Twenty years ago. . .

Twenty years ago, I was the closest of friends with a young lady who asked me to go with her to her senior prom. A private school about twenty miles from the town where I lived, we double dated with her best friend and it is still one of the funnest nights I have ever had. . . . time passes and keeps on passing, and twenty years later she calls and says, "Do you want to go dancing with me again?" It seemed to her good logic, having been the boy on her arm twenty years ago, to be the man on her arm at the reunion dance. They had a weekend of plans, and she attended only the dance, I don't know how many people were there, but a few shook my hand and said, "You look familiar" to which I replied, "I went to prom with you." It was a very nice night, we enjoyed it. She enjoyed seeing her old classmates and we both enjoyed dancing, and occasionally talking about her classmates.

The dance was held at the country club, in a room where I had once attended a dance of my own, twenty years ago. One of her classmates is a cousin to a friend of mine, another classmate is married to a guy I've known many years, though not well, he's always seemed pleasant. It was a fun night.

Her school has always had this sort of "open to all" policy, if the all are graduates of the school. You can do that with a small private school, you know. So at any one class reunion, you are bound to have people showing up from other classes. One of the show-ups brought two friends, one of which preceeded to dance the night away. . . . . . often trying to do so with somebody's wife or girlfriend. He was ten years younger than us, and though not bad by the light of the hallway, very cute in the dark of the dance floor. It was interesting to see the personal-dynamics change with invitees when a single female invitee, or a married female invitee, were asked to dance by this seemingly very cute, very intoxicated guy. One husband proclaimed quite loudly than the guy stank, blah blah blah. Well, the fellow leaned past me to kiss my date on the cheek, and I was close enough to lick his arm (I didn't mind you, I'm just saying he leaned that close to me while leaning over to her) and he didn't stink. But you'd sure think it by the way that husband carried on after his wife was asked to dance. One wife leaned over to my date and said, "He's ten years younger than me and told me I looked fun to party with. . . . I gotta tell you, it made my night."

Anyway, in tribute to youth, here's a pic or two of someone who is ten years younger, hitting on all the girlies, and didn't smell bad a bit.

"If anything ever happens to my Mom & Dad . . . . "

A story within a story -

The backstory is that years ago, when Kitten (Skeeter) & Sissy found out they were pregnant, Kitten called me and asked if I would be their their kids (soon to be Spyder) godfather. I said sure, hung up thinking, "I'll have to make sure to always get the kid a nice Christmas present." Not a minute later, the phone rang again and Kitten said, "Just so you understand, if anything ever happens to both of us, you get the kid. Like, you'll have to take care of our children." I hung up thinking something like, "Well, I'm glad he cleared that up."

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The blog:
Kitten was out of town this past weekend, and while I didn't plan it that way, it seemed an easy time to have dinner with Sissy & The Urchins (Spyder & Sass), so we exchanged a few messages about my work schedule, and settled on Friday, she would give the kids a snack to tide them over, and we'd meet for MPC, her choice & my treat, after I got off work.

It ended up being probably close to eight, but we were all bathed and hungry and at our mutually favorite joint. The Urchins were in good moods, as were Sissy and I. I had two tiny tiny happies for both of the kids - a lollipop for Sass & two fake casino coins for Spyder, for his treasure collection. (With the proliferation of WSOP on the telly, he recognized them immediately as poker chips!) It was a very nice night, with Sissy & I sharing a supreme style pizza on their fabulous crispy crust. The kids each had two slices of cheese only. Spyder tried to play some card games, admitting that he had only half a deck, but not detoured by the challenges. Sissy and I had some nice conversation.

Afterwards, we headed off in her new car to the bookstar to let the kids wander through the kids section, and we kind of took turns watching them and heading through the rest of the store looking for books. After a while, we ended up at a table, she with a latte and me with a small hot chai tea. For all their exorbitant prices, they make some good chai tea. Spyder, as kids can, made fast friends with another little boy in the store, and they took to jumping and playing.

I heard the boy say, "Ask your dad if we can" and Spyder interuppted him and as they went in the other direction, I heard him say, "That's not my dad. He's my godfather. If anything ever happens to my Mom and Dad . . . . . "

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

General Post

My reaching out has paid off with some good information, which I've passed onto My Fella, and he will share with his parents. A friend of mine from high school is an eye doctor at a children's hospital, and he gave me some good thoughts & advice. Someone else I know is an anesthesiologist who has had patients like this before, and gave some good information on some ways that a Down's patient may be handled in a situation that might freak them out. Someone else here found a local opthalmologist who has a Down's child, so should be very familiar with the ins and outs of communicating with them. I am very thankful for this information. I mean, I recognize that it's "just a cataract" and they're fairly common place and routine to correct. But he's just not a common place fella. So knowledge is power, and I feel I've helped to empower them a bit, and give them some information without waiting a month and a half.

