August 21 – “Leeveetards and a horse ride”

Mom woke up yesterday and was apparently feeling much better.  She had her breakfast without incident and responded well when Chris helped her get dressed.  She even went on to Libbie’s Place.  We decided that it would be better to get her back on her routine rather than keep her out another day, even though it was her birthday.  And when we picked her up, they assured us she had had a good day.  She even played dominoes.  I didn’t even know she knew how to play dominoes.  Never mentioned it to me before.  Not that it ever came up in discussion.  I never saw her play, either.  Hope she smoked ‘em.  We did have a little birthday celebration when Mom came home from Libbie’s Place.  We got her some flowers and some brand new earrings.  Kept it low-key, though, because she didn’t believe it was really her birthday.  We did finally settle on her age.  Somewhere around 40.  That’s work.

We went to lunch with Nathan and April and Cailyn at Salsa’s.  Nathan and I were responsible for the location.  Well, indirectly Chris was responsible.  He asked me where she would prefer.  Not difficult.  She’s gonna pick Mexican food any day of the week.  The food there is pretty good, and I did mention Cailyn was there.  Can’t beat time with a grandkid.  She is counting down the days until she gets to go to her first dance class.  I was kind of surprised she wasn’t wearing her “leeveetard.”  She didn’t want to take it off the day she got it.  We rode horses after lunch.  In the lobby.  They have three horses that look like they retired from a carrousel somewhere.  The one I had was a bit feisty, but Cailyn taught me how to do it properly.  And of course it’s all on Facebook.  April took a picture.

Chris and I both took a nap when we got home.  I was tired.  She was exhausted.  Mine didn’t last very long, though.  I still had to get some work done before the neighborhood association meeting last night.  That was quite the event, too.  Must have been 75 or 80 people there.  Among them were the chief of police, the assistant city manager, our district city council representative, the director of public works, and the police lieutenant in charge of our neighborhood.  The rest were residents of Gulf Village.  They talked about potholes and crime and abandoned houses and finally got around to National Night Out.  That was the one I wanted to hear about.  I figured it would be the best chance to meet the neighbors who have moved here since Hurricane Ike.  It is scheduled for October 2^nd.  I understand that’s a Texas thing.  The rest of the country does it in August, but Texans said that was too hot, so they switched it to October.  Nice choice, I’d say.  The temperature has been in the 90’s with humidity in the 60’s and above.  That does make for a rather warm evening.  The plan is for each street to host its own event this year.  If that goes well, we may shoot for a neighborhood-wide thing next year.  So October 2^nd is now taken.  That’s a Tuesday if you want to come meet my neighbors.

Psalms 24:7-10 says, “Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.  Who is this King of glory?  The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.  Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.  Who is he, this King of glory?  The Lord Almighty — he is the King of glory.”

Father, thank you for Mom’s good day yesterday on her birthday.  Amen.