and the concept of joy. It is an inspiring book which I plan to read again and again.
Random Item #6. I had a bizarre experience while cooking Easter lunch. Convincing my oven to do double-duty, I loaded it with both a spiral ham and a mac-n-cheese casserole, even though they required two extremely different cooking temperatures. I figured that the mac-n-cheese could stay in the oven longer than usual to cook at the lower temperature required by the ham. When time was up, the ham wasn’t particularly hot, but I knew it was precooked, so it would be fine. The mac-n-cheese, however, was nowhere near done. I kept checking it, saying, “Almost there—it needs a little bit longer.” It took literally 3 HOURS to cook, even after I jacked up the temperature dial for the oven. The delay was mind-boggling, and my family was chomping at the bit waiting to eat lunch. So impatient.
I was completely stumped as to why the mac-n-cheese wouldn’t get done in any normal kind of timeframe. It wasn’t until the next day that someone in the family discovered that the oven was, in fact, broken. Heating just barely enough to make you think it was working, but not cooking food at all. I felt so dumb. I had been questioning the physics of heat, the ingredients of the casserole, the mismanagement of time, the mechanics of multitasking. Never occurred to me that the oven just broke on Easter morning. But, nagging question--how, 3 hours in, did the mac-n-cheese ever set and finish cooking if the oven wasn't hot enough??? How indeed?
I think that’s enough randomness for now. I’ve got group chats to respond to and decisions to make. Feel free to comment. How about you give me your most random thoughts and we can see whose is the most outrageous or ridiculous or tame or boring or honest or comical or scintillating or prophetic or confusing or any other adjectives we can think of?
Ready? Go.
I like the name Gwendolyn better than Ginger... which I thought was a nickname for Virginia. I adore ginger, the spice. Put it in and on all the things, please.
I grew up Presbyterian, too. I thought Pope Francis was doing a good job of being the moral authority of the world, but I suppose my opinion means nothing... considering I'm a Presby.
I'm sorry about your oven, but have to admit it makes for a darned good story.
Ally, I had really forgotten about the baby name Ginger, but now I think I have a good nickname to use when I want or need to be anonymous. That's the same thing I say to everyone who has a hiccup, big or small-- "at least you've got a good story to tell!"
I like ginger too, but when it comes to "Gilligan's Island," Mary Ann is way better than Ginger. Innocent farm girl > egotistical actress any time. (Sadly, Mary Ann is my ex-wife's name, so she's kind of ruined that for me.)
I'm not religious at all but Francis was an awesome Pope. One for the ages.
I hear that same thing from all the guys, Mark: Mary Ann is the best. But, as a young girl growing up watching TV, Ginger was supremely glamorous. And, it didn't seem farfetched at all that outsiders continued to arrive on Gilligan's Island every week, but the cast was never able to be 'found' or to get off the island. The ridiculous shenanigans made perfect sense to little me.
It's a miracle they ever survived all that quicksand!