First the obvious…
GrumpyOldIntrovert:
Grumpy? Just ask any of my four grandchildren who live here in my home with their parents. ‘Nuff said…
GrumpyOldIntrovert:
Lord willing, I will hit my three score and ten this June. With today’s extended life expectancies, I guess I could say “older” but that does not have that nice crisp sound to it that Old does.
GrumpyOldIntrovert:
I have a lifetime membership in this club. However, until recently I would have said I was anti-social. When I attended social gatherings with Gail, she was what I would call my saving grace. I could go anywhere with her and be accepted because everybody loved her. But now with her gone I realize that I am not anti-social, I just don’t mingle well. So, yeah, Introvert is a better description.
So where did the name come from?
Well, I didn’t go to someone’s website and put in a bunch of information that wasn’t any of their business so their site could generate an internet domain name suggestion for me. I still refuse to tell Facebook or Google my birthdate (though anybody could likely find it on the internet) and I have misinformed certain medical sites of that as well.
The idea for the name came to me organically when the idea for doing a blog did and is related to something that happened over and over again–the idea for the blog, not the name– when I was running the sound board at church before first Gail’s and now my health issues put a stop to it.
For all the years I was there running sound I had young parents walk in front of me carrying or walking their children out of the sanctuary. Sometimes they just needed to make the euphemistic pitstop but most of the time it was because as “Sons of Adam and daughters of Eve” those little souls needed a bit of redirection as their Adamic nature’s kept rising seemingly at the most inappropriate times.
As these caring but frustrated young parents would come past my little desk at the back of the sanctuary, they would often scurry past and sometimes the mothers would blush as they did so. I can’t say what was going through their minds at the time but remembering those days myself I am sure they were thinking that everybody was annoyed by the disruptions these little ones were causing and that this guy in the sound booth was having his view of the pulpit blocked as they went by.
I have no doubt that some in the congregation might have been annoyed by the actions of these children, but I am also confident that most of those good people who had children of their own were sympathetic rather than annoyed. I know I was. And I wanted to just stop them in their tracks and tell them so.
So, for a couple of you who may read this who passed my little introvert’s haven over those years, I want to you to know that I felt your pain. I also waved at your little ones as you flew by if they looked at me. Also know that I applauded you for wanting to raise your children in the congregation instead of handing them off to strangers doing “Children’s Church” (whatever that is) no matter how well-intentioned those good folks were. For the record our church did not make Children’s Church available though there was a nursery/play area set aside for those who needed it.
Anyway, it was this scenario that prompted me to start a blog and GrumpyOldIntrovert was the name that came to me as the idea for the blog took shape.
So, yeah, if your children are being disruptive go ahead and take them out of the Sancturary to properly address the issue. Sure, some may scowl but ignore them, they have other issues anyway. But I believe most of the older folks in the congregation who have raised their own children in the church as you are doing will be fine with what’s going on. They may even be praying for you–not that you would leave of course, the scowlers may be doing that–but that you would have patience and peace in this all too brief time in your lives.
And if you have to pass the sound booth on your way and it has a GrumpyOldIntrovert in it don’t worry about him. He has long ago learned how to listen attentively to the message while doing a number of other things at the same time so your trip past his outpost will not bother him. However, if as you pass by, you notice that he is dozing off please give him a gentle nudge and wake him because that means that a loud snore is imminent and that WOULD be disruptive.