It's...It's...It's Blue!

 I was all set to publish my latest edition on Sunday when we got a text telling us that one of my childhood friends, Brian Freeland, had suffered a massive heart attack. Brian lived up the road when we were growing up. He and his two brothers were my best friends. I don't see them nearly as often as I would like these days. You may recall that their mother, Mrs. Sue, passed away six months ago.

So, receiving that news sort of took the wind out of my sails and we've been praying for Brian and his family all week. Brian has had a very close brush with death and he is not out of the woods yet, but has made good progress, if slow, all week. Many of you reading this already know about Brian, but if you did not, I know his family would appreciate it if you join the rest of us in praying for his recovery and healing.

I will say Brian has always epitomized courage to me. I remember when I was in the 6th grade and he in the 8th hearing his voice over the school PA system for the morning announcements. His part was to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Brian, like actor James Earl Jones, is a stutterer. He has never let that deter him from anything, even leading the whole school in the pledge to the flag that morning.

Now for what I had originally written...

Yes, it is very blue. Toyota calls it Speedway Blue. There is a new-to-me truck sitting in our driveway; more on that later.

The newlyweds are back from their honeymoon and getting down to the routine of life together. They went to Savannah, Georgia, and then Hilton Head, South Carolina. We invited them and Nolan's parents over for dinner the Sunday evening after they got home (the 12th) and we heard all about their trip, saw the pictures, and it sounds like they had a great time. I thought of Mom as they told about their trip because they included plenty of pictures of all the food they ate. Those were the details that were always important to her.

The big news for Nolan is that he's gotten his own service truck at work. He's going to continue doing ride-alongs for a while as we move into fall and people start switching to heat. He's only seen the A/C side of things since he started back in the spring. Still, it's a big deal to get your own service truck.

Nolan's birthday was Friday of last week (the 24th) so they hosted their first party at their house when they had us and his family over to celebrate Saturday evening. There were 15 or so there and we enjoyed kabobs out on the front lawn and a corn hole tournament.

Ben and Nate are both doing well in Cookeville. We've heard from Ben more than Nate. Ben has become involved with Stephen Street Baptist Church there and is leaving on a week-long mission trip to Romania next week. He is going to be doing a lot of manual labor to help widows in need prepare for the coming winter. This opportunity came up rather suddenly but we are glad he has the chance to go and be of service to neighbors on another side of the world.

Ben had a little mishap with his Jeep a few weeks ago. He was driving to a friend's house one rainy evening on a road he was unfamiliar with when he came upon a curve that was sharper than he was expecting. He wound up doing a 180 and sideswiping an embankment. So, in trying to figure what to do with a 2005 Jeep Liberty with just under 200,000 miles the best deal we got was from our insurance company when they offered $5400 to scrap it out. This led to a slight vehicle shuffle with Ben getting my truck (a 2006 Dodge Ram 1500 with almost 180,000 miles) and us shopping for a replacement for me.

Vicki loves to be on the hunt for a car and she rose to the challenge; and challenge it was between trucks holding their value so well and the current computer chip shortage, affordable pickings were slim. Still, Vicki did her homework and a week ago Friday (the 17th), when I had a day off, we were prepared to drive all over creation to chase down some promising vehicles. We started in Springfield and the second truck we looked at spoke to both of us. So, there's a very blue Toyota Tacoma Prerunner with crew cab in our driveway now. People who see it don't believe me when I tell them it is a 2005 model with only 121,000 miles and one previous owner. It’s been fun for me because of all the vehicles we’ve owned—14 in all—this is only the fourth one I’ve bought where I’m the primary driver, so it's been like Christmas morning whenever I drive it. Of course, now I'm noticing every blue vehicle on the road.

That's about all I know to tell for now. It may be quieter around our house with all the kids gone, but Vicki and I seem to be as busy as we ever were. I'm enjoying teaching physics, and I'm amazed at how much I've forgotten in the last 27 years, but it's coming back pretty quickly. I'm having to hit the books hard though. I'm just happy to have the opportunity to teach the subject again.

Joe