Every dinner club meeting has a certain theme about it [1], it seems, and today’s theme seemed to be awkward dinner conversations. It started early; as soon as I got to the fourth and final (regular) dinner club meeting there was immediately a conversation about the sins of Garner Ted Armstrong, which involved my own talking with two older ladies about what he should have done to save himself from a known area of vulnerability. The fact that he was first disciplined for his adulterous ways in the 1970’s and still had a problem two decades later as a very old man suggests a certain blindness to vulnerability. If you know you have a given weakness, and you pray and study on it, then you need to do everything that you can do to protect yourself from bad situations, and to protect others from yourself. Some obvious suggestions would be to never be alone with someone of the opposite sex, especially not in private, and to have friendly witnesses who can demonstrate your good character and help prevent temptation from being a problem as best as possible. How he did not see this as necessary and proper despite decades of trouble is baffling to me.

After everyone else arrived the awkward conversations kept on going. One person (not me) brought up dating people of a widely different age before his marriage, another person talked about being chased mercilessly by girls and having to pick one when he was a fairly young adult. It was hard to add anything productive to this conversation. At least I had more to say when we talked about memory, and the fact that I apparently have a very good one compared to most other people and others use age or other reasons as an excuse for not having a good one. I also had more to add, sadly, when we talked about losing hair, and what people look good bald and what people look good with a more John Quincy Adams haircut. I commented that family concerns have kept me from at least trying the all bald look, as well as a desire to avoid explaining the ceiling fan scar on the side of my head. So, for the foreseeable future I will not rock the all bald look like some people do, even if I will probably progressively trim my hair as it fades away in the middle. Growing old isn’t any fun when one hasn’t grown wise as well, or gotten lucky in one’s personal affairs.

As might be imagined, we spent much of the evening eating. We had hamburgers, along with some fixings to go with it like chips and potatoes, salad and some decadent desserts that did nothing to stop me from getting more awkward questions about whether I had been gaining weight from people in my congregation. After eating we played a game common at our host’s household, one which I usually win. Of course, with my own memory being talked up, the fact that I ended up winning by one card over the speaking deacon there was taken as a victory on his part. Sometimes a great deal in life depends on expectations, rather than reality, as would be preferable in my own life. After the game was done, we rapidly scattered home, as it was bed time for some, and time to write for others, and time to reflect on cancer and other unpleasant difficulties for people young and old. Do we not all struggle in this life? For if we are to be made better, it does not seem as if the process is easy for any of us. Let us all find the place where we can see the purpose and reason for all of this trouble and awkwardness, seeing as we cannot choose simply not have it at all, because it is not within our power to do so.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2014/01/26/the-damascas-dinner-club-party/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2014/03/16/what-kind-of-roadkill-was-it/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2014/04/27/seating-chart/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2014/08/03/a-sheltered-cove/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2015/02/01/all-together-in-one-place/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2015/03/08/in-my-natural-habitat/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2015/05/10/its-all-coming-back-to-me-now/