The Long, Cicada Summer

It's official. Summer has come. And the temperature is still rising. I am still working outside. But I feel like my job is slowly phasing out - since I told my boss I was leaving "in August at the latest," although I was hoping to leave sooner. I was asked to give my cell phone to the "new guy" (David Garcia). So I now I have a different cell phone (one I have to pay for). Another guy was hired, a friend of "David Garcia". I don't know his name - I don't think he speaks English. It may be Juzgues, but I'm not sure.

They hired a pool guy so now I don't take care of the pools. "Don't touch the pools anymore" I was told. Alex, the new butler, likes to do all of the various maintenance jobs around the property, so now I don't do that. "I'll do that Brad, don't worry about it." Soon I will probably be asked to leave the gardening to David Garcia and Jusguez. "Please don't touch the garden, Brad. Just keep sweeping." At least I'm still getting paid. Hopefully I get a new job before we move. If I had to stay after August, who knows what would happen. "Ok, no sweeping or anything now Brad. We hired someone to do that. Um, just stand in that corner until you leave."

Alex, the new butler, isn't from England. I didn't know that was legal. I thought all butlers had to speak with an English accent. Oh well. He used to work for Mike Modano until Mike went broke apparently. Poor Mike.

It's almost July already. I had a job interview in February. And I'm still waiting. Like a cicada that's just crawling around in the ground waiting to mature, I'm still crawling around in Dallas. The cicadas are underground for around 17 years until they come up to become full grown. I hope it's not that long. But whenever I hear their buzzing in the trees, it just reminds me of how long they had to wait before they were able to do that. It's a good reminder to just wait - have patience - and trust God. He'll show me the right path at the right time. Like the cicadas, I will soon come up out of my shell here in Dallas and move on. Of course, after a couple of months - the cicadas will die. And my metaphor kind of ends there.