Termites, Ear Mites, and Good Friday

On this Friday before Easter, it seems almost sacrilegious to write about anything other than the events we remember on Good Friday. But really...it all belongs.

Since January, my days and nights have been mostly dictated by, or let's use a gentler term 'guided,' by one thing -- puppies. There's puppies, work, puppies, eat, puppies, hopefully squeeze in a workout, puppies...and if the stars align and the good Lord willing...a good night's sleep.

 We've actually come a long way in the past few weeks. Pepper, the whopping 5-pound wiener dog, is now sleeping through the night along with Blu, the 35-pound goldendoodle. In fact, Pepper has been known to sleep from 9 pm until 8 am! Why? Because we gave in and let her sleep in our bed! There. I said it. A 5-pound wienie dog won. Actually, it was a win-win. We wake up to puppy kisses every morning, PLUS we get a full night's sleep because Pepper is a big fan of sleeping if she's snuggled up next to her people.

Blu would like to sleep upstairs with us, but the former head of the class has fallen in the ranks. Our obedient, eager-to-please little puppy is now 35 pounds of adolescent exuberance (to use the positive term from our trainer Gretchen). Practically speaking, that means she has trouble settling down in our room to sleep, especially if her sister is there. And she excited piddles when anyone comes to visit. And she makes me nuts with her jumping even though I've tried ALL the things to get her to stop. And she gets too wild and crazy with her teeny sister Pepper....although innocent little Pepper constantly ambushes Blu and pulls her hair while Blu is lying quietly on her bed. All that to say...Blu sleeps downstairs in the kitchen with access to the doggie door which she faithfully uses to go outside to potty -- YAY BLU!!! For that, we are ever so grateful. One pup that has to be ushered enthusiastically to the dog run every hour or so is quite enough.

 The next big hurdle I'm looking forward to clearing is TV. Yes, I'm that shallow. I miss the ability to sit down after dinner and watch something mindless. I recall with fondness when D'Marcus would snuggle on the couch and Maddie at our feet in the living room while we binge watched Handmaid's Tale or Breaking Bad. Having Pepper and Blu with us in the living room at night is like being at the Kentucky Derby, the horses running across your feet with every lap. They chase each other around the coffee table, Pepper ducking underneath at times just to tick off her sister Blu who can't fit underneath. We give them time outs in their crates, but it is just so exhausting! Can you give Benadryl to puppies?

Along with puppies has come...wait for it...ear mites. FUN! Pepper has been flapping her ears and scratching at night. So I decided to clean her ears.  When I Googled the description of the grossness I discovered in her right ear, I came to the fairly sound conclusion that she has ear mites. Drops are coming tomorrow, so hopefully the stench and the scratching and the flapping will cease.

But wait, there's more. While brushing my teeth one night this week, I spied a black winged creature on my sink. And one on my mirror. I squished them quickly and humanely and went to bed, Pepper under my arm. Tucked into bed, Pepper snuggled up close to my side, I noticed another bug on my bedside table. Then one on the wall behind my bed. Then one on my comforter!!! It is not easy to calmly deal with a bug invasion while keeping your puppy asleep at your side. I texted Charli, "Please bring up the flying bug spray."

I went to sleep with ear plugs, lest I awake with flying bug eggs in my ears, and the scent of Raid in the air. My Facebook friends and an exterminator confirmed the next day -- it's termites. He told me I could use Windex to kill them instead of having to inhale Raid until he could come and take care of the problem. So last night when I went to bed, it was reminiscent of a scene from My Big Fat Greek Wedding -- Windex everywhere.

 And I've been thinking a lot about Chandler. I miss him so damn much. I still find myself thinking, "This can't be real. It's not possible that my son could be here one day and gone the next." The pain and the missing is always right there. There are distractions. Like puppies. And work. And getting together with friends. And holidays. And termites. But it is always there.

Jesus didn't live his life in compartments. He just lived. Congruent. Consistent. Whole. He turned things upside down and refused to be co-opted by the religious leaders of his day. He wasn't concerned with impressing people or making sure what he said aligned with their narrative so he would be accepted. He loved people. All people.

 And I don't care what anyone says, Jesus is not easy to figure out. The Bible is not easy to figure out. If you think it is, you haven't really read it. I've probably read the Bible cover to cover four or five times in  my life. I love God, and I wanted to read the Bible to know God more deeply. But not only because of that. I have read the Bible over and over because I've always tried so hard to do the right thing. And to do the right thing, I have to know what the right thing is. I have to believe the right things in order to please God. I have tried SO hard. I've taken notes, attended Bible studies, highlighted, exegeted, and wrestled with passages that were hard to stomach or that contradicted other passages. As author and scholar Peter Enns says, the Bible simply doesn't "behave" like we want it to.

This Good Friday 2021 is different for me than any of the other 45-some-odd Good Fridays since I've had any awareness of what this day meant for people of the Christian faith -- which has basically been since flannelgraphs in Sunday School at Moss Hill First Pentecostal Church in Texas where every answer to the teacher's question was, "Jesus."

My faith has expanded, not contracted, though I admit to knowing far less answers now than ever before. I think God cares more about how I accept his love for me and demonstrate his love in the world than whether I embrace the correct set of beliefs. People can profess a "correct" set of doctrinal statements and still hate people who are different from them or use their resources to oppress others or refuse to help the poor -- all of which grieve the heart of God.

Of all the Sunday School lessons and sermons and Bible studies I've internalized throughout my decades of life in the church, today it boils down to three things I cling to and believe in the depths of my being. God is real. God loves me. God is WITH me.

Today, this Good Friday when I reflect on Christ's death on a cross, it just happens that cleaning ear mites out of my pup's ear and doing laundry and spraying termites is what I get to do while the meaning of this day hovers around my heart and mind. I'm grateful that Jesus showed us that it all belongs. And that God is with us in the midst of it all.