Saturday, December 8, 2012

December 8 – “The Wish Game”


I made my trip into Texas yesterday to purchase the last things needed for the Bethlehem Street Market Craft Fair at Seaside that starts this morning at ten.  My task was acquiring enough turkey legs to fry up and have for our lunchtime celebration.  I figured Sam’s would be the best place to start.  They are known for opportunities to purchase in bulk, after all.  I didn’t have much luck there, though.  No turkey legs or wings at all.  I looked around for some candy canes for another activity I added to my role as storyteller, but I couldn’t even find them.  I also stopped by their pharmacy to get some Claritin-D, but they don’t accept coupons.  Strike three.  Time to go somewhere else. 

Chris had already seen some turkey legs at WalMart in Galveston, so I stopped at the one there in Texas City.  Hit the mother lode.  I scored ten packages of turkey legs with three in each package.  Not a bad start.  I had some questions about the wings, though.  There were only three per package like the legs, but they had a lot of extraneous skin and bones that made them cost quite a bit more.  I made an executive decision.  Turkey legs only.  When we run out, we run out.  And of course they had plenty of candy canes. 

After a quick stop to say hello to Jachin, Micah, and Josiah, I took my stash back to the Island and put them in the fridge.  I was hoping thirty legs wouldn’t be enough, though, so Cailyn and I headed over to the Galveston WalMart to see what they had.  That outing started out great.  We no sooner walked in the door than we ran into Cailyn’s Daddy and his crew from the fire station.  Since WalMart didn’t appear to be on fire, we surmised rather quickly that they were on a grocery run.  Sure enough, they had one basket full of cleaning supplies and another with all the makings for nachos.  Mexican food at Station One.  I’m not sure who was more surprised, or more excited, Cailyn or Nathan.  Always good to see a daddy hugging his little girl.  Kind of makes me jealous that I never had one.

Cailyn made it all worthwhile, though, after we got home.  We started a game of secret agents.  It was a new one to me.  We each had to stick a feather behind our ear.  That was the our secret symbol, the designation of our craft.  Then we made a tent in the living room.  Always have to have a safe place to hide.  And while we were hiding out in the tent, Cailyn had another idea.  “DadDad, let’s play the wish game.”  Intriguing.  Not that I would have refused anyway, but I was really interested.  “How do you play?” I asked.  “It’s easy,” she assured me, “What do you wish for?”  Ah, the question of the ages.  A myriad of possibilities flooded my thoughts.  But the one that stuck was, “I wish I could dance with you at your wedding.”  She flashed that trademark smile of hers that is destined to bring many a suitor to his knees.  She softly replied, “You can, DadDad.”  Well, my heart melted.  I had to know what she was thinking, though, so I asked her, “What do you wish?”  I guess I must have set the tone for the discussion, because her reply was, “I want to get married.”  I could tell that she was still pondering, though, so I waited in silence.  Finally she continued, “I want to get married to my Daddy.”  Aw.  That’s sweet.  But for some reason I still held my tongue.  She continued, “But he’s already married.”  Again, aw, especially if you could have seen the pouting expression on her face.  I almost reached out to comfort her, but her face brightened.  Her grin widened.  She reached out and touched my cramped leg and said, “So I can marry you, DadDad.  Now let’s play.”  But I’m already … but … but … never mind.  Think I’ll just hold onto that one.

Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

Father, thank you for wish games.  Thank you more for faith realities.  Amen.

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