The Thing Post (November, 2026)

THING ONE

Have I ever golfed? No. Have I ever wanted to golf? N0. Did I recently take leave of my senses and go to a fancy practice range with work colleagues?  I did.

Please take note of my impeccable form.  Stunning, I know.

When I first heard about the event, my first reaction was a resounding “No.” I don’t love social outings, I don’t love loud music, and I especially don’t love doing something I’ve never done before in front of people who have done it many times.

But my boss and the other member of our 3-person team were putting it together, so I figured I should jump on board for the sake of collegiality.

I wouldn’t say I had fun in the truest sense of the word, but it wasn’t too bad.  Unfortunately, there are a couple of problems with me and golf.

First, you’re supposed to grip the golf club in a certain way, as one of my colleagues helpfully showed me. However, with erosive osteoarthritis in both hands, proper golf grips are basically undoable.

Also, you have to bend down numerous times to place your ball on the tee.  My bending down skills have dissipated over the years, and I have to do a sort of giraffe-esque splay of my legs to get down that far. Let’s just say that I hope my work colleagues were able to wipe that sight from their memories and still be able to sleep at night.

But yay me for trying it and for being sociable.

THING TWO

Steve was able to get in to see an ortho last Tuesday for his broken big toe; she put him in a walking boot for a month, told him to tread carefully and ice it several times a day. We were so thankful that the prescription wasn’t to keep weight off of it for a month; that would have been a challenge.

It’s rather festive, isn’t it?

We’ve all heard about animals who sense things are wrong with their owners, and Tinker and Belle are certainly among them. They are both in sleeping positions they don’t usually take, trying to exude massive comfort vibes for their Person. Each of them occasionally licks Steve’s broken toe although I’m not sure how they know which one needs their assistance.

THING THREE

I was at the hair salon a few weeks ago and saw these flowers across the room; they were just asking to be photographed, and I didn’t want to disappoint them.  I love random beauty.

Speaking of random beauty, when we were at a funeral recently, I saw these balloons in the children’s wing of the church. Balloons are pretty at any time, but when there is sun shining on them, they absolutely demand to have a photo taken. So I acquiesced.

THING FOUR

Two weeks ago, Steve and I did a thing and went to see the Red Clay Strays who were playing about 90 minutes from Charlotte. I have loved their music for a while now and gotten Steve interested in it, too.  It’s been a long time since I’ve sat in a building with 15,000 people; it was fun to have an out-of-the-ordinary outing.

One guy was walking nearby and said to Steve, “Nice hat!” Steve was wearing his Smith tartan cap, and he and the guy talked about it for about 10 minutes.  Nice to make a new friend.

The hat in question was ordered from Scotland for his birthday last year.

A little later on, a young man walked by, saw the binoculars around my neck and said, “Oh, that’s a good idea. I’ll have to do that next time.”

I was really surprised by how few people had binoculars. For me, they were a huge part of my enjoyment of the evening.

THING FIVE

Ten days ago, when we arrived at Meagan’s grandma’s funeral, I told Meagan that my boss, Lori, was determined to do whatever she had to do to make it possible for me to attend the funeral–even if it meant her sitting at my desk the whole day herself. I have two temps who are trained to do my job, but neither of them was available that day.

Lori finally ended up finding a person to come in the day before the funeral for me to train but she was ready and willing to help if that hadn’t worked out. She is the Executive Assistant to the president of the company, so sitting at my desk the whole day would have been quite a favor.

After I’d finished telling Meagan all that she commented, “That is so nice of her because it is wonderful having you guys here. I should write her a note to thank her.”

I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to that because Meagan had half a billion things going on that day, and I figured she would never remember even saying it.

Imagine my surprise last week when I looked up from my desk last week and saw two very short men outside. Grayson and Andrew were peering through the front door of our building, waiting for their mom to arrive behind them.  When I buzzed the three of them in, I noticed that Meagan was carrying a gift basket.  It just so happened that Lori was out front talking to me, and when I introduced Meagan to her she said, “Lori, this basket is for you. I just wanted to thank you for making the arrangements for Becky to attend the funeral. It really meant a lot.”

Lori was completely taken aback at such an unexpected gesture of generosity. She told me later, “That just made my whole day.”

I was so proud of Meagan for her intentionality in saying thank you when most people wouldn’t have given it a second thought. She’s an amazing person.

THING SIX

I happened upon this photo the other day. (August 1995)  That same deck is still there; the one that Steve has been rebuilding for 2 years. Can you believe Nathan was six years old in this photo and now has four kids older than that?  And can you believe my hair didn’t have its own zip code?  That’s a lot of hair!

I also came across this picture of Grayson. Is this not so funny?  I told Meagan it would be a great photo to use as a meme.

And one more photo that I honestly don’t even remember seeing before.  Those two have always enjoyed spending time together.

THING SEVEN

See this?

It’s a makeup holder, originally made with strings that went all the way around and could be pulled tightly to draw the whole piece of material together.  I’ve had it for about six years and, for the longest time, I really enjoyed it. If I was in a hurry, it was easy to lay it out flat, grab the things I needed, and then throw them back in and pull the drawstring.

However, the drawstrings started malfunctioning, and even though Steve said he could replace/repair them, I thought, “I think I have reached a new place in my life. I don’t want a ‘clutter of makeup.'”  (That’s similar to a parliament of owls.)  I want something more organized.

So here is my new makeup bag.  I’m loving it.

THING EIGHT

We moved into this house four years ago, and in all that time, I have not once cleaned out this pantry.  Saturday was designated as The Day.

Here is the new and improved version. I even ended up with an empty shelf on top, which I have yet to assign items to.  What a great feeling to actually be able to find things now!  I got the wicker baskets at Goodwill and have assigned one to rice. pasta, and tomato sauces. and the other one to baking goods.  Just organizing those two baskets made a huge difference in how everything else fit.

THING NINE

We are in the throes of autumn, and our wonderful angel was only too happy to pose for a photo against the golden background.

How I love this season!

What about you?

Are you a good golfer?

Do you (or did you) enjoy outings for work or do (did) you usually decline?

Do you take binoculars to large music/sporting events?

Do you like fall the best or is there another season you like better?

What’s a big, medium, or small thing you are looking forward to this week?