My sisters and I grew up with a variety of music playing in our home. Show tunes were pretty popular. Today one has been going through my head.

It begins this way:
"Let me entertain you, let me make you smile...."

Yes, let me entertain you with a glimpse into the Reynolds' Grand Adventure and some of its current twists and turns.

First let me say that many people have warned me over the years that I should never pray for patience, as it brings many opportunities to learn more of it! I have heeded their warnings, to no avail....

A very minor challenge presented itself yesterday. I went to retrieve the day's newspaper from our mailbox and discovered that the flag was up. Whatever. However, it would not go down. There were a few marks on the box and I suspected that some bored young people had passed by.
Note to self: Get the rubber mallet later.

Later came this morning - Armed with the rubber mallet I went to get our latest newspaper and tend to the flag problem.
It would not budge. A careful examination gave me no clue to what was hindering its movement, so I let it be. I had to because today was one of those days when we had a few appointments to keep and they began shortly.

My love is not eager to rise in the morning and once he does it is a very slow process. So I was very grateful that we actually were in the car on time and headed to our first stop, which was the lab for his weekly blood test. We had plenty of time to arrive at Gaylord for the ten thirty speech evaluation. The eval was really at eleven, but they ask you to come half an hour earlier to deal with paperwork, etc.
No problem!!
HA!

Our insurance no longer deals with the lab we are accustomed to. The meager staff at the currently accepted one reminded me of the phrase "one-armed paperhanger." It appeared that there were two phlebotomists, but one had to handle all the paperwork, etc., so she wasn't able to do any of the tests. They might switch off during the day, who knows?
Upon entering we were greeted with a small child bellowing at the top of her lungs. This she did for a good ten minutes.
Every few minutes the lab tech would come into the waiting room, call another name and discuss the reason for their visit in a very loud voice. No privacy here. What about HIPPA?
One young guy was there for a drug test and had been waiting for quite a while. He needed to get back to work, but if he left she would turn his test in as a positive. In the end he left. Not good.
Another girl had to drink mucho water before coming and was doing a little jig in the corner of the room. Every time someone got a drink of water out of the water cooler, her dance escalated! The cooler made the sound of rushing water. Between the sound and her dance her friend that was with her was in stitches and many of us couldn't help but smile. This did nothing to help the poor girl.
Then there was the elderly man whose veins were not cooperating.
Everything was in slow, slow motion. Did I say slow? Oh yeah!

By the time we left the lab I knew we would not make the thirty minutes early time. I thought I had figured in a good sized cushion. Wrong!
I hate to be late and felt the tension rising for a few minutes, but then let it go. Just one of those things that I cannot change..
Yes, I let it go for a minute or two...

Did you know that many of the people operating motor vehicles should not be?! Take it from a former driving instructor. A few times I was ready to make a citizen's arrest or at least hand out a few tickets! All drivers should have to retest periodically. It would be a great money maker for the State and we know how they need the money.

We made it to Gaylord nearly fifteen minutes late. We had to get in line to pull up to the front door. Once we had a place to stop I ran in to grab a wheelchair, got Ray into it, left him there and parked the car.
We rushed in and were put at easy very quickly. I really believe that you have to be a pleasant, kind person to work at Gaylord. The paperwork went quickly and Ray was ready for the speech therapist with a couple of minutes to spare!

I had one whole hour to...make a couple of calls. One was to find out where Ray's prescriptions were. They were supposedly called in last Thursday. Didn't happen. I got that straightened out with a reminder as to which pharmacy was ours...so I thought ...and then attempted to speak to someone from Social Security. One can only stay "on hold" for so long.

Once we left Gaylord we had a list of stops to make, including Social Security.
It was lunch time and I could not entice my husband to eat anything. He hasn't been very interested in food. This is a big change for Ray.

Terrible drivers still filled the streets!

Then we arrived at the Social Security Administration. The parking lot is closed to us common folk, so we had to proceed to the parking garage. It wasn't very far away... for someone who is not handicapped. Ray stayed in the car while I went in to the building. I figured I could come back for him if he was needed.
Good thing, as the elevator I parked next to was out of order! The stairs were blocked off, which meant I had to walk through the garage. Some of those endearing drivers were in there too!

I entered the building and what met my eyes looked like a scene that we might find Dickens describing in one of his novels. The wait would have been long, so I left. I have a strong adversion to bureauocracy. It is too impersonal to me.

Okay just a few stops to go. Most of which I will not bore you with, so we will move right along to where I attempt to pick up Ray's prescriptions. We pulled up to the window. I was tired and had pulled into the wrong lane and, of course, they couldn't serve me from there! Fine!
We got in the correct lane. The girl could not find any prescriptions anywhere, but would check a bit more. I watched her bagging more prescriptions and thought maybe they were ours, so we continued to wait. She disappeared.
I decided to park and go into the store so the girl could tell me that there was nothing called in for Ray.
Another phone call to make!

As we were getting close to home I reminded myself to check the mail, which made me remember the flag problem. It seemed more annoying now....GRRR.
The mailbox came into view - low and behold - the flag was down! The thing works perfectly now! Maybe the mailperson has a magic touch?

There were a number of messages waiting for us on the answering machine. Our doctor's office called the prescriptions into a different RiteAid pharmacy and the store had called to alert us of this fact. Sigh.
I sent my son, Tim, to pick the orders up for me. He just returned with the only two prescriptions they had received. There were suppose to be five!!

Well, I think that Papa is of the opinion that a few more lessons in patience are needed for this girl of His. Judging by today I regrettably must agree!