August 12 – “Critter incursion”

Critter incursion alert.  I was locking up the house after a late-night Astros loss (too many of those lately).  As the last light extinguished and darkness fell, I heard a bark from the backyard.  And then another.  And then it became sustained and focused.  And just about that time I heard just above my head, the pounding – that’s pounding, not pitter-pattering – of critter feet, racing across the roof.  I struggled with whether to hurry outside and see just what manner of beast could cause such a ruckus.  Reason – and fatigue – finally won, so I went on to bed, chuckling at the thought of what Chris’ reaction might have been.  Cat?  Perhaps.  Opossom?  Could have been.  Gigantic rat?  Maybe we’d best not go there.  And here’s the thing.  The next morning, as I brushed my teeth in the quiet of early day (The “early day” is always quiet around our house.  Chris doesn’t get up until a good hour or so after I do), I heard it once again.  Not as powerful, as strong, as … as … big as the night before, but still an interloper.

With that rodentious scare behind me, I made my way to the drivers’ license bureau.  It was time for me to be renewed, and I had apparently reached beyond the upper limit of doing it online.  They wanted to see my pretty face and test my weary eyes.  All went well, though.  I only had three people in front of me, and once they figured out how to see into the eye testing machine, things went fairly quickly.  I’m good on the roads now.  Well, at least until 2023.  Let’s see … that’s two years before our fiftieth wedding anniversary.  Guess I’ll have to renew one more time before we can disappear into the countryside on a magical mystery tour. 

On the way home I stopped at Home Depot to get some Scotchgard (That’s how it’s spelled, thank you very much, Spellcheck).  Chris and I spent the better part of our date day morning at the church spraying down 100 new chairs to try to keep them juice and coffee stain free for a little while, at least.  I like this option better than banning juice and coffee altogether. 

Next on our date day agenda was a trip over to Moody Gardens.  We wanted to see the dinosaur exhibit before it closes.  Of course it was a little difficult to get in.  UTMB was having its commencement in the convention center.  But what we wanted was on the other side of the building, so we were fine, right?  Temporary setback, right?  Umm.  No one told us yesterday was the day that every single tourist in Galveston had chosen to visit Moody Gardens.  Not Schlitterbahn, mind you.  They were all parked in the Moody Gardens parking lot.  Make that parking lotS.  All of them.  We would have had to park almost to Jamaica Beach, and then walk in the 100 plus heat index just to get there.  You know what?  Nope.

So what to do instead?  How about a quick stop at Palais Royal.  They were apparently having a big sale, and Chris was interested in checking them out.  No clothes made it into our cart, sadly.  The big sale prices placed them almost to where they probably should have been anyway.  But we did make a purchase.  Chris found a purse she liked.  Half price.  That was a good buy, especially since Chris hates buying anything for herself.  We even had a really nice sales clerk.  She told us to have a blessed and divine day.  I’ve had a blessed one before.  Not sure what she meant by divine, but I’ll take the sentiment anyway.

We weren’t quite through with our date day yet.  One more stop.  One more place to take a leisurely walk, holding hands with my beloved, and maybe discover something strange and exciting in the process.  So where is your guess?  The seawall?  Down on the sand?  Perhaps the Strand?  All nice, but nope, not for us.  We went to … drum roll … WalMart.  I even found a pair of cheap shorts while we were there. 

Oh, and we made it home in plenty of time to watch the Astros game with some friends in Arlington.  No, I mean literally.  They were in Arlington at the Astros game.  She is a big Rangers fan, so we texted back and forth the entire game.  It was a lot of fun.  Let’s just say, when all was said and done … she had a bit more fun than I did.  Great ending to a great date day.  Hey.  Any day spent hanging out with the lady I love is a great day.

1 Peter 2:20 says, “But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.”

Father, thank you that Chris is happy to spend a day doing essentially nothing, but doing it together.  Amen.