Sissy is home, though I haven't talked with her. Brief reports indicate a fabulous holiday.

Work is going fine. A little odd. I think. . . . . I think this department has been a step child for so long, that they finally just liked it that way, and they just pretty much do it "their way." It gets the job done, so there was never any reason to complain about them. But they are very much . . . . just internal, inbound, "we've always done it this way" or "we've had this problem for soooo long." yadda. yadda.

Starbucks had a line again this morning. I am just NOT doing it. I'm not waiting in line at 7a.m. I am NOT.

Oh, here's a funny one. Ran into an old friend this week, who I haven't seen in a while. She's such a classic tom boy and I tried hard as hell to turn her into a girl, finally saying a few years ago, "Don't call me when you wake up the first time next to a girl. That's nothing. Call me when you've done it five times." She reminded me of that and said, "I should have called you a while back." Well, that explains the bad taste in shoes.

All right, off to home. Good wishes to all.

General Blog

So I woke up at six am, hopped on about my business, and was on the road by 7a.m. headed for work. So I thought to myself, "I've got this little Starbucks card, let's whip in there and get a Chai tea latte." Yea, at 7am, there was already a line in the drive through. I'm just not doing it. I'm just not. I'm not wasting a perfectly good gettin to work early karma by sitting in exhaust at the Starbucks.

Jamie, My Fella's little brother with Downs, has a cataract. I noticed something not quite right this weekend and said, "Have his eyes always been different colors?" and got the response, "They change when he's mad." Duh-no, they are two separate colors. Upon closer inspection, it looked like a film and a dilated pupil. They took him today to a doctor who said it's a cataract, with zero percent light getting through. They have a consultation scheduled in a few weeks for cataract surgery. I'm networking now to see if I can find a doctor who has more experience dealing with people with mental challenges, who are not clearly communicative. While he can tell you he wants fish or chicken for supper, he's not going to be able to say, "Oh my, there's no vision." I'm just all put out in my heart over it. But I'm trusting . . . . G-d or something. I mean, thank goodness it's "just a cataract." They're fairly common place these days. It's just he's the special one.

My Fella did not love the first episode of Dr. Who he's ever watched, which was this season's . . . . second? Martha was in it. I think it was the hospital on the moon one. I'm saving the season opener for him. I am thinking of putting Seasons one & two on my birthday & christmas lists.

I'm having dinner tonight with a friend of mine, actually a former employee, from two jobs ago. I've heard she's been having a bad time, and I heard she caught some grief when I left a message for her. "Why'd he call?" "What did he want?" Blah blah blah. Such hateful people at that old job - may they have all the pain they visit on others. But anyway, I also heard that someone threw out a "I'm going to see him at the meeting next week" and THAT WAS THE LAST STRAW. By the time that meeting rolls out, she'll be able to say she's had dinner & drinks with me - and TO 'ELL WITH 'EM ALL. We're going to a shogun style restaurant. They have a great martini bar.

Sissy and them are all still gone. Can't wait to hear everything.

I had such a good weekend with my Mom & Dad's visit. I just want to say that. So often my dad is just so ornery. But we had a very nice lunch at the country cooking restaurant I picked out (although that waitress was a little on the too-nice side), and he really had a nice time at the gun show later. I loved seeing my oldest nephew, who adores me. It was just a nice nice afternoon with them.

The horse show later with My Fella, I just had to tell him. Watching a horse show is a whole lot like watching porn. The faces change, but the action is pretty much the same. if you've watched a horse show, you know what I mean. They change the classes and the riders, other than that, you are just watching horses go 'round and 'round the ring all night. "Canter. Flat Walk. Trot and Run. Reverse." Ugh! I've told him that's the last full show he gets for the season. I'll drive and leave mid way through. 4 hours, I tell you. 4 hours. And he could have easily sat through another two.

All right, I've got to go meet my girl.

Piper - Thanks for piping in!
Walt - I don't know much of the spoilers, but yes (hearty laugh) I knew a Dr. Who post would get a comment from you. I'm very much looking forward to watching this season unfold.

