Thursday Th(ink)s - July 23, 2026

I have a complicated relationship with the self-checkout.

It begins with optimism.

"This will be quick."

It ends with a machine, or should I say, Babs, the president of the HOA (HELPFUL ONLY in

APPEARANCE) announcing to the entire grocery store:

"Unexpected item in the bagging area."

Yes.

That would be my dignity. Thank you, Babs.

I stare at the screen trying to make eye contact. Nothing.

I remove the bananas.

I replace the bananas.

Babs remains unconvinced.

Then comes the inevitable.

"Please wait for assistance." Babs’ voice is full of distain.

Then a cheerful twenty-year-old appears, taps two buttons seemingly only visible to her, smiles,

and says, "You're all set."

I thank her as if she has just gifted me an extra day this week.

On the drive home, I laugh at myself.

Not because I couldn't outsmart Babs, the grocery store kiosk, but because twenty years ago I

might have cared.

I might have wanted everyone in line behind me to know that I was actually a very capable

person who had successfully raised children, wrote books, navigated airports, had a professional

job, and… that I could parallel park.

Now?

Meh.

One of the unexpected gifts of the Thursday years is discovering how many things I no longer

have to be good at.

I certainly don't have to pretend I know how to make the self-centered machine, the one with the

country-club attitude, see me. I refuse to be rattled by Babs.

Now, don't misunderstand.

I still want to keep learning.

Curiosity is one of God's kindest gifts.

But there is a vast difference between learning... and believing my worth depends on being

competent all the time.

That second job is exhausting.

Besides, it was never mine.

Paul understood this kind of freedom. After listing the impressive résumé he once trusted, he

simply walked away from it.

"Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my

Lord." (Philippians 3:8, ESV)

I like the idea of a simplified life. Aging has given me this, but only because I’ve embraced it.

I no longer must be the “indispensable” one. In reality, I never was indispensable but somehow

when you are young you think you are. It’s amazing how civilization has continued to thrive

without my sage direction.

One by one, I’ve peeled away the tasks that no longer need to be assigned to me. Now, my

biggest job is to be a woman who knows she is deeply loved by Christ, and to live immersed in

that knowledge, knowing that this task is a gift not a job.

I suspect, in the future, I'll have another disagreement with Babs (who really DOES NEED an

attitude adjustment).

I regularly forget that you can’t buy wine from her. My age needs to be verified, donchaknow.

Someday, I suspect, Babs will ask me to scan my face, and just like an old redwood, the

dystopian maven will count my rings and discern my age. But we are not there yet.

In the meantime, this elitist Chairwoman of the Banana Committee will still accuse me of

placing an unexpected item in the bagging area.

The next time that happens I will lean into Bab’s vacuous eyes and whisper, “Hey Babs. Ya see

this face? Count my laugh lines and you’ll know that I’m old enough to buy this wine. And

another thing… I can still parallel park and if you had any brain at all you’d stop using the word

'bag' when addressing me.”

Now where’s that nice young girl? I need assistance.

Big Brains: “He found something that he wanted, had always wanted and always would want -- not to be admired, as he had feared; not to be loved, as he had made himself believe; but to be necessary to people, to be indispensable...'very few things matter and nothing matters very much.”

― F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise

Old Souls: “In addition to water, air, earth and fire, there is a fifth element indispensable: its name is poetry.”

― Corina Abdulahm Negura

The Ancient of Days: ^"For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another." Romans 12:4-5

Chat: What have you joyously let go of? Or is there something that needs to be let go of?

Norma Jean:
I like the idea of a simplified life. 
Aging has given me this, but only because I’ve embraced it.