I rolled over, stretching my six-foot frame all the way to the foot of the bed. With my mouth gaping in a huge yawn, I pried one eyelid up to peek at the clock. Almost nine a.m.! Why hadn't the clock gone off at the usual seven?

Sleepily, I reached over to jostle my wife Maggie, but all my hand came up with was a note on her pillow. Wide awake now, I read:

Good morning, Birthday Boy!
Hope you had a wonderful sleep. Mom is taking Becky to the zoo and they have a busy day planned. I'm dropping Josh off at school on my way to work. He gets out right at 3 today, and I'm so glad you can pick him up. Don't forget Mom and Dad are taking us out for dinner tonight. Work up an appetite!

Love you LOTS,
Maggie

Now it came back to me. For the first time in twenty-eight years of teaching seventh grade history, I had taken a personal day off. Sometimes my birthday, May 27, falls on Memorial Day, but no such luck this year. Today is a Thursday. Since this is the "BIG 5-0," I felt the need to take a little time for myself. If the truth be known, I was pretty shaken up at the idea of being a half century old.

Guess I'd better clean up my act, I thought as I grabbed my clothes and headed for the shower. I studied my face in the mirror on the medicine cabinet. Maybe it wasn't SO bad. I found a few wrinkles and some gray hairs among the light brown, but I know younger guys who look worse. My blue eyes still have the old sparkle. I bent down and discovered I could still touch my toes.

Well, Joseph James Madison, I said to my reflection, you're not doing so badly. Suddenly I felt a whole lot better. It was going to be a great day after all!

I tossed my pajamas into the hamper, then turned on the shower. The hot water was invigorating, so I took my time, even lathering my hair twice with the shampoo. Finally I rinsed off and stepped out, grabbing one of the giant bath towels from the rack. I gave the mirror a quick wipe, then tied the towel around my waist as I prepared to shave.

Electric razor in hand, I started to scrape my face. My jaw dropped when I thought I saw a beautiful woman in the mirror! Another more deliberate cleaning of the mirror did nothing to change the image there. It really was a woman! And then I heard a voice calling my name. What was happening?

My mind reeled. Was I going crazy? Wasn't fifty a little too young for senility? I knew I had seen my own reflection in that same mirror just a few minutes earlier. Surely a shower couldn't change a burly guy like me into a woman! As I tried to make sense of it all, the mysterious voice continued.

"Joseph, please do not be afraid. You are not imagining things. You have been chosen for a very important task."

I was speechless for several moments, then I blurted out, "Who are you? How can you be in my mirror? What's going on here?"

"Please be at peace, Joseph. I bring you news of a very important mission for you to take, one that can bless the whole world. You will be going to the Holy Land. You will receive further instructions as you need them."

"Me? Go to the Holy Land," I murmured, totally awestruck. I decided I must be dreaming, but regardless, I certainly didn't want to be rude. What was happening here?

"Uh, the Holy Land? Well, now, ma'am, that's a place I've always wanted to visit, especially because of all the history there and such. But much as I would like to help you out, I'm just a poor school teacher and there's no way on earth I could afford a trip like that. I'm really sorry. Who are you anyway?"

The woman smiled and said in a soothing way, "Do not worry, Joseph. The trip has already been arranged. You will soon see that all the plans have been made and everything is in place. You will leave on the seventh of July. Always remember, God loves you, Joseph, and nothing is impossible for Him."

With that, she vanished and I was left staring open mouthed at my own reflection in the mirror. From habit, without much thought as to what I was doing, I resumed shaving, all the while turning the whole incident over in my mind.

Why would something weird like this happen to me? I'm just a simple, ordinary guy. Sure, I try to be a good husband and father, and do my best to teach a bunch of kids who usually act like they'd rather be anywhere else in the world than my classroom. The whole incident boggled my mind.

Just as I finished shaving, the phone rang. I ran to the bedside extension.

"Hi, Joe. This is Sally Quinlin over at the high school. How are you today?"

"Just fine, thanks, Sally. How about you?" I answered, wondering why the high school nurse was calling.

"Joe, Dr. Harrington is here doing the routine physicals on the students. Now it's probably nothing to worry about, but Joshua's blood pressure was pretty high and the doctor said he'd like you to have your family doctor give him a check up just to be on the safe side."

"Joshua's blood pressure's high? Maybe he was just running around right before it was checked? Maybe the doctor should just check it again," I suggested, adding, "By the way, Sally, just how high was it?"

Sally replied, "The doctor had Joshua sit down quietly for fifteen minutes and then he took it again. It was still pretty high. He didn't tell me the exact reading, I'm sorry to say. Look, Joe, please don't worry. Like I said, it's probably nothing serious, but it really would be a good idea to take him to your family doctor. Please let me know how it goes, okay?"

"Yes, of course I will. As a matter of fact, I'm having lunch with several friends today, and one of them happens to be our family doctor. I'll see if he can fit Josh in this afternoon and let you know. Thanks for calling, Sally."

I started back toward the bathroom to get dressed, but before I could take two steps, the phone rang again.

"Hey, Joe! Just checking to make sure you didn't forget our lunch date!"

"Marty, you old son of a gun, you know I wouldn't forget something as important as that," I retorted. "See you at Paddy's, twelve o'clock sharp. I'm looking forward to it. Oh, do you know if Ozzie's still planning to join us?"

Marty replied, "We ALL are. Ozzie, Sam and I wouldn't miss it for anything. See ya then. So long, buddy."

I finally managed to make it back to the bathroom and get dressed. I chased my morning vitamin and a couple of aspirins down with a glass of water. I was getting a doozy of a headache. So far this fiftieth birthday of mine was turning out to be one heck of a day and it was still only a little after ten! I headed for the kitchen to have some coffee and try to collect my thoughts.








Continue to Chapter 2


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