No training for me

I'm bummed! This stuff was supposed to be on my person tonight not sitting on the kitchen counter!

I was all geared up to do a "walk-on" at a local motorcycle riders training course tonight but wasn't lucky enough to get in. I'm signed up for the class but not until August (I don't want to wait that long) so tonight was a wild card chance. Apparently about a dozen other people thought the same way I did. Sign-up for these summer classes starts in February and the classes fill within days. They take 12 students per class and there was only five no-show spaces available tonight. A lottery is used for the open spaces and my ticket was not one of the lucky ones! NIU holds these classes throughout the summer on the weekends. The class is all weekend long, Friday night and all day Saturday and Sunday. It's a really good deal. The cost is $20 and once you are done with your weekend, you will have satisfied the requirements for your written and riding test so all a person has to do is go to the DMV and pay their money. I really don't want to take my riding test at the DMV. That would be way to reminiscent of being 16 and trying to get my first drivers license!
The upside of all this is I have a nice long weekend and no plans set in stone. How cool is that?

Today was our first Friday off for the summer, so I spent the day cleaning out drawers. I thought I was going to sew but this just kind of took over the day. It may not sound exciting, but I always feel so good when I'm done and I've weeded out "stuff.". I couldn't help but think about "stuff" and how a person accumulates so much. I found jewelry that was a high school graduation gift! Let's see that was 29 years ago! I was able to brighten up the the locket enough to put it on a chain and wear it. It was a gift from a dear woman who was like a grandma to me growing up.
On our first trip to New Orleans post-Katrina, we met the neatest couple, Ron(Papa)& Miss Betty Dufour. They lost everything, not to flooding, but due to the storm surge from Katrina. They live on this what looks like a quiet little pass, but the surge came from the gulf, through the lake and up the pass. They lost everything. The surge came in with such force that it knocked out windows and ripped bricks off their home. They told of how they were thinking of moving to a smaller place but couldn't decide what to do with all their years of "stuff." Papa shared how Katrina took care of it for them so they didn't have to deal with it. He and Miss Betty also told of how they have been so blessed by the storm. Without Katrina they wouldn't have been able to meet all the different people, like ourselves, that have come from across the country to help rebuild. They are praising God for the experience and the relationships that have blossomed from it. What an incredible attitude of gratitude! They are such an amazing couple. I try on a daily basis to see the good in things that happen, but some days, let's face it, it's pretty darn hard to do. What a great goal Papa and Miss Betty have set for me to strive towards. Papa Ron & Miss Betty are the ones seated in the center with the team we led in February to NOLA. The Dufours were treating the team to a night out and Papa's homemade gumbo.

Whenever I start feeling sorry for myself, I pull up a picture of them and things start to fall into perspective again.
Here's a few of of my other favorite pics of the New Orleans area from one of our trips.