November 8 – “Just remember that …”

We had kind of an active day yesterday.  Not in terms of walking, though.  Too wet and cold for that.  But we did have some errands that we had to run, so it was out of the house anyway.

Our first stop was Academy.  Anyone who has seen me in the mornings knows that I drink coffee from one of those hot/cold tumblers.  Mine has the old Astros rainbow jersey colors.  Well, I dropped that thing the other day, and broke the lid.  The tumbler was fine, of course.  It’s made out of titanium or some such indestructible metal.  Not so the lid.  It’s simple plastic.  I was afraid I would have to just get a new one and sadly relegate this one to the dumpster.  To my great surprise, they sold just the lids.  Well, the lids were for one of those expensive Yeti mugs, but it sure fit perfectly on my mug.  And I had a $10 gift certificate, so it was free.  We also got a similar mug for Chris and we found an Astros World Series T-shirt that was drastically reduced.  Hey, just because they lost doesn’t mean they should be thrown to the Clearance Rack.  Go, ‘stros.

The rest of the errands were rather mundane.  We stopped by the hearing aid place to pick up my repaired earpiece.  I’m sure Chris is happy that the TV won’t be quite as loud.  Then we stopped at Randall’s to pick up a prescription.  That just took a quick minute or two, so Chris then decided that we needed to visit the store next door.  Tuesday Morning?  Or was it Thursday Afternoon?  I don’t know.  One of those days and times.  As we walked around I talked to Kel on the phone.  We were trying to coordinate getting the BMW back to the shop.  We did come up with a general plan.  It was just up to Chris and me to flesh out the details. 

After a grocery run to WalMart, we began to take action on the car thing.  We drove out to the East end of the Island and picked up the key.  Then we drove back to the post office to pick up the car.  Then it was back East again to the mechanic shop.  Finally, when he got off work, Kel gave us a call and we took the truck he is driving back over to him.  They decided against the BMW, though.  The premium gas requirement and the high costs of maintenance kind of scared them off.  Maybe next time. 

Kel gave me a hug when I handed over the keys.  Interesting little interchange there:
Kel: “Thanks, Dad.  Y’all have really been good to me.”

Me: “Just remember that when it comes time for the nursing home.”

Then, without missing a beat …

Kel: “I’ll pick a good one that Josh can pay for.  It’ll be close by so Nathan can come visit.”

Thanks, son.  Just … thanks.

Luke 12:3 says, “What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the rooftops.”

Father, thank you for Dennis’ kind heart.  Thanks as well for all three of my boys … whatever their individual contributions may be to our future abode.  Amen.