The Miracle Shampoo

The holidays are approaching and I was reading a story about the Maccabbean revolt and the miracle of the oil for their sacred lamp. Story has it that as the Maccabbes retook the temple of Jeruselem, they found it destroyed by the occupying forces of Antiochus V. After rebuilding the temple, they needed to consecrate it. They relit their holy lamp in the temple to begin the re-dedication of the temple and discovered that they didn't have enough olive oil to keep their lamp burning during their ceremony and, in fact, they only had enough oil to last a single day. Unfortunately it would take 8 days to press, bless and purify new oil for the lamp. What to do? They prayed for God to intercede. The miracle part of the story we all know...the lamp continued to burn for 8 days and never went out while they made new sacred oil. This miracle became the basis for the Jewish Holiday of Hannukah, the Festival of Lights.

My story is related, but I don't know what spiritual reference I can take from this, but my bottle of shampoo hasn't run out in over 10 months of use! This is my "Miracle Shampoo!" Okay, it is a large bottle of Costco Shampoo, but seriously, it continues to give me a single pump of 'poo every time I ask for one. It feels empty, and has for over a month. In anticipation I went to Costco and bought a couple of replacement bottles. My bottle has lasted so long Costco changed the package...my white bottle with sloped shoulders has been re-designed to a stylish brown color with more of a square look...that is how long this sucker has lasted. I bought those replacement bottles (yeah, annoying that they come in 2-packs only) back in August, and here it is almost November and my hair is still shiny clean, bouncy, and luxurious. Well, as much as it can bounce. Those two bottles of new shampoo are sitting in my closet gathering dust. Every morning as I prepare to pump a squirt of shampoo, I say a little prayer that it will continue to give me cleansing...and I haven't been disappointed yet.

I brought that bottle of shampoo down to LA  from Seattle when I moved down in January. It wasn't completely full, but close enough. I moved it from my apartment in Venice to my condo in Culver City. You have to remember, every time I move it, I have to pump it to secure the pump down...that wastes a lot of valuable stuff, and I have done that twice...make that three times. For some reason I couldn't secure the pump and had to pump it a second time when I moved to Culver City. So I haven't been overtly conserving shampoo. When I wash my short hair, I do only pump it once, which is plenty. But by my calculations I have pumped it over 200 times, and it always delivers. It should have run dry months ago...

I can't explain it, and am afraid to take the lid off the bottle to look inside. I will just continue to pump it every morning until it gives up its last gift. That bottle has already given me so much, I can't expect anything more.

Maybe that is the spiritual lesson...think about someone who is always there for you, and has never given up on gifting you something you need...an encouraging word, a hug, or that look that says, "you're my friend, and I've got your back." 

I will let you all know when that bottle finally runs dry...then I will look for my next miracle bottle.

Chow!

Long Road to Columbus, OH

Well, I drove the boy from Seattle to Columbus so he could start his Junior year at OSU in Columbus...I guess I should say it right; THE Ohio State University. The wife and I decided that he would need a vehicle this year in case he lands a sweet internship at one of the big accounting firms. Plus it's hard to be a "baller" without wheels, and we don't want to be "salting his game."

We started the drive from lovely, chilly Seattle; hoping to make Bozeman, MT by the end of day one. We got a late start, so we thought 650 miles on day one would be okay. Plus driving east means losing one hour every day as we passed through time zones. Our adventure started out badly...we barely got out of Seattle when we saw flashing red lights in the rear view mirror. Unfortunately Jeff was behind the wheel, and the woman officer cut him a

lmost no slack. He was only obeying my orders to "follow that Jackrabbit Dodge Nitro" through Ellensburg, WA. Seems "Smokey" had radar up in the sky in a little Cessna plane and pulled both of us over. The officer just dinged us for 10 mph over...that was nice of her.

Day two our goal was to make it to Mt. Rushmore, SD for a quick stop at the National Monument, then boogie all the way to Sioux Falls, SD for the night. That was

a big day, 900 miles and a hemorrhoid for me. Mt. Rushmore is very cool...much more impressive than I was expecting. It was also a lot further off the highway than we thought, and we burned a couple hours sightseeing. I had to make up some time. I was behind the wheel this time when a young highway patrol officer pulled me over for exceeding the speed limit. I truly believed the limit was 75, and I was right at 75 when I passed him. He corrected me and said that the speed limit through that lovely stretch of South Dakota is 65 mph. He then asked where we were headed, and I told him that I was taking young son back to college. He asked where Jeff went to school, and after we answered, I knew he would let us off when he asked about the football team losing to USC. We made small talk, and the nice officer let me off with a warning and then the locations of other similar reductions in speed limit to be careful of. How helpful that information was! 

I thought day two was the long one, but day three turned out to be the longest spent behind the wheel. We drove non-stop from Sioux Falls, SD to just east of Indianapolis, IN...5 states in one day. I was tired of driving past corn fields, soybean fields, cleaning bugs off the windshield, and eating fast food, so we decided to stop for a nice sitdown dinner at a big truck stop...aren't they supposed to be known for having good food? Well this one didn't live up to those expectations. The value was there, but so was the heartburn and queasiness. 

We slept in on Day 4, and rolled into Columbus right around lunch. We spent the afternoon moving his stuff into his frat house room, going to his storage facility to get the rest of his stuff, and then arranging, rearranging, and re-rearranging his room to his satisfaction. It was hotter than blazes, and after climbing up 4 flights of stairs who knows how many times, I was done.

Saturday was a fun day. We met up with my friends (who have a cute daughter at OSU) and went to the OSU-Troy game (Buckeyes win big). My buddy Bartman was honored at halftime along with his '73 team and the '68 team for their National Championship seasons. After the game, Jeff and I hung out with our respective friends. I am sure his evening involved rounds of Beer Pong and young ladies, while mine was spent talking with friends about the "good old days." After getting back to my hotel room I started missing my son. We spent 4.5 days in a vehicle talking about our lives, our worries, our hopes and dreams (barely, but it sounds good), and like I have said before, we are starting to become better friends than father-son. Plus this was the end of the summer where he and I lived together, worked together and socialized together. I miss him a ton.

As he dropped me at the airport for my flight to LA, he told me he had a lot of fun with me. That meant a lot to me. He is an awesome kid with loads of potential.

Chow!