Serve by Design

It has been an interesting week celebrating a new beginning and accepting a needful closure. First, the celebration. Our oldest granddaughter just officially became an adult earlier this month and has begun to take general study classes at the community college. I was blessed to take her to the first day of classes and then retrieve her at the end of her day. She shared her excitement and jitters on the way and was full of stories on the way back home. I enjoyed the one-on-one time with this smart and beautiful grandchild as she officially begins her new chapter as a college first-year student. I continue to be hopeful and optimistic about the future of these Gen Z grands! Image: vecteezy.com The closure mentioned earlier is about me. I have decided to retire as a workplace chaplain. For seven years now, I have enjoyed my weekly service in a local senior living facility, calling and connecting with truck drivers from a major food distribution company, and many other special assignments...

As we were pulling out of the garage this week, I looked straight out to the street area and saw a captivating sight. One, from our family of gray squirrels, was perched and relaxing upon the fire hydrant that sits between our property and that of a neighbor’s who just happens to be a firefighter! I loved the humor in this and wanted to send him the picture that I took with a caption regarding the legality of what I was seeing. Is this legal? Illinois law is specific about fire plugs and parking. You cannot block a hydrant or park a vehicle any closer than fifteen feet in any direction. This is for obvious safety reasons. Firefighters must have access to these “Johnny Pumps” during emergencies. (If you doubt the use of this Yankee synonym for hydrant, just look it up!). I wanted to ask my firefighter neighbor about the squirrel, “Is this legal?” I’m always curious about why the neighborhood squirrels like to get up a little higher while they’re nibbling on the acorns from my oak tree...