December 19 – “Morgue Rental”

This morning I picked up a few "sacks of potatoes" (aka grandsons).  Two at once, in fact.  I guess I'm overdoing it, but it has been a long time since I have felt good enough to horse around like that.  Chris kind of fussed at me about it, but she was kind.   Chris is hard at work on our yearly Christmas letter.  When she gets done I get to go in and make "editorial comments."  That's usually a lot of fun.  I don't have to do all the hard work.  I just have to look for grammatical or  contextual changes or additions that might need to be made, then perhaps explain my reasoning.  How hard can that be?   Mom was supposed to do a Christmas party thing at Moody Gardens tonight, but they couldn't get in.  Really.  There was apparently not a single parking place in the whole joint.  They finally just came home.   Nathan and April and Cailyn left for Corpus Christi for the weekend.  They came by to leave us their fish.  Babysitting for  fish is normally not much of a chore.  But this fish, a beta, is four years old.  At least that's how long they have had him.  I don't know how old fish are supposed to get, but that sure seems a long time to me, even for a pampered city-fish like this one.  April seemed to think it might not make it until they get back.  Chris adamantly insisted, "Not on my watch."  I humbly offered to open our morgue should the unthinkable happen.  It hasn't been used for much other than cooling drinks since the eight bodies we kept on ice around Thanksgiving.  We didn't hear a gobble of a complaint from them, so I think the fish will be fine.  Then when they return they can choose a nautical or lad-based funeral.    Nahum 1:7 says, "The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble.  He cares for those who trust in him"   Father, I trust you.  Amen.