Labor Day

Bob invited me to his home for lunch. His wife Carolyn is a great cook, and she made a delicious meal out of hot dogs and potato salad and blueberry pie. Bob's sister and brother-in-law were there, and a businessman friend of theirs was as well. Everybody was several times my age, so the discussion inevitably turned to health problems. Skin cancer runs in Bob's family, and Bob mentioned that he'd had two melanomas about twenty years back. "It was time for me to die," he said, "but the devil didn't want me, and God wasn't sure, so I had to stay here."

Bob and Carolyn are very welcoming, inviting people, and they said that they've always had people coming and going through their house, which they built 40-odd years ago. Carolyn said, "When he was a principle, Bob would bring kids home like some people bring home cats and dogs." Bob and Carolyn strike me as very happy people, and I'm so fortunate to count them as friends.

In other news, I'm planning to forge ahead with the house. I still don't know exactly how it will be used, but I do believe this is the right next step. I've consulted with several people much wiser than I, and I have prayed about it a lot; in a case like this, I think God wants me to do what I already know to be right rather than wait for the proverbial writing in the sky to confirm it. I ran up to that neighborhood today and did a thorough search for houses, and I'll get my realtor to show a couple to me sometime this week.