July 5 – “Trade talks”

We had a fitting end to our Fourth of July.  Kel and his family and Nathan and his family came over last night for some hamburgers.  We discovered that our grill outside has finally reached its last leg, though.  The knobs wouldn’t turn, so I had to get a pair of pliers.  That helped, but when they finally turned, the propane was barely making it through the tiny little holes.  Fortunately, Nathan reminded us that he had given us a George Foreman grill a while back.  We pulled it out and gave it an inauguration run, and George did his job admirably.  The meal was followed by a mini-baseball game in the front yard and a rousing game of croquet over in 40 Steps, the vacant lot next door.  Both activities, I might add, developed rules of their own.  Great fun, but it was sure hot and humid.  Great to be back on Galveston Island, I guess, after a week of 8% humidity in New Mexico. 

I had an opportunity to trade some baseball cards with Micah.  He got a pack of 50 Astros for his birthday, and he was raring to do some high-level negotiations with me.  I chose from his stash Daryl Kyle, Craig Biggio, and Brad Ausmus.  As I dug through some of my oldies, he wanted to know when the cards came out, because he really liked 2013 cards.  I explained that these came out before his Daddy was born.  He then asked, “Oh, when he was still in Nana’s tummy?”  Chuckling, I replied, “I suppose in a sense he was.  Nana would have been about nine years old.”  His eyes widened.  Pondering that unbelievable comment, or perhaps trying to make sense out of Nana at such a young age, he responded, “You mean she was like as old as Jachin is?”  There you have it.  Nana really did used to be a kid.  Struggling to keep his mouth from dropping at the thought, he continued, “Well, then, how old were you?”  I quickly replied, “I was ten.”  The math wheels began to turn, and he rapidly figured the difference.  “So you’re a year older than she is.  Wow.”  I’m not sure if I appreciated the awe in his voice or not.  Let’s just say he was respecting his elders.  He just didn’t expect them to be that elderly.  Of course that led to a discussion on what my plans were for the cards when I died.  “You could give some of to your grandkids, couldn’t you?  Like to me?”  I told him my plan was to let his Dad fight it out with Uncle Josh and Uncle Nathan over who got what cards.  That brought a grin to his face.  Then he offered some serious end of life preparation advice.  “Cailyn probably wouldn’t want any cards.  She’s a girl, you know.” 

I finally found the cards I was looking for and made my offer.  Larry Dierker’s rookie card from 1966 and Don Drysdale, Bob Clemente, and the “Dodgers’ Big Three” card with Drysdale, Sandy Koufax, and Johnny Podres on the front.  I knew he wouldn’t know any of those guys, so I told him to check with his Dad first.  Kel thumbed through and made the appropriate sounds, “Ooh.  Oh, wow.  Drysdale.  Clemente.”  He mentioned to Micah that Clemente was the same guy on one of the reprint cards he had opened earlier.  His name was Roberto on that one, but he assured him it was the same guy.  Micah took that card from him and held it out to me saying, “I already have this guy.”  Kel stopped him, though, explaining that this was a much older card and would be a good one to have.  Kel’s final, official comment as trade advisor?  “I’d sure do it.”  That was enough for Micah.  Deal done.

A fitting end to the day came when all the kids gathered up on our deck and watched the Galveston city fireworks.  We’ve never been able to see them from up there before because of the trees that used to surround our house.  So there’s a plus that came out of Hurricane Ike’s destruction.  Nathan and April bowed out early so they could get some sleep since they both have to work today.  Cailyn stayed with us, though, to spend the night and hang out today.  After a bath, the boys all headed home.  I know.  I know.  Quite the boring story today.  But it was just a nice, family holiday evening for us. 

Psalms 98:1 says, “Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.”

Father, thank you for simple family holidays.  Can’t wait to have some time with Josh and Christi and their boys tonight and tomorrow.  Amen.