August 25 – “Work and play”

Had a pretty long day yesterday, which was certainly not all bad.  I made a trip to the hospital to visit a young man who ended up having to have his gall bladder removed.  When I saw him in the morning his pain was somewhat under control.  Ah, the wonders of morphine.  They had already told him he would have the surgery when a surgeon became available, so that meant no food.  That wasn’t a problem quite yet.  The problem came when the surgery didn’t happen until 11:00 p.m.  He got out of surgery at 4 a.m.  As it turned out I wasn’t there for the surgery.  That would have been disastrous for the teaching today.  Well, for the entire day today.  I was just glad to hear all went well.  The gall bladder was two or three times its normal size and was attached to some of the organs surrounding it.  I know.  Too much information for so early on a Sunday morning.  He’ll have a lot of pain for the next few days, but should recover just fine and get started on his brand new no-gall bladder diet.  Sounds like so much fun.

For lunch I went over to Saltgrass Steakhouse for a rehearsal dinner for the beach wedding I’m co-officiating this evening.  It promises to be an interesting one.  A Christian and a Jew are tying the knot, so I will join forces with a rabbi and incorporate some of both traditions in the ceremony.  I think it will be a really fun experience, but the bride’s parents were no so sure.  The lunch was to give them an opportunity to meet me and break the ice.  I sat next to her Dad and enjoyed talking to him.  I hope all is well now so we can get the event done.  Of course the other issue is the weather.  60% chance of rain all day today, and it has already started.  Seaside is available as the alternate site, but I don’t know what kind of issues that might raise with the Jewish family.  Honestly, I think the rabbi would be fine with it.  I talked to him on the phone and he seems amenable to whatever compromises might be necessary. 

The rest of the evening was spent on a date with my wife.  Now that sounds like a highly unusual activity, doesn’t it?  We don’t get much time to spend with just the two of us.  This date was an especially good one, thanks to the birthday gift from my younger brother and his family: tickets to an Astros game.  Got to see a kid pitch who … now let me see if I can get this straight … one of the kids I used to coach basketball, coached him in baseball.  How’s that for a getting old story?  The Astros hit a few homeruns, and even won the game, so can it get any better than that?  Thanks to Nathan and April and Cailyn for hanging out with Mom at the house so we could do this. 

Psalms 107:1 says, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”

Father, thank you for successful surgeries and happy weddings and date nights.  Amen.