Quotes

On last night's episode of the new show "State of Mind", the guest starring mother had a wonderful quote.

"Of course I believe in marriage, whatever that means. I also believe in good posture, but not everybody has it."

The mother later said, in reference to the now-separated-husband not being all he was supposed to be, and life in general about not getting what you want,

"You can't get pizza in a Chinese restaurant."

About a week ago on The Closer, an elderly lady was putting her home on the market, just to meet people and have visitors. She said something like,

"I tried joining AA, but they want you to give up drinking, and that seemed a little extreme."

General Blog

With a lack of a computer consistent, blogs are few and far between. Here's a wee bit:

Dr. Who: Season 3 has started, and I'm just wow'd. The season opener had me confused. I spent the first half of the show hoping she wasn't the new passenger, and the second half hoping she was, and I've kept it on the dvr to watch it again. I've just laughed so much. Of course, I've had to keep the closed captioning on. Those accents are too strong for my ears.

Episodes 2 & 3 with Martha are quite nice. I was happy to see The Face of Boe, and sad that he died. He has seen so much, perhaps too much. He was the last of his kind, though we don't know what kind that it/was. Martha was introduced nicely I thought, she's got a great smile, and I like the way they are treating the memory of Rose. She's not been forgotten like a bad girlfriend, but treated more like a mourning for her. The two new visitors don't understand, of course, they probably think it's more of a break up, not someone living in a whole different dimension. But, he did what he promised her mom he would do. He took care of her, and he saved the world. But I like Martha and think it should be a very good season.

Work has progressed just fine. This was the first full week of real work, and still I was physically wore out at the end of each day. Just trying to shock my body back into a work routine. Work passwords and emails finally came on Friday. Now it really begins. lol. Oh, there's a microwave at work. I swear, it must be one of the first ever made.

Sissy is off on the grand family adventure. Someday I'll learn how to link to other posts, but she's "Frommynoodle" and she's with kith & kin. She stopped to pick up Mamaw on the way. Did I tell you I had Mamaw to my Mom & Dad's for supper? Anyway, Mamaw is sort of . . . . well, let's just say that you can have an entire conversation with her, and she's perfectly lucid for it. The problem is, she's hearing things completely different from what you are saying, so her conversation is a bit different than yours. But I am sure they are all having a grand ol' time.

My Fella has been looking for me and searching for me a laptop. We're going to go wireless router and just really get a good firewall and virus protection, to keep whatever's happening to the desktop from happening again. Tennessee has a tax free weekend in about 2 weeks. Maybe we can figure it out by then and by it in the great state instead of on line.

There's so much more I've been wanting to blog, but without the access, it just fades. Oh well.

General Blog

Work is going fine, but casino first days are still happening in the typical way. I still have zero in the way of passwords and authorizations. It's kind of funny, considering they offered me the job a month ago. You'd think someone would have time to get me a code to dial out on the telephone. The insurance paper work has all come in, and I'll probably long on tomorrow and sign up. All I need is some personal information for my insurance beneficiaries.

My Fella came this weekend and we had a very nice time. His brother did not come this time, we both needed a break, I guess. I'm probably going there this weekend, but a friend has moved into a home with an in ground pool and I'm seriously considering asking him to bring his brother and come my way.

Work is exhausting in a "I've been sleeping as I darned well please for six months and now have to get up at six a.m. every day" sort of way. Geesh!

Relationship Acountrements

(in my mind, pronounced with a faux-French accent similar to ac-cu-tra-moan).

When I was a young boy, I thought in young boy ways. Now that I'm so much older. . . . I think in older man ways.

When I first started dating (remember, I was a late bloomber), I . . . . . . this blog was a lot easier to write in my head last night, sans a computer in my home, at bedtime, than it is to remember now. But I think the point is -

There was a man whom I dated, and I don't want to give him too much space. Today, with all respect to him, who he was is not important. But he lives, and for about four years, we fought the universe in futile attempts to date. Roughly four month cycles of dating and breaking up, that finally culminated in one horrible, loud, crying, begging, down-on-the-knees with snot-coming-out-of-the-nose break up. . . . . . and that was just me.

