May 15 – “Still got it.”

We couldn’t stand it any more.  The Corona-ness was driving us stark, raving battified.  What was missing?  Oh, we had all we needed.  It was just … time for a road trip.  So Waco, here we come.

Or I guess that would be, “here we came,” since we drove yesterday and are already here.  There was very little traffic, at least during the time I was awake.  Well, other than through the I45 construction in the middle of a rainstorm.  It looked like Buc-ees even had a much smaller crowd than usual. 

When we arrived we had to face an array of Corona questions at the door.  Christi was defiantly protecting her brood, and I thought for a moment we would have to be subjected to having our temperature taken or at least being hosed down in the front yard. 

But then I noticed that Caleb was lounging on the floor behind then, reading.  So I reached into my bag of DadDad tricks and played my trump card.  No, not Donald Trump.  He’s just the president.  That wouldn’t have helped.  Nope, I had this one cinched.  From behind my back I held up proudly my secret weapon and proclaimed, “I have a bribe for the gestapo.  Cookies.  Chocolate chip cookies.  Made fresh by Nani chocolate chip cookies.”  Sure enough, the strategy worked.  Caleb and Zak and Luke all let out a whoop and demanded that the bribe be accepted.  Josh broke ranks and sided with the bribes as well.  I think AnnaGrace would have, too, had she understood what “bribe” meant.  Apparently the community pressure was more than Christi could bear.  We were allowed in, and the cookies made their rounds. 

The afternoon was spent clearing some of the rampaging bamboo from the back of their house.  Their home is built on a ravine and some well-meaning soul at some point in time introduced the reed-weed.  It is now totally out of control.  They are burning some in their fire pit, but this task was to collect some of the larger diametered pieces to use for building a planter box for Christi.  Josh has the plans all laid out … in his head.  Takes after his mother on that count. 

At supper we played a fun game at Luke’s request.  Josh asked a question of one of us.  Then everyone else had to guess what we thought that person’s answer would be.  Then we got the real answer from the horse’s mouth.  It was a lot of fun.  I got Chris right every time.  She had me pegged as well.  Guess being married 45 years (Well, it’ll be 45 years on June 6^th) has its advantages.

Last night we joined in with a Waco Vaughan family Corona tradition.  They have been taking nightly walks to the park near their house.  It’s less than a mile away, so Chris jumped right in there.  Of course there were some tough spots.  We’re not on our Island anymore.  They have hilly roads up here.  But she made it with flying colors.  Nice job, Chris.

When we got home I joined forces with Josh against Zak and Luke in a game of basketball.  Old school savvy versus pure athleticism.  And the old dudes prevailed.  Pretty much schooled them, actually.  Zak commented to his Dad after the game, “DadDad’s still got it, doesn’t he?”  Yep.  The old man’s not dead yet.  Pretty sore this morning … but not dead yet.

Psalms 34:18 says, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

Father, thank you for our road trip.  We sure needed something like this.  Now to venture a little farther … Maybe a little later.  Amen.