It is 10:35 AM and I am just beginning to rumble into my morning. After feeding the dogs and drinking a cup of coffee, I’ve been awake but still feeling puny with gut issues. Since most of my Sunday students are on vacation, I managed to squeeze the remaining lessons into Monday and Tuesday. This will allow me a bit more rest, today.

Yesterday morning, Saturday, I decided to stock up on hot and sour soup from a nearby Chinese restaurant that has been our family’s headliner since 2003. They didn’t open until 10:30 AM so I was on the bus to Town & Country shopping mall ordering my six small containers of soup and adding a large cabbage and pork soup to the order. I received a message that it wouldn’t be ready until 11:30 AM. That worked as it allowed me to grab a few things from Kroger, attend to some banking, and stroll the long promenade of Town & Country.

Now, over the past few years, the quality of service from this restaurant has slipped but the food is still good. When ordering through Grubhub it is more expensive because this favored eaterie is not a part of Grubhub or Doordash. I order from this restaurant weekly and am often receiving incorrect orders or generally, missing items. I’ve continued with the eaterie because 1) I like their food and 2) I’ve always received terrific service.

I arrived at the restaurant by 11:35 AM while anticipating a Bus No. 17 return home at 12:20 PM. My order was not ready. At Noon, a father and daughter entered and placed their order. At 12:05 PM, I went to the window to inquire about my soup. The six small containers and the large container were sitting on the prep counter while the lady attended to the most recent order. She immediately returned to packing my order. At 12:10 PM, I was finally out the door, hoping that I would meet the bus, and also hoping the unusual brisk exercise would relieve my high degree of agitation. My thighs were in dreadful pain from climbing the stadium steps Thursday night at Soaring Sounds and I managed to cut through the discomfort to meet my bus just in time.

Now, while crossing the drive between Marian’s Pizza and the former Steinmart that had been the western anchor for Town & Country, a lady sped through the stop sign, coming within feet of hitting me. I yelled and she threw up her hands, questioningly. “You ran the stop sign!” With that, she rolled her eyes and huffed. The decal on the back of her car indicated she was one of the reasons a nearby community gets an awful rap. As I entered the other end of Town & Country, I was nearing the crosswalk when I heard tires screeching and car horns honking. Someone in a familiar vehicle had pulled out of Chik A Filet without stopping or acknowledging oncoming traffic, forcing several cars to swerve away from her and one onto the curb. Yes, it was the delightful lady who ran the stop sign on the other end of the long building.

At home, I put away my Kroger purchases and began loading the soups into the refrigerator only to discover that my six containers of hot and sour soups were half egg drop soups which I detest. With that great annoyance, I set down to eat the container of cabbage and pork soup… there was no cabbage and only about a dozen small pieces of pork in some kind of stock. That was the final nail in the coffin for me with this restaurant. I permitted myself to overpay delivery fees to do my part in supporting a small, local business but I’ve decided to look elsewhere.

I spent the majority of my day in my study watching the funeral services for murdered Elwood Police Department officer, Noah Shahnavaz while lying on the floor with four pooches happily snuggled against or near me.

I am contemplating a lazy day and I am okay with that. I still, however, have the intention of making it a great day.