January 24 – “Thump, thump, thump”

Blasting.  Booming.  Constant thump, thump, thump.  That’s the noise that reached my ears as I turned onto the seawall.  I honestly expected to turn and see one of those tricked out super-cars, or whatever they call them, with its bass turned to the max and the volume as high as it would go.  I turned all right.  But what I saw didn’t fit at all with what I was hearing.  I saw a bicycle on the seawall.  I know, not an unusual sight at all.  But this one was towing one of those little trailers behind it.  Again, not that strange.  But what really threw me was what he had on his trailer.  I wouldn’t even have noticed it if I hadn’t heard it first.  This little trailer was hauling an amp that was bigger than the bicycle and its operator.  And somehow the music was exploding from that amp.  He was having some difficulty with it, too.  Looks like he had slowed too fast or hit a bump or something, because the front wheels of the trailer were up in the air, causing the back wheels of the bike to barely touch the sidewalk.  Quite a sight.  And yes, I admit it.  I laughed.  A lot.

I had a chance to get to know one of the other men at water therapy the other day, too.  I noticed that he had a fire department union sticker on his car, so I asked him about it.  Sure enough, he retired after 25 years as a fire fighter in Detroit.  That explained the Michigan license plates.  After that career he went into medical technology and worked at a hospital there for a number of years.  At the present time he works for the Detroit Tigers as the guy who does all of their x-rays.  Of course that led to plenty of baseball talk about Al Kaline and exorbitant salaries and how low the Astros’ payroll was last year.   It’s always great to find a new friend with some similar interests.  I just wish I could remember his name.  Oh, well.  We are in a therapy class with a bunch of senior citizens.  I’m sure he’ll understand when I ask for it again.  And again.

We had a surprise visit from our friends Kenny and Lauren and their children yesterday.  They were Seasiders back in the day before they moved to Austin.  Of course, once a Seasider, always a Seasider.  Kenny is teaching at a conference for fire department commissioners that is meeting at Moody Gardens.  It was great to see them.  Their two little girls are growing like weeds, and the two boys they are fostering are looking good as well.  The boys are both waiting for word on kidney transplants.  They have to be ready at a moment’s notice to get them to the hospital should a kidney come available.  Meanwhile, they spend a lot of time in hospitals doing dialysis.  My hat is off to that great family. 

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up.  But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!”

Father, thank you for new friends and old friends and unexpected sights on the seawall.  They all make life a little more exciting.  Amen.