Correction, the hunt, who we are

Mama called me last night to tell me I would need to issue a correction. The incision made to access the growth on Maggie’s kidney was made from the back. That makes sense. I stand corrected. It also will allow for a much quicker recovery since the belly is unaffected. The doctors told Mama that there should be almost no pain in the recovery. That too makes sense since the back is less innervated that the belly. However, Maggie is complaining of burning pain in the area of her kidney. Burning pain typically reflects nerve pain. When Mama asked the doctor about that pain, he said that he may have touched the nerve in the area of the growth which would account for the pain. It should go away also. I am waiting for a morning report from Mama as to the progress of our patient, but I have no reason to anticipate bad news.

Mama seems to be having a good time with Maggie, Aaron and the kids. So far, the steps to and from the third-floor apartment have not hurt her to the point of keeping her confined to the apartment. Although that would be better for me because every outing costs me money. I have not heard of any outings to the beach, but I assume that is forthcoming.

On Wednesday I had to give a two-hour presentation of how we assemble a course within the Education department. I ended up having to cut that short because everyone in the office (and almost everyone we employ was in the office that morning) had been split up into teams of four for a scavenger hunt. The objective was to get pictures of your quartet at designated locations (at a local monument, in a store on the Square), or with assigned items (with a package of catsup, with a fast-food worker, with a man with a moustache.) My team was scheduled for an 11 am departure. Along with six other teams. When we received our list of ten items to capture images of, we headed out and were back at the office in about twenty-five minutes.

We were given forty-five minutes to get our assignment done. It was fun but I felt like we were missing some overall point to the activity as we hurried through collecting our pictures and sending them back to the office to be tabulated. Turns out I was sort of right. The underlying idea to the scavenger hunt was to spend time with your team, to get to know them better – as well as collect the pictures. To have fun together. Our team did have fun but honestly, our focus was on the assignment rather than each other. The team that won did not gather all the required pictures, but they did take some interesting additional pictures to show a very humorous side of their time driving around town. I told Mama that it would be fun to do the same thing as a family game at one of our future get togethers.

Yesterday, an operator from a local Chick-fil-A spoke to us about the fundamental principles of that organization. “To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us. To have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.” What a great company objective. It was a very good speech. The man who spoke to us has been with Chick-fil-A since 1982. He was an excellent spokesman for the company. The hope of my current employer is that we will adopt the same principles. That would be wonderful. I see some overlap of those beliefs evident in the company. It has been nice to work in a company where there is a high standard of ethics, with a concern for Christian values.

While I am here, I will enjoy those benefits.