Going Coconuts...

Is not just the title of my favorite Donnie & Marie album while growing up. It was also a good movie, by the way. I highly recommend it.

My son recently has been called weird. This bothers us, and we have tried to reassure him that he is just fine. Yes, he is weird, but everybody is weird. We have told him this. Plus the coconut doesn't fall far from the tree, if you know what I mean. My other son asked, "Well if we are weird, is God weird?" Good question. My comment, "Well if we are made is God's image, then maybe He is." I think he appreciated that because it made him laugh. But my comment to my oldest was, "What fun is it to be normal? It is more interesting being weird. Plus, you come from a long line of weird people. There is no helping it." For example, I have an ancestor who died in Cuba. He was in the Spanish American War. No this does not make him weird. What makes him weird, the story goes (I got this from some distant relative), is that he died by falling out of a coconut tree. See? You are much more interesting if you are weird (and alive).

I think we were made to live in Brazil for a while. How do I come to that decision based on weirdness and coconuts?Well apparently, over the last 15 years the city has flooded more and more often, especially during the rainy season. It isn't raining any more than usual. The city has drainage. No. I have been told that what is causing the city to flood more often is coconuts. What? Yes. See, here you can get a coconut on practically any street corner. (My relatives are obviously not picking them since we cannot stay in a tree). They drill a hole in it, stick in a straw, and you drink from it. It is not expensive, and these coconut people are everywhere. But where do all the used coconuts go? Ah-ha! Yes, you got it. They go down the drain into the sewer system. Coconuts don't go anywhere, they don't degrade fast, no bugs eat the shells. So they sit there and block the water from draining faster. Plus there is now a hole in the coconut so it also fills with water. I don't think it floats then. And there you have it, a flooded city. How weird is that?!

See baby, you even live in a weird city. Is there another on this planet that can say it floods due to coconuts?