April 12 David

Saturday:  I didn't really take very many pictures of my brother, David, during his 7+ day stay with me. We were too busy. We were too exhausted! 

But I do want to post that without David's coming to help move Ruthanne and Terry move, they would have had to hire help and a LOT of it. My brother, David, is a very organized person. Not that Ruthanne and Terry are NOT organized; don't misinterpret, please. It's just that my sister's sickness precludes so much else of what was true about her, and makes life very complicated for everyone who loves her. By the grace of God, Terry takes very good care of her. Without God, I don't think this level of commitment would be possible.

But ... back to David. He works part-time for a law firm--RHINO Lawyers. He is basically a paraprofessional without the accompanied level of pay. He is able to do all of his 20 weekly hours remotely, which is a huge benefit in and of itself. He has a Star Link account that provides him everything he needs to work from home ... or anywhere else where there is satellite capability. So, he worked right here out of my little beach house! David is five years younger than I am. He began collecting his full social security benefit when he turned 66. In order not to jeopardize that full monthly amount, he can only earn "X" amount of money each month. Hence, the not-quite compensatory salary.

We did have an hour or so each evening, once we left Ruthanne's house, to just relax here at my place. We played a whole Pachesi tournament--well, kind of. David won 7 games and I won only 5. We had a lot of fun, though, playing this very old game that always brings us back to our childhood. I thought we would maybe play a LOT of checker games; but we only actually played one!

The day we were loading the truck, Terry asked us to take their huge glass bottle with a few years' worth of nickels, dimes and quarters inside--as well as an entire tackle box full of rolled coins, to a place that would exchange the coins for paper currency. I didn't even realize a machine like this existed! We found one at Meijer and did exactly as we were told. There were a LOT of coins. David and I estimated that there would be in excess of $300 worth--we were right, and THEN SOME. It turned out that there was more than $1K worth of coins. It sure was fun to bring back that cash to Terry and Ruthanne! However, Terry turned around and gave it right back to David to pay for gas $$ for the drive on down to Georgia, and to reimburse him for his plane ticket to and from Tampa. I hope there was some money left over to give back to Terry.

My brother plays the piano beautifully. He has such a nice "touch" and expression AND ability. I love to listen to him play, so he did on several occasions.

Last week, before David's arrival, Ruthanne, Terry and I went to the movies (in Rockford--don't go there! The seats are terribly uncomfortable and the screen is quite small!) to see Season Five, Part 2 (I had already seen Part I last week). So then Thursday afternoon when all of our loading of the truck was finished, we went down to Celebration Theatre and saw Part 2 together. It was so well done. I found Part I a little bit tedious with all of the arguing between the Pharisees, Saducees, Pilot, the Sanhedrin, etc. The cleansing of the Temple was amazing, though. I was glad to see Part 2 tonight as well. David has not seen one single episode of this series! I'm uncertain as to why; but perhaps he has been warned against doing so. I realize there is a lot of conjecture going on with a dramatic portrayal of Jesus--and I haven't agreed with all of their depictions of Him; but I have loved the detail and history they have poured into this. I love the people that play the characters too: Peter! John! Little James! Andrew! Eden! Mary (both of them!).

David was temporarily going to begin his trip to Georgia about mid afternoon on Thursday, thinking that he could get 4-6 hours into the trip and then spend the night in a motel to get a good sleep before driving all day Friday; but he changed his mind! He stayed Thursday night, which allowed him to see Part 2 with us as well as eating dinner once again at The Score. What can I say? All of us LOVE THEIR WINGS!

David pulled out Friday morning, just after 6am and began the trip down to Georgia. He actually made it inside the state of Georgia before stopping to sleep overnight. He resumed driving Saturday and actually arrived by 10:30 am. WOW. David said the roads in Ohio and one other state were absolutely bumpy behind tolerance--he said it was like riding a horse! 

A very nice bonus for David was the fact that once they unloaded the truck down in Georgia, Mark drove him over to Rachel's place (less than an hour away, and actually closer to the Atlanta airport where he flies home to Tampa on Sunday)--so David got to spend a nice 24 hours with his daughter, Rachel, and her beautiful family. I was so glad to hear this!

Thank You, thank You, thank You, Lord.