May 31 – “On the road again”

We did have our Memorial Day cookout this year.  We did it on the Saturday before because we thought Kel and his family and Nathan and his family could all be here.  Kel's group couldn't make it, but Nathan and April and Cailyn came over.  When Chris was growing up her family always had a big reunion-type gathering on Memorial Day with her fifty or so first cousins and aunts and uncles.  She remembers those times fondly, even though we weren't able to go to a lot of them after we were married.  She really enjoys our little family get-togethers.  Guess they remind her of the happy parts of her childhood.    I fired up the gas grill and slapped on some chicken.  It burned really hot for the first fifteen minutes for some reason, so the outside got charred up.  By the time the prescribed hour was up, the meat was done.  Really done.  Chris likes it burnt like that, but I apologized anyway.  How do you know when all that salmonella - or whatever disease that is in chicken - is cooked out?  Everybody was kind to the cook, though.  The sausage turned out really good.  And all the fixin's were great, but of course they were.  Chris fixed them.   Our task for today is to figure out when we can leave for Peggy's funeral.  The service is tomorrow morning, so we will leave sometime today and stay the night with Cary and KayLynn in Arlington.  At least we didn't have to be on the road yesterday with all the holiday traffic.  Christina said she would get with April and between them they would take care of Mom while we are gone.  Mom wanted to ride along even though she didn't know Peggy.  But we were concerned that the quick drive up and back would take too much of a toll on her.  Just going to church on Sundays has begun to tire her so much that she takes an extra nap or two on Mondays to recover.  We assured her that when we go to San Antonio for Zakary's birthday party she can go.   I sure have some mixed emotions about going to another funeral.  This is the fourth one in just a couple of months.  I'm excited to see people we haven't seen in awhile.  Of course I'm sad about the circumstances.  I do know Peggy is at peace where she is now.  No more pain.  Always a comforting thought to me.  No pain.  That'll be nice.   Proverbs 10:9 says, "The man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out."   Father, I want to be a man of integrity, but not because I may get caught otherwise.  I want it to just be who I am.  Like you.  Amen.