Cybercolumn by Berry D. Simpson: Merry Christmas

Posted: 12/22/06

CYBER COLUMN:
Merry Christmas

By Berry D. Simpson

Saturday morning, Dec. 16, Cyndi and I woke up about 8 a.m., a true weekend indulgence. Cyndi left to take Lady the Running Labrador around the block before leaving for her class, and I squeezed in a run. It wasn’t my best run, I must admit. I spent an hour and a half in a four-minute-walk-11-minute-run rotation, all designed to rebuild my left knee. But really, it was a great run, because it was good for my heart and soul. My knee feels much better than it did a year ago, I can run better, I’m not eating pain-reliever every morning for breakfast, and I don’t wake up in the middle of the night with aches and pains. I’m thinking if I can drop another 20 pounds after Jan. 2 and keep my mileage constant, I will regain my old form from, well, at least four years ago, such at it was. What I’m trying to say is this:

I can smell hope in the air—hope of another marathon or two, maybe even an ultra on dirt—and hope is a mighty thing. Christmas is near, and the air smells like hope.

After returning from my run, I poked around the house doing laundry and reading the paper. Then I drove to that fine dining establishment, Whataburger, to drink coffee while reading my Bible and working on my Bible study lesson for Sunday morning. It was a good, relaxing time, and I got a lot of work done, except for the city-related conversations with people who recognized me and wanted to know about whether Cracker Barrel was moving to town and whether we should allow oil and gas drilling within the city limits and why do so many drivers run red lights. But everyone was smiling and enjoying each other, because Christmas is just a week away.

Leaving Whataburger, I drove to Gold’s Gym, where I met Cyndi for her Body Pump workout class, an intense hour of high-rep weight training that leaves me exhausted and crawling to the door afterwards. But Cyndi played Christmas music for the cool-down stretching, and it was great. I was rejuvenated.

We drove together to Rosa’s on Midland Drive for our traditional Saturday taco lunch, where we saw so many people we know we hardly had time to eat. The restaurant was abuzz with shoppers, and it was exciting.

After lunch, Cyndi and I split up. She went to school to work on her campus newsletter, and I went on a mission to find a couple of those spiral-tree-like lighted yard ornaments. As it turned out, I was two weeks too late to find what I wanted.

I went to Home Depot. I went to Lowe’s. I went to the traditional Wal-Mart. I went to Hobby Lobby. I went to Ace Hardware (or, as I call it, Handy Dan). I went to the new Wal-Mart. I was unsuccessful everywhere I went, but surprisingly, I wasn’t frustrated about it all. I had a great afternoon driving around town and walking through crowded stores, something I wouldn’t have anticipated. It was meditative and soothing. Maybe because Christmas was coming, or maybe because I was alone and didn’t have to worry that I was wasting someone else’s time taking so long. In truth, I would rather have been home holding hands with Cyndi, but maybe that would come later. I could’ve made a few more stores if it hadn’t become dinnertime.

So Cyndi and I had delicious homemade gumbo and toasted garlic bread at Pete’s and Cindy’s house. I’ve eaten Pete’s cooking before and knew what to expect, so it was hard to drive the speed limit to his house and not break into a trot up the sidewalk to his front door.

After gumbo, we all drove over to the Ector County Coliseum to watch the Christmas presentation by First Baptist Church of Odessa. We especially loved the first part with big Celtic drums and dancers and singers and joy.

The Christmas season can show up in a lot of ways; maybe in driving around town mile after mile, or digging through picked-over Christmas ornaments, or eating homemade gumbo, or even running and lifting weights. It all counts. Jesus came to be with us in life as we live it, and what a glorious thing he did.

Merry Christmas.

Berry Simpson, a Sunday school teacher at First Baptist Church in Midland, is a petroleum engineer, writer, runner and member of the city council in Midland. You can contact him through e-mail at berry@stonefoot.org.