dar334

Purge.  verb.  rid (someone) of an unwanted feeling, memory, or condition, typically giving a sense of cathartic release.  

Cathartic.  adjective.  providing psychological relief through the open expression of strong emotions

Today I was privileged to hear what seemed like 752 words when in fact, 7 words would have been enough.  I turned to my friend and said, “All that did was clutter up my mind.”  Then the pondering began ……………………………..

I pondered on the amount of useless information that has entered my mind over the 61 years of my life, and I pondered how many times my memory was full and had to purge random information before the blue screen of death appeared.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t given the opportunity to pick and choose what to purge so inevitably the useless information remained, and things like 8 x 7 = ? were the things that were now long gone.

As I was trying to stay focused on the task at hand, and my mind was heading to areas that were not beneficial to the task at hand, it dawned on my how I could control what I needed to purge.  I could write it down and let my readers deal with it.  (Thank you very much by the way.)

I was pondering about how we went to WalMart after Jim’s chemo treatment yesterday and the man at the checkout we went through had really tested my patience a few years ago.  Yes, I remembered he was the one that could have sent me on a crime spree had I not been raised not to do that.  (Side note.  As I’m writing this blog and pondering my next sentence, I’m also working on the checkbook.  I have the Citizens Bank website open and the guy fishing from the boat looks like Bob Harper.)

Anyways, I can tie the WalMart guy, I’ll call him Bob, into the story because it’s worthless information I need to purge.  So here goes.

I went grocery shopping at WalMart a few years back and I had picked up a 12-pack of pop and put it on the rack under my cart.  I went through the checkout, paid for my groceries, and proceeded to the car.  When I got out to my car I realized I had not pulled that 12-pack of pop out and put it on the belt.  The cashier had missed it too so I put it in my car and went back in to pay for it.  I went up to the service counter and ‘Bob’ asked me if he could help me.  This is how the conversation proceeded:

Me:  I just got my groceries and as I was putting them in the car I realized I hadn’t paid for the 12-pack of Diet Pepsi under my cart.

Bob:  Where is it?

Me:  In my car.

Bob:  Well how can I ring it up if you didn’t bring it back in?

Me:  Perhaps you could page someone in the grocery department and ask them how much it is.

Bob:  I could, but nobody ever calls us back.

(At this point I filled with rage.  RAGE I tell you.  I calmly said “Okie dokie.”  I walked to the back of the store, picked up a 12-pack of Diet Pepsi and marched back to the service counter and gently (not) placed it on the service counter.

Me:  There’s a 12-pack.

(Bob scanned the bar code, told me how much I owed him and I gave him the cash.  I then turned to walk away)

Bob:  Hey!  Aren’t you going to take your pop?!

Me:  THAT IS NOT MY POP.  MY POP IS IN MY CAR.  I FORGOT TO GET IT OUT FROM UNDER THE CART WHEN I PAID FOR MY GROCERIES AND REALIZED IT WHEN I WAS LOADING MY CAR.  

Bob:  Oh.

As my pondering about purging this went on, I decided there had to be a scripture lesson in it.  I found this one:

2 Corinthians 8:21 For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of man.

Always pondering some useless bit of nonsense,

dar