March 10 – “Mexico”

I have a quick Luke anecdote today.  It fits well with the fact that every one of my squatting muscles is barking angrily at me right now.  But wait.  Why the barking, you may ask?  Chris and I worked together to finish cleaning out the final flower bed in the back yard.  And that mean … power tool hedge trimmer to the front yard.  Yep, after a more than full morning of squatting and tugging at obstinate weeds, I finally got to attack the front hedge.  And Chris wasn’t kidding when she said she wanted them cut way back.  Now they look kind of threadbare.  But she approved the whole operation, so I just kept on cutting.  So, on the one hand, I am sore all over, but on the other … the power tool hedge trimmer works just fine.

Now, on to the Luke story.  I walked outside to check on him while they were here a few days ago.  He was happily playing under the landing to our deck.  As I approached closer I could see that his task was more than just playing.  He had a single plastic spoon. And he had a hole dug about a foot and a half or two feet deep.  Amazing accomplishment, wouldn’t you say?  I wanted a little more information, so I eased in a little closer.

Me: “Hey, Luke.  Have you dug a hole all the way to China yet?”  (That was always what my Dad and my grandmother always said when my brothers and I dug holes in the back yard.  I think it was pretty universal, too.  I later heard Chris ask him the same thing)

Luke: “No.  I’m just going to Mexico.”

Me: “Mexico?  That’s still pretty far.  What will you do in Mexico?”

Now let me interject here that I don’t believe in a million years you will guess what Luke’s response was to that query.  I imagine there are quite a few things you can do in Mexico, from taking in all the tourist sites to doing relief work with the indigenous population.  So, get ready for Luke’s answer …

Luke: “When I go there, I’m going to take my shoes off and put my feet in there and go fishing with my feet.”

To be fair, there is a reasonable explanation for his comment.  It was not completely random.  Still pretty funny, but not necessarily random.  See, his oldest brother Zakary loves a particular show that comes on Netflix.  It’s the one where the host travels all over the world to go fishing for Monster Fish.  And one of his most popular episodes involves the suspect activity called noodling.  What’s that?  Well, noodling is taking off your shoes and putting your hands or feet in a dark hole under the water and using your toes as bait, you try to snag a big fish with your bare hands, or feet as the case may be.  Sound familiar? 

Psalms 37:5-6 says, “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.”

Father, thank you for Luke and his awesome imagination.  Help him to maintain and develop it as he gets older.  Amen.