But early on in our relationship, I can remember many nights, or many mornings after the nights, when I would email or call G and other friends * and making sure to mention that either he is sleeping here tonight, or he did sleep there last night, or we took a nap until it was time for him to go to work on the night shift. Looking back, it seems that I looked at the accessories of a relationship as definers, as things that proved that he and I were dating, and that I was his boyfriend. ** I wanted us to go places together, to be seen together, and I wanted to be able to say that we had spent evenings sleeping next to each other. It seemed somehow . . . . . important, in a way that had to be noticed. Published. Public.

Time takes it's toll on a man, and thankfully so. At the age of 37, not 31, I'm a little more interested in who is sharing the bed with me, rather than telling everyone that he is sharing the bed with me. Don't get me wrong - I enjoy the middle of the night tangle of bed sheets and limbs, fighting for just the right pillow position. I like knowing that he's sleeping next to me, but I don't feel the need to tell it anymore. We lay down and have a sort of 15 minute tussle trying to figure out whose arm goes where, who spoons inside and out, and if the order of feet is mattress-mine-his or mattress-his-mine. We seem to cycle up on our rem patterns about the same, too, or perhaps we just both have to pee about four in the morning. And then we start the tussle all over, trying to find just the right spot for another 2 or 3 hours of sleep.

But for the first time in my life, for the first time and it took a very long time coming, who I'm sleeping next to, is just between him and me. I like that.


*Sissy & G sure took the bulk of some crazy things with my coming-to-terms with myself experiences
**Enough for a whole other blog, I think part of the problem, in a nutshell, was that he was 10 years younger than me, built like a brick house. I had some minor emotional issue with coveting him. lol.

General Blog

Just a quick, general blog today. Finished the last day of orientation & training, and they really meant 3 full days. They kept us til 5 even today. Stopped by my boss's office, and I'm working tomorrow and meeting with her about 9, I get the weekend off, and hopefully I'll have passwords and such by Tuesday.

That will give My Fella and myself some good time together, and we are planning almost nothing, except an excursion to see Rocky Horror Picture Show tomorrow night. Yeah!

Bubbles is cooking homemade pizza and I'm invited, so I'm headed that way.


Good weekend to all, and to all a good night.

General Blog

2nd day of orientation. Today focused on things that are important, yet typical, in the gaming industry. Responsible gaming awareness, safety of children, emphasis on customer service, etc. The lady did her best, but it's just not an exciting list of topics and her voice is kind of really squeally (that rhymes 'really squeally'). Tomorrow is the third & last day of orientation, allowing all of us to finally begin our journey into our jobs.

I've been by my office area and met some of my staff, one of whom, the department supervisor, is someone I have known for about six + years now, and I am really looking forward to working with her. I think there's some really good stuff I can introduce her to, and if she is interested in continuing a career in that department, I think given a year, I can really help her out, and hopefully find a promotion of my own, leaving her better prepared for a promotion. Having worked with both her & her mom in previous jobs, I think we have a strong relationship already built.

After getting up whenever I want to for the last six months, this six a.m. thing is a kick in the patootie. I'm so struggling with consciousness by 10pm at night.

My Fella is coming to town Friday and planning on staying into Sunday. We are planning to make very few, if any plans. I think his father's episode with the snake bite last week has really just mentally & physically exhausted him, as it came right on the heels of the uncle's prolonged hospital stay and death. I didn't blog it last week, due to an absence of computer access, but My Fella's dad was picking cucumbers when a copperhead bit him. The way I hear it, his dad kicked the snake, then carries it up to the chicken coop and killed it, then put his already-picked cucumbers under the garage before he called for help. The problem was, he had an issue with his blood pressure dropping, then he had a horrible reaction to the first dose of the anti-venom, so the hospital pumped him full of Benadryl to take care of that reaction,then shipped him off to a second hospital. What "they say" is that, on the scale of bad-venom-ness, a copperhead is on the lower end, and it was more risk than it was worth to give him the second stage dose of anti-venom.

Anyway, My Fella is coming to me, sans any one else, and we are both looking forward to the visit.

Sissy is in there cooking what smells like a delish supper, complete with fried green tomatoes. And mashed potatoes, made with real potatoes. Her Dad is in the hospital again, so I've got to get some dried apples. He really likes them, and they're not so easy to find in the grocery stores here. I think I noticed some in the Schnucks the other day, but usually I can only find them in a W-M that's halfway between here & My Fella's, and that's a good 50 miles away. May have to get him to stop in there and get a few bags on his way in this weekend.

That's about all for tonight. Kitten & Sissy are good about letting me stop in here on my way home. And tonight's bonus is I'll get to snag some fried green tomatoes.

