November 23 – “Fri-mily”

We had some very dear friends (You know, the kind mentioned in the Bible … Something about a friend being closer than a brother.  Guess that makes them friend-family … fri-mily) arrive Friday evening for an all-too brief weekend stay.  Cary and Kay Lynn from Arlington came in after Cary made a work-related delivery in Beaumont.  Hey, that puts Galveston right on the way, right?  Cary just dropped Kay Lynn off at the nearest mall to do some Christmas shopping while he made the delivery.  Quick in and out job, right?  Well, not so much this time.  Apparently there was some cross-up with the remote server or some such techno-gobbledy gook.  Several hours later Kay Lynn was outside waiting on a park bench for her ride.  She must have ready, too, because she tried to get into the first white truck she saw pull up nearby.  The driver wasn’t quite so accommodating, however.  Drove off as quickly as he could when he saw her coming.  They did finally get together again, and made their way here down the dark stretches of the ferry road on the peninsula.  I’ll assume they didn’t see many dolphins on their ferry ride out of Texas and into Galveston.

Yesterday we all went to the Moody Church craft fair.  By “all” I mean Nathan and April and Cailyn joined us as well.  Or I guess we joined them.  The fair didn’t seem as big as it has been in the past, though.  Don’t get me wrong.  Chris managed to get her some more goat grease.  Sorry, Laura.  Goat Grease is my affectionate nickname for hand lotion homemade out of farm-raised goat’s milk.  The Bearded Lady (not Laura.  That’s the name of the family business.  Get it?  A goat has a beard?) makes everything from hand lotions to soap out of goat milk.  Pretty impressive.  They are the anchor tenants of Seaside’s own Bethlehem Street Market Craft Fair coming up on December 13, proceeds to go toward sending our youth to camp next summer.  Whew.  How’s that for some shameless self-promotion?  Speaking of self, I must confess I did pick up one book for myself.  It is a collection of stories that have been published in the Saturday Evening Post over the years.  There are some awesome authors represented, too.  Edgar Allen Poe, Ogden Nash, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Stephen Vincent Benet, William Faulkner, Ring Lardner, O. Henry, Jack London, G.K. Chesterton.  Even three by Benjamin Franklin.  Gotta love books.

We hurried home to grab a sandwich, because Cary and I (and later Nathan as well.  We desperately needed reinforcements.  Young, strong reinforcements) had to get over to Uncle Jerry’s house and help my cousin Jer finish moving stuff out.  Actually our job was to get the rest of whatever was left over to Seaside for the youth group’s booth at the Bethlehem Street Market, “Gentile-ly Used Goods.”  Pretty much a garage sale booth.  I think Jer is just about done with cleaning out the house now.  I think I’m just about done, too.  I was three different kinds of sore by the time we got back home.  Jer seems to be having a hard time letting go of Galveston.  He said he may even buy a condo here, just to maintain his roots.  Hey, once you get that sand between your toes, it is next to impossible to get it out again. 

We finished out the day in the presence of great friends, eating some barbecued redfish that Chris cooked for us, savoring some Blue Bell Peppermint Bark ice cream, and enjoying a victory by the Baylor football team.  Doesn’t get much better than that.

Proverbs 18:24 says, “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

Father, thank you for friends like Cary and Kay Lynn.  It is really awesome when the line between friend and family begins to blur.  And we do love our fri-mily.  Amen.