My family likes words and plays on words and word games and “bits”, as my kids say.
Andrew and I occasionally play a word game. He will throw out a word like “coffee” and the other person has to immediately add a suffix, like “coffeehouse” then back to him for “houseboat” and back to me for “boat dock” and on and on. The loser is the one who cannot think of a word to attach. He always wins.
Christopher likes to flip flop the first letter of words. For example, he might say “Gronefish Bill” for Bonefish Grill. Or “Rexas Toadhouse”. You get the the idea.
This morning I told Noah that I was ready to eat my breakfast and read my bible. Then he said: “So you are going to read your breakfast and eat your bible?” Clever. “Yes”, I smiled. And in reality that is exactly what I need to do.
If I “read” my breakfast rather than eating a stack of buttermilk pancakes, maybe I will eat better. And if I “eat” my bible, then maybe, just maybe….it will penetrate my. heart and soul and tongue and it will reflect in everything I do and say. How I desire for those words to shine through with such transparency that one might look at me and see those promises, that hope.
Being a writer, a favorite thing is noticing signs and neon lights when one or more letters have burned out. For example, we were once driving past The Men’s Wearhouse and the “W” was out, making it of course, “Men’s earhouse”. That made me smile. I am easily amused. And by the way, how great would it be if men could actually go buy more ears? Brilliant.
And just yesterday, Mike and I were out, I was driving. He saw a sign at the edge of the road that read “We buy old horses in any condition.” I am so very much hoping they meant to write “houses”.
My sister told me a tale of a pastor and his family driving home from vacation. It was very late and everyone else in the car was asleep. They were on a dark, lonely stretch of highway. He was tired and weary but pushing through. From a distance he could see bright red letters of a gas station. As he got close enough to read the sign, the “S” had burned out and the letters read “hell”. Uh-oh. Might want to check Google map.
The moral of this story: Be careful what you say or write or post or announce. One of your letters may have burned out and that changes everything.