Paint and feathers...and lemonade...

Every August, on the third Saturday, Hagerstown puts on a big celebration called Jubilee Day. Just about every year, we have something going on that day. Some years we are getting ready for an election, some years we have a class reunion, and some years we're just watching the parade.

This year we had a couple of projects going on. I had a booth to sell and sign my book, Stinky Shorts, and our Grandchildren shared the space with their Lemonade Stand, raising money for a group that developes water wells in Kenya, where my brother is a missionary. It worked out pretty nice, since I was able to sell and autograph several books, and the grandkids raised $124.98 for the well.


It turns out Saturday was also "Lemonade Freedom Day", when people across the country opened up lemonade stands without a government permit, in response to a recent rash of government shutdowns of lemonade stands. I'm happy to say we made through the day without incident.


As I've mentioned before, I'm not a big fan of government permits or licensing. I figure people should be able to decide for themselves who they want to do business with. There was however, a young lady in a booth next to us who was spray painting peoples hair, and then tying some type of chicken feathers to it. She was also complaining that there was another person down the street that was doing the same sort of thing, but without the proper license.

Now, I don't hardly have enough hair to paint, and you'd probably have to use some tape to get a feather to stick to it. But if I do decide to get what hair I do have painted, I really don't care if you have a license to paint it.

And I don't care if the kids I buy lemonade from have a permit, either.

So how are things going for you?....

I know things don't always work out exactly as planned. Some days more so than others. One evening last week, after a particularly trying day, a neighbor asked me how things were going. I told him not very well.

The next morning I ran into an old friend and asked him the same thing. I remembered that his first wife had left him for another woman, and that his current wife was a real moron. I had heard that his daughter was on her 4th live-in, and that he seldom got to see his grand kids. I read in the paper a while back that his son had been arrested for drug possession again.

He told me that he still hadn't been able to find a job, and that he was starting chemo next week.

The next time somebody asks me how things are going, I think I'll tell them things are going pretty well.