Surprised By Joy

October 2, 2018

Joy often pops up in the most unexpected places. This afternoon I started processing grapes. It’s late in the season and the grapes aren’t the best I’ve worked with, but pressing responsibilities kept me from getting at it earlier. It’s really quite easy. We dump the picked grapes, stems and all, into the top basket of our Mehu-Mahi processor. The middle section has a cone with holes in it, the bottom section is filled with water. Put it on to boil, and the water steams the grapes, with the juice collecting in the middle section, to be siphoned off once they are cooked down. It’s pretty fool proof unless you have a big enough fool. Tonight, I was big enough. I dumped the grapes in the middle section, forgot the top basket, and left it to boil while I worked on Sunday’s sermon. About twenty minutes later I got up to get my Greek Interlinear New Testament. As I walked through the kitchen and looked over at the processor, my eyes got wide in a hurry as I beheld grape juice streaming across the floor and under the stove. “Oh NO!” was all it took to bring Linda sprinting into the kitchen to survey the mess.

There was a time earlier in our lives when such a faux pas would have caused a bit of an uproar, like the time I was processing honey from my beehives late at night, and the wax melted all over the stove and floor. Good husband that I am, I cleaned it all up before dropping exhausted into bed an hour later. Or so I thought. In the morning, Linda took one look, turned to me, and said, “What did you do to my stove?” Actually, she did more than just say it. But tonight she laughed. We had it cleaned up so quickly she didn’t think to get a photo to use in evidence against me. So if anyone asks, it didn’t really happen.

We both marveled at the fact that what would have been a point of contention years ago is merely a laughing matter today. I guess we’ve learned a few things in the 48 years we’ve been married. Like, some things just aren’t worth getting worked up over.