Last week, I was quite busy serving friends and family.
On the last day I volunteered at the church building, one of my best friends asked me if I wanted to go to Dallas on Tuesday, the 29th to help his mother-in-law move some furniture. She had hired movers for most of the furniture, but some pieces were going to my friend’s house, so I helped him hook up and clean off his trailer and headed to Southlake. Her house is big and she has really nice furniture, so it was crucial we had to pack the furniture well and be sure it did not break. Luckily when we got there another friend of ours from the Metroplex was there and did a majority of the work. The movers were also there still and had some helpful tools that we borrowed to move a bookshelf, a glass buffet, a couch, and a coffee table with chairs. My friend bought me lunch at Mary’s in Strawn and dinner at Chuy’s. We got back around 10pm, and after unloading I got home at almost midnight. This will be a theme for the week. While we were traveling, he asked if I would help him drive a moving truck to Austin on Friday and back on Saturday because his brother is moving. His brother is also a close friend.
On Wednesday, I went to lunch with a Pastor from Beltway and accepted a new volunteer opportunity for the foreseeable future.
On Thursday I went to my parents’ house to help them with whatever they needed. They were cleaning their garage when I got there, but that was a quick job. I started looking for things to do when I noticed that the grass around the house and shop was tall. I grabbed the weed-eater and started trimming. It took me about an hour to finish around the main part of their property. I then went to the entrance to the driveway. While I was out there I scared a snake out of its hiding. That got my heart rate up. When I finished, I came back to Abilene with my Dad to pick up some oil for his old truck and went to Lowe’s for some tools. I wanted to help him change the oil in his truck that day, but had to postpone that to later in the week.
On Friday morning I left for the Austin area with my friends. It was a bittersweet weekend. It was fun to hang out with them, but saying goodbye to one of them was hard. I am sad because for a while he and his wife have been probably our closest friends. He and I have similar interests and jobs, we also have similar senses of humors. It will be hard with him not close. I am, on the other hand, excited for him because he is now in a city where he can live up to his potential and earn fair wages for his talent level and his education. After waiting for the movers and unloading more things at the storage unit, we did not leave the Austin area until 3 hours after we planned and had to drive the truck back through Austin traffic, on one-lane highways, and trough a rainstorm. We got back to Abilene about 10:30, then unloaded some trash, filled the truck up with diesel, dropped it off, and after driving my friend and his son home, I got home at midnight on Saturday.
On Sunday, my Sister and Brother-in-Law came down to visit my parents with their two kids. We hung out with them after Church that day until late evening and went back out there on Monday (Labor Day). I changed the oil in my Dad’s truck, which was about 20 minutes of work that turned into 6 hours. We first realized that the salesman at the auto parts store gave us the wrong filter, and then realized we did not buy enough oil. In the meantime, we went to lunch and I went with my Dad to meet a contractor at a property close to my parents’ that my Realtor friend is trying to sell. The contractor was supposed to meet us around 2:30, we waited until 3:30 and she did not show up. We came to Abilene to buy more oil and made what we thought was a quick trip to Harbor Freight. While we were in Abilene, the contractor texted and said she was at the property at 4:30. She probably won’t get that job. I finished changing the oil in a matter of minutes. Laura and I came back home early in the evening.
I spent the last day of my Sabbatical resting. I’ll see y’all tomorrow.