Gunn Lake Community Church and the Diet Pepsi Woman

I apologize (to all three of you that read this regularly) for my lack of posting recently. I've been filling in for Andrea during her maternity leave, and between keeping up with her senior high work, my junior high work, the speaking stuff, and the baby, it's been a little hectic.

A week ago last Sunday I headed out to The Gunn Lake Community Church in Wayland, MI to do a little comedy for the congregation. They'd just finished some big rennovations on the youth portions of their church, and the night was set up as a celebration for the whole church.

I did about a half hour of comedy. The first fifteen minutes or so was all new jokes about the baby and it went over really well.

I listened to a great book on the way home called Deep Storm by Lincoln Child. Since I get to do so much driving, I try to listen to as many unabridged books on tape that I possibly can. I got hooked on Lincoln Child when I read a series of books he wrote with Douglas Preston about an FBI agent named Pendegrast.

Long story short, the book was about oil drillers who discover alien technology at the bottom of the ocean - so I found it pretty entertaining.

I've said it before on this blog, but I think it bears repeating - you see some strange folks at rest areas between 2am and 6am. It was a long weekend for me because my middle school crew had an overnighter on Friday where I only got an hour of sleep. Then on Sunday morning I hopped in the car and drove to Michigan, got out, performed, got back in the car and drove all night to get home.

So I'm well aware that when people see a disheveled thirty year old guy in rumpled clothes and a five o'clock shadow stumbling into the mens' room at three a.m. on the interstate - they may think I'm the strange one.

But I got out somewhere just across the Iowa border for a stretch and a soda, and when I got to the Pepsi machine, there was a lady in front of me who just kept putting the same quarters in over and over - and the machine just kept spitting them out.

She wasn't angry. She didn't even seem that confused or concerned. She would put them in, and the machine would spit them out. The machine was clearly full on quarters, but she kept trying. Over and over. I'm not exaggerating when I say I stood and watched her do this mabye twenty or so times. She would not give up. A man who was apparently her husband sat on a bench nearby and spoke back and forth to her in Spanish. I have no idea what they were saying, but I'm guessing it went something like this:

Man - Did it take them this time?

Woman - No, it didn't.

Man - How about this time? Did it work this time?

Woman - No, it still didn't work. I think I'll try again.

Man - Okay. Yes, I think you should just keep trying.

I waited patiently for her to realize her effort was futile so I could get my diet Pepsi. I thought about exchanging her quarters for my two dollar bills, but then I would not have had anything but quarters - which obviously didn't work. I thought she might eventually just sigh and step out of the way so I could have a chance. But she didn't. She just kept plugging away at it while chatting amiably with her husband. Finally I just turned around and bought a diet Coke which was not what I wanted - but I had to get on my way.

Sigh,

Jason