I have a creative mind. When it comes to writing stories, that’s a great thing. When it comes to daily life, however, it can annoy or get in the way. For instance, my dear hubby might say something like, “It’s a beautiful day.” I can’t just agree. I’ll look at the sky. “There are too many clouds, though.”

While homeschooling, I trained up my sons in the way I think. They, too, look for exceptions to the rule. That serves Erik well in science. It makes him a natural at investigating. Karl, though, takes it to the next level. When we talk, Gary says it makes his head hurt. We banter back and forth, each coming up with new variations on the theme. Well, this would work if that. Impossible. If that, it would mean this. And so on and so forth. Sometimes one of us will leave the room and pick up the conversation when returning. It can go on for HOURS.

In his self-defense, Gary named us Asterisk-Girl and Footnote. He then proceeded to change our latest debate into a hysterically funny adventure that I wished I had written down. But in the theme of that, I have decided to create a series of their stories for whenever this blog gets too serious. Welcome to the first installment!

In today’s episode, we find Asterisk-Girl in her daily persona as a wife and mother. Thus, she is grocery shopping. She hates grocery shopping and is looking for a distraction.

What does she see in aisle two? A mom of two little ones is comparing two brands of sweetened cereal flakes. She looks confused and distressed. This is a job for Asterisk-Girl!

Morphing into her superhero identity she approaches the woman. “I can help.”

“You can? Oh, thank you. Johnny and Jimmy are tired of being in the store.”

Asterisk-Girl proudly puts her hands on hips and sticks out her chest to show off her logo. “I am here to save the day!” Chokes. “Sorry, borrowed another superhero’s tag line.” Takes the two boxes from the mom’s hands. “Well, it’s obvious why you have a dilemma.”

“It is?”

“Of course.” She points to the label of cereal A. “This has high-fructose corn syrup. That’s bad.”

The mother sighs. “So, I should take the other one?”

AG points to the label of cereal B. “This one has bleached white flour and MSG. It also costs more per ounce.”

The mother’s head goes back and forth between the two boxes like a ping pong ball. “So, I should take A?”

“Of course not.” Pulls a box of shredded cardboard off the shelf. “You should buy this one. It has nothing bad for you in it.”

Suddenly there’s a loud crackling sound and a huge frowning face (would be a smiley face, but it is not smiling) pops into the aisle, floating above their heads. “It also has nothing good for you in it.”

“Footnote!” AG shouts joyfully. “You beat me to that line.”

“Just doing my job.”

One of the small boys stands up in the shopping cart and pats at Footnote who actually does bounce from side to side of the aisle like a ping pong ball.

“Aargh!” The mom screams, shoving the boy back in his seat and pushing the cart down the aisle as fast as she can go… without any cereal at all.

“Looks like our mission is complete.”

“Maybe,” agrees Footnote. “If you can get me to stop bouncing.”

“Is it really bouncing?” asked AG. “I think it’s diminished to more of a popping.”

“No,” argues Footnote. “It most certainly has a a bounce to it. Just listen.”

“A pop. Reminds me of soda.”

etc. etc. etc.

*In all honesty, and true to the superhero, Asterisk-Girl and Footnote are not totally original character names. The French have had Asterix and Obelix, whose names mean the same thing, for a long time. However, their characters do not act like asterisks and footnotes. But the author Rene Goscinny has been known to use both asterisks and footnotes in his books.

First off, the wedding on Saturday was a blast. I haven’t had so much fun or danced so much in eons. I spent so much time dancing that the industrious wait staff cleared away two of my drinks, my buttered bread, and a dessert before I finished them. But thanks to their diligence, I only gained two pounds instead of three to five.

You can tell in the attached picture Gary and I had at the photo booth that I thoroughly enjoyed the evening. And it was even more wonderful to see Erik and Christina so blissfully happy. (The only time I shed a tear was when my mom’s name was mentioned.)

This post will not be all wedding, though. The very next day, my dear friend and neighbor was taken to the hospital up there. She had come to the wedding. She is still at the hospital in New Jersey and recuperating slowly. So rather than come home on Sunday, we stayed an extra day to make sure she had family to take care of her. I went from amazingly happy to concerned and sad.

Those two biggies are the tip of the iceberg of things that are tugging on my emotions and draining me. Tomorrow is my dad’s birthday. Sunday is Father’s Day. Next Thursday would have been my parents’ 60th anniversary.  I came home to find I had a story accepted, but that it had been accepted while out of town so the rewrites are due in a couple of days. I learned one friend’s mom passed away and another friend had been admitted for emergency surgery. Another couple of neighbors are still waiting for their home to be restored after a disaster in April. I’m still applying for jobs and not getting as much feedback as I hoped. And I have a book coming out the end of the month (I think) and have yet to do any promo for it. (A Wedding to Die For is the latest Talbott Family mystery!)

In other words, there’s a lot going on. There has been a lot going on. And it appears that the craziness is not ending anytime soon.

Most of the intense stuff, I have to admit, is not happening to me personally. But it’s happening to people in my circle, people I care about. I want them all to be happy, healthy and in good circumstances. But life in this fallen world has the downs as well as the ups.

A Christian comedian used to joke that the abundant Christian life meant that the downs were lower and the ups were higher and we have a lot more of them. Still, God walks with us through all of it. I know that as surely as I know I am typing at this moment. I just wish I could shower joy, peace, love and happiness on all those I care about.

I can’t. But God can. I, however, need to trust that He loves those I love even more fervently.

And that’s what overwhelms me.

Last weekend, Erik and Christina came down to visit. In part, Erik made the trip so that he and I could practice our mother-son dance. Next week’s post will be all wedding, including a few pictures. However, the prep for it has really made me think about tooling around the dance floor and all that entails.

I’ve always enjoyed dancing. I remember bebopping around the house as a kid before I had any training whatsoever. It just felt good to move to the beat and release excess energy. One of our favorites was called something like the Knock Knock song. It was on a scratchy old 78 and the three of us sisters would go crazy to it!

Since I liked dance so much, it wasn’t long before my mom signed me up for ballet. Later in high school and college, I took modern dance and ballet—even belonging to a modern dance club for a little while. I enjoyed challenging my body and learning new ways to move. When I gained the freshman fifteen, it was ballet that took it off again.

Nowadays, I wouldn’t claim to have the excess energy of my childhood nor the desire to perform like I did in high school, but dance still feels good. And it seems to do what my body needs now and actually gives me energy. If I’m sleepy in the afternoon and need to recharge in order to go to work or finish a deadline, I have two choices: I can take a nap or I can turn on some music and dance. Dancing is a lot more fun!

According to many studies, there are good reasons for that. Dancing releases endorphins—those feel good hormones. Whether you dance solo, in couples or as a group, dance often uses tiny muscles that might not get much exercise on a normal basis. And speaking of exercise, it is easy to get a lot of steps in when you dance (check my pedometer) and work up a sweat.

The Bible talks of King David dancing with abandon as he worships. For me, when I am emotionally challenged, whether sad or angry or confused, dance works as a way to talk to God. When words won’t come out of my mouth or out of my pen, they will come from my soul and spill into my limbs. When I feel like that, I like to turn the volume of the music up and move as it moves me. No script, no set pattern. And in that movement, there is healing and restoration.

So, there are many reasons to dance. But on Saturday, we will be dancing in celebration of the new couple!

Psalm 149:3 Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with timbrel and harp.