Musical Beds

Written on July 14--but never finished nor posted:
My cousin Bill's son Mike died Sunday, July 11,and Gerald and I will be going to his funeral visitation tonight at nearby town of Goreville, our Martin ancestral home.

All three teens here for Vacation Bible School went to my cousin David's visitation on Monday night. In the meantime, my son Gerry was here a couple of nights as he was very close to David, and he and Dave’s son Neil have been friends since the days when they played sports against each other in grade school and high school.

Then last night daughter Jeannie and husband Rick and their kids Elijah and Cecelie came in from an aborted camping trip. After some nice camping followed by rains and mosquistoes, etc., the two kids asked to come here where their cousins were. Jeannie is busy washing up all the rained-on comforters and Rick drying out their tent. We are playing "muscial beds" it seems like since Tara and three boys came by Sunday night on their way through from Atlanta going home to northern Illinois after a softball tourney.

We started with plans for each of the three teens to have their own bedroom this year—a far cry from when we used to fill two queen-size beds with grandkids in the upstairs room over at Pondside Farm and I slept with them to keep them settled down the best I could.

However, when the kids found out Tara and the babies were coming, they were thrilled and Trent gladly moved to a couch and gave his room to her and then next for a couple of nights to his Uncle Gerry who was here for David’s funeral. Then the Eilers came, and again the kids were thrilled that Elijah and Cecelie were joining them—and Sam gladly moved to a couch and gave the adults his bedroom. Having five grandkids instead of just three for VBS was better yet, they all agreed. And so did I.