He just had to have it.
I heard him lay out his argument in the next checkout line.
He wanted some sort of candy that was shrewdly placed right at eye level.
Some sort of something that was a “must have” in his mind.

Flashy, colorful, well-advertised, and well-placed, it just couldn’t be missed.
Put all the conditions together and it becomes a battle of the wills.
A tired, embarrassed mom who at this point just wants to end the discussion.
A young child who seems to intuitively know that protesting loud enough will give him his way.

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In 1956, a popular game show was on television.
The show featured a panel of four celebrities.
The panel had to identify a contestant with an unusual occupation or experience.
There was a central character and two imposters pretending to be the central character.

The celebrity panel questioned the three contestants.
The panel needed to determine who was lying and who was telling the truth.
The two imposters were allowed to lie but the central character must always tell the truth.
All three contestants were believable.

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When one of my daughters was in college, she spent over three weeks in Zambia.
Since she was an education major she would be working with the children there.
She was both blessed by the people and was a blessing to them.
She came home forever changed.

I remember her stories.
I remember her description of the food.
I remember that she lost one of her Croc shoes in the Zambezi River.
I remember her astonishment at the beauty of Victoria Falls.

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It was captured on video.
A woman was smashing a driver’s side window of a car with a tire iron.
The incident was not breaking and entering.
It was to rescue a two-year old child who was left behind in a sweltering car.

The scene took place in a shopping center parking lot in Merriam, Kansas.
It was after 4:00 pm on a Saturday.
The temperature outside was 91 degrees with a heat index of 101 degrees.
All the windows of the car were rolled up and all the doors were locked.

The child was screaming and covered in sweat.

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It is a question that can be asked and answered in so many different contexts.
It can be asked by a mother who feigns confusion during a game of hide and seek.
It can be asked by a wife as she sits across from her husband as he reads the news.
It can be asked by a child who gets temporarily lost in a store.

Where are you?

It was asked once before.
Long ago in a Garden.
Except the Person asking the question already knew the answer.
The question was really a call to relationship.

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Months ago, a local museum had an art exhibit.
My youngest daughter and I went for the afternoon.
We walked around admiring all of the artist’s paintings.
We each had our favorites.

One room overwhelmed us both in particular.
The artist, Jamie Wyeth, had painted a series entitled, The Seven Deadly Sins.
Wyeth’s take on the subject was uniquely his own.
He depicted the seven deadly sins using seagulls.

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I sat at the intersection waiting for the light to turn green.
This particular traffic light is unusually long.
It is a busy intersection near a shopping mall and a smaller shopping center.
Cars were zooming by on the road in front of me.

Beyond the blur of the moving cars I saw it.
It flew back and forth over each waiting car.
It flew low almost touching the roof rack of a waiting SUV.
It was a bird that flew in front of windshields and over the hoods of cars.

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I was remembering a drug store.
That is what it used to be called.
Somewhere along the line, drug stores became pharmacies.
I like the sound of drug store much better.

The drug store I am thinking about was a social hub.
It usually had an ice cream counter with tall swivel stools.
The drug store that I went to as a little girl had green stools.
I needed help to climb up and my feet never reached the footrest.

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There was only a tiny path to the door.
The walls seemed to be closing in on her.
It used to be much wider, was all she said to herself.
How did it get this bad?

Life happened.
Trials.
Problems.
Issues.

Responses to life happened.
Anger.
Bitterness.
Resentment.

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