By Sherry Hopkins

Community Columnist

Whew! I have been caught up in a whirlwind not unlike the one Dorothy experienced in The Wizard of Oz!

I hope when MY feet touch the ground again I am in just as enchanted a place as Oz. I’ve had a great deal of experience with the man behind the curtain, wicked witches, and an occasional flying monkey.

As I told you last week I finally got a job. A real job that pays real money. I start officially the Tuesday after Memorial Day, but I have been training for the past two weeks several hours at a time.

Smith Cleaners will be my new daytime address about 30 hours a week. I am excited to be there and grateful to Amy Thomas for calling me.

But along with training for this new job I have had to tie up lots of loose ends here at the house. I paint and do wood crafts and had orders to get out. I may paint more gourds this summer, but it all depends on how well I adjust to re-entering the workforce.

Also this month has five Fridays so five columns are due, this being number four, and I am writing a feature story for the summer edition of the Batesville & Beyond magazine so that makes it six stories for May.

And last night while at a church ice cream social honoring our high school graduates, I was asked to work this Saturday for a shop owner who will be attending SPHS graduation.

So just like all you other busy folks I, too, will be among you.

Being busy means a juggling act, prioritizing what needs to be done now and what can be done later. Usually things that are relegated to later do not get done at all.

But I shall not complain because I do not have children, or parents, to take care of and as of the first week in June someone else will be taking care of the yard for the summer. So that leaves me with extra time.

Actually there is no such thing as extra time, just extra stuff to do.

I like being busy. I like filling my minutes and hours with useful things and doing things to help others.

It makes you feel good at the end of the day when your tired head hits the pillow to know that you have accomplished a lot in your day.

There are still many other things to be done as well. Laundry, shopping, housecleaning, meals to prepare, bills to pay and I have to prepare a lesson for my GA girls every week. I also teach Sunday School once a month.

Now I am tired just writing it all down.

So there will not be as much time for bird watching or leisurely mornings on the porch with my sweet husband.

I will begin each day with a long list. Hopefully by day’s end I can mark off most on that list.

I hope to find time to spend one whole day doing something fun. Dear Don and I both have a very low threshold for fun. We thankfully find pleasure in most of the mundane things of life.

This job and extra money will allow us to relax a little about unexpected things that are bound to pop up from time to time. We were prepared to wait on Social Security for about 2 ½ years.

Looks like Uncle Sam is going to drag his feet. At last count there were more than 270,000 appeal cases that needed to be heard in Washington. Somewhere in that stack is my husband’s.

I pray that the right set of eyes and the right heart discerns his case to be approved. At which point I will once again become the lazy retired old woman I relish being.

Stay tuned.

You can contact Sherry at swhcsc@wildblue.net or 662.563.2525