After breakfast I hopped in the van to go buy a baby carrier that my husband found for me on Facebook marketplace.
I almost started a podcast on my phone but decided against it.
I rode with the windows open instead.
This morning at breakfast, the proverb for the day ran, "Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks and look well to thy herds. For riches are not forever and doth the crown endure to all generations?"
My one daughter thought that this means that even when you are rich you still need to pay attention to the things that got you rich, because, obviously riches don't last forever and you'll need more soon.
I agreed with her but brought in a different view.
When a society is rich you have the opportunity to do things that don't involve taking care of the land and animals. Things like painting, writing, sports, being a lawyer or a doctor or a trucker or store keeper.
You can lose your land and be just fine.
But when the current pradigm/society/regime (which in my mind encompasses both parties currently in control) ends. . .
(and it will)
. . .you'll need to know how to care for land and animals again. You hopefully will have land and animals to care for because that's how you will eat.
"So runs the prepper's interpretation of this proverb," I said.
"What's a prepper?" said another child.
"Someone who says, 'SOMETHINGS GONNA HAPPEN AND YOU GOTTA GET READY FOR IT!!!'" I told her.
She grinned. "So you're a prepper. "
She nailed it.
"Actually, Solomon was the prepper," I told her.
As I drove, I contemplated the reasons that we use the KJV to read the Proverbs to our kids.
1. The King's English is quite different from modern English, but similar enough that you can understand it if you stretch your brain and use the dictionary at times.
Contrary to popular opinion exercising your brain does not result in irreparable damage to brain cells. In fact, using your brain makes it stronger.
As a homeschool mom, I'm all about learning to use the dictionary and stretching your brain.
2 . The KJV has quite advanced vocabulary. As a homeschool mom, I'm all about advanced vocabulary at the breakfast table.
3. If you are familiar with the KJV you can read Shakespeare without a lot of trouble. I'm also all about making more literature accessible to my kids.
4. Whether or not you like it, most English speakers for the last 300 years have read, quoted and alluded to the KJV.
If you aren't familiar with it, you miss a TON of Biblical allusions in classic literature which takes a lot of fun out of them.
Yes. . .I am all about classic literature too.
5. The King's English is closer to a few other languages like Flemish and even Spanish than modern English. For example, King James' English includes two words for you, "thee" and "thou." They are not just random, though. "Thou" is used as a subject and "thee" as an object, much like "tu" and "te" in Spanish.
If you have a good grasp on King James English, it's easier to make connections with other languages. (Which I am also all about.)
6. The translators of the KJV expected that people would not read their work silently, but listen to it read aloud, since most people couldn't read and if they could read, they couldn't afford a Bible anyway.
So they translated with their ears as well as their minds. The result is a very lyrical work, beautiful and rhythmic. I love it, even when I half understand it.
I was distracted from my KJV musings by road work. The first sign holder gave me an awkward nod because I wasn't sure if I was actually supposed to be following the giant construction dump truck through the work site, or if he just didn't get the sign turned in time, so I was staring questioningly at him.
The second sign holder was Rip Van Winkle. I kid you not. He had a giant straggly beard under his construction helmet and a confused look in his bleary eyes. He probably was as confused as I was about why he was standing on the black top twirling a sign and also surprised as I was that someone recognized him. He was turned around and staring at me when I took a last disbelieving glance in the mirror to make sure it really was he.
As I drove on I pondered the oddity of driving to get something from Facebook marketplace when I'm not even allowed to use marketplace because I won't give Meta a video of my face OR my I.D.
But I'm not going to give Meta my I.D. Or a video of my face. That's creepy. That's what scammers want you to do.
"We don't use your information or the video for anything besides estimating your age." they assure me smoothly. Unh-huh. Sure.
"Methinks thou dost protest too much." I thought at Meta. "I don't need Marketplace that much. Besides, my husband doesn't need to supply a video of his face so he can go on Marketplace for me."
When I checked the text with the address, (technically this is illegal)(and unsafe) I had a wild idea.
I could try to find the place without Google maps!
After all, Google is not forever and doth GPS endure to all generations?
No. No, it does not.
And lo and behold, just with my own brain and eyes and an address, I found the place!
I know older people have probably had that experience before, but to me it was a revelation.
You can actually find your way around on this green earth without Google!
There on the front porch we exchanged the money and the carrier and I headed home.
The view of the Susquehanna coming back across the bridge was gorgeous.
I've never loved the sea. I go to the beach and look around at the sand and the sky and the water and think, "Yes . . .And???"
But this morning staring across Lake Augusta in the misty morning I thought that maybe I need to go to a wild seascape with cliffs and rocks and fields. Maybe I'd like the sea then.
If you are worried about me having a wreck because I am staring at things as I drive, don't worry. I am dangerous when it comes to backing around with trailers but so far I haven't crashed while driving forward. Maybe my guardian angel has been extra alert.
Pondering still I wended my way home and greeted my children, hugs, kisses and glad cries withal.
This is what happens when I don't listen to anything on my phone when I drive.
Love this, thank you!