A note to Brenda, not the preacher's wife, who reminds me of my friend Melanie, thanks for your donation of black eyed peas to tonight's dinner. Yummy.

A hello to Piper, back from her trip. I, too, am suffering from lack-of-computerness at home. aaagghhh!

Word of the night: "Slaveage" or "Slavage" , pronounced slave-age. As in a discussion about the "wildly popular young wizard stories" . . . . . "was it about the elf slavage?" Uh, slavery? I said, give him a point for a unique word. I liked slavage.

Thinking in video

Sissy was talking to me the other day about a cartoon she was looking for, and had finally found. Well, to clarify, she had found a clip of it on youtube and was trying to figure out what it was, knowing that I loved super hero & science fiction cartoons as a child, she intended to ask me, but found it on her own - Thundarr the Barbaraian. In a subsequent phone call she described it to me and I was like, "Yep, that was Thundarr." What I didn't tell her was that, in the ways I sometimes think in video, I think of Ariel, his princess/sorcerer sidekick.



It's odd, let me give you an example.



At bunco, every time someone counts their rolls, "One, two, three" I have an overwhelming urge to say, "Three. three licks to get to the center of a tootise roll pop."


If someone I know is making some comment to me, and I want to reply, "WELL!" I hear the voice of Samantha on "Bewitched" saying, "WELL!" to Darrin Stephens.

Last night I walked into a bathroom to pee and staring down at the tile floor, I thought of Nagiana saying in Rikki Tikki Tavvi, "If you move, I will ssssssstrike. If you do not move, I will sssssssstrike."



And a lot of times when I am stretching/yawning, I raise both arms and realize that I am envisioning Ariel placing her hands together above her head to do her magic.

The problem is, these are just three examples, and I go through this all day long. In random, ordinary conversations, people say things that remind me of specific television shows or movies, and I just have to fight the urge to reply. Kind of silly, but there it is.

Excuse me, I have to stretch now. WELL!

Choosing

I want to blog about this while it is still on my mind, with the intent to someday share it with my friend in L.R.

You know how sometimes, you get a "sense" or a "feeling" about people and things? Tiny snapshots that are the way you interpret things about them and their lives. I got a feeling about L.R. and her husband when I was there last week. Very distinct, and very specific to them.

You know, sometimes with committed/married/dating couples, you get a sense of them "struggling." Just struggling to stay together, struggling to make it. Sometimes you get a sense of them "fighting." Fighting to stay together, fighting to make it.

With L.R., it was different.

Now, the background is, they both have decent jobs and decent pay. They live in a beautiful home, new build, adjacent to a golf course, they drive late model but not brand new cars. I've met her husband several times and always think he is real nice. Not necessarily someone with whom I have a whole lot in common, but someone I think always offers me respect and courtesy. I think he is "hosting me" in his home, but he is genuinely pleased to have a friend of his wife's in their home. The friendship is truly with her, but he places no barriers on it. I like him, and always have, what little I know him.

This trip, I got the oddest sense of them "choosing" each other.

I'll try to explain.

Both in their late 30's headed to 40, they are still attractive, but none of us are 20something attractive. He's (finally) got a wee belly, and she's given birth to 2 children. But I am sure there are plenty of the opposite sex (or same) attracted to both of them. I don't think they are resting on some big money pit, they don't seem to live too lavish (I know nothing about their finances), they live nicely but not extravagantly, and they love those boys of theirs.

When I was around them, I just got this sense of them "choosing" each other, choosing a life with each other, over and over and over. I have this sense that, maybe not consciously, and maybe not every day or even every week, but that they keep making choices to be with each other, choosing life options that will hold them together, choosing to maintain their vows, choosing to love their children, choosing to love each other. I don't know how else to explain it, I'm pretty sure I am not doing a good job of it.

If you've read the Adrianna Trigianni trilogy, how the main character, at the very end, finally figures it all out . . . . . . that's sort of the feeling I get from L.R. and her husband. That they already know it could be, could get tough, and they're already making the choices. Not just once when they said "I do", not just if/when someone hits on them, not just if/when they hit a tough marital time or a tough work week, but consistently, constantly, regularly, they choose.

I like that. I like them.

General Rambling

The first day went fine, but it is 3 days of orientation & training classes. There has been massive raining today in the area.

I want out of my cell phone, bitter that AT&T has taken over Cingular. I left AT&T quite a while back because I hate them, and now they stole me back. Bastards. $175 to get out of it, but My Fella and my parents have it. So we have free cell to cell. aaaggghhh!

Mamaw & Mr. Hitler

There's a story coming up, but I've got to give some background first so you'll understand how truly funny it is, situational wise.
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Background Mamaw:
Sissy (From My Noodle) and I share a Mamaw. Hers by blood, mine by love (she loves me most). I've had Mamaw since about 1984 and she is 83 years old. If you know her really well, then you know she came to America in 1941 as a war bride. Born and raised in Germany, she met (in the romantic version in my head) a dashing American soldier and he swept her away to the States. Mamaw was on her own by the time I really came into the family. She still carries a bit of the German accent, and more so when she is irritated or angry. She seldom if never cooks German food, having raised 7 American children, and now having not just grandchildren but great grandchildren on culinary delights of the best fried chicken, chicken & dumplings, and fried potatoes you ever tasted. She also makes really good tea, with full tea leaves and cheesecloth. No bags for her. If you know her well, you know the war also impacted her life by shattered glass taking one of her sights. She returns every few years to the land of her birth, as an American citizen, often with adult children and grandchildren in tow. Mamaw also lives in a neighborhood that, once very nice, has become very "rental" and predominantly black and not well cared for maintenance wise. While there are plenty of neighborhoods in a similar situation predominantly white, hers is predominantly black. I am not arguing or justifying any racial discussions or arguments, I'm just supplying the background. The neighborhood is now predominantly black, rental, and low maintenance and high crime, there by putting a lady in her 80's in an emotional state of turmoil.

Background My Dad:
A child of the war, his father was a prisoner of war once declared dead during the war. When the allied forces got to his prison camp (so they tell me), the Germans had left it, leaving the prisoners/soldiers to kind of walk-about. My grandfather got his own file out and kept it. My father has it. My dad reads books about the war, and watches all the old black and white History channel stories.

Background: Mamaw Visits
My parents enjoy having Mamaw in their home for supper, and I believe Mamaw enjoys the visits. Usually it's related to my birthday, but sometimes, like last night, it's "just because." "Just because" I went and picked her up and brought her, and because Mom was making my favorite (I admit it) chicken strips. My Dad always asks Mamaw similar questions about the war, or Germany, etc. One visit, he asked her if she would read his father's POW camp file and translate it for him. It was mostly words like from a drivers license, "American", "Pilot", etc., nothing that would cause historians to rewrite history. Last night, he added a new twist.

Background: Special Effects
When you read "HU" it stands for Hands Up, as in hands raised up, palms facing outward, fingers wiggling, for emphasis. Do it now so you see what I'm talking about, throw both hands up in "STOP! IN THE NAME OF LOVE" way and wiggle your fingers.

OK, that's enough background. Now, on to the story.
________________
The Story:

I pick Mamaw up about 5pm, and she talks about the general decline of her neighborhood during the trip to my parents. We get to my parents house, and Mom is still cooking in the kitchen, Daddy has (thank gawd!) finally put on some clothes, and very hospitable, except for his departure to go get his granddogs, that he loves so much. He gets back and sets down in the living room to talk to Mamaw, and the conversation goes (almost) pretty much as I anticipated.

Mamaw: Are there any blacks living up on this hill?
Dad: There's a few families on the end.
Mamaw: Some comment about her neighborhood going down.
Dad: When did you come to the U.S.?
Mamaw: In 1941.
Dad: How often do you go back?
Mamaw: Well, I go back pretty often, but it was 13 years the first time. I had trouble speaking the language the first time I went back. I could understand what they were saying, but I hadn't spoken it in 13 years.

~~~~~~This is all pretty much a repeat of other living room conversations, but they both enjoy it. I expect Daddy to pull back out his daddy's POW file and ask her to read it again for him~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dad: Where did you live?
Mamaw: About 2 hours from Frankfort.
~~~~~I know the name of the town, she returns there on her trips and still has relatives alive there, but she doesn't say it~~~~~~~
Dad: Well ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ here it comes ~~~~~~

Did you ever see Hitler?
Mamaw: No, I lived out in the country.

Dad: Well, I've read a lot of books about him and I know he had a lot of those "HU" rallies. I thought you might have seen him at one of those.
Mamaw: No, he stayed pretty much in the big cities. We only saw him in newspaper and at the movies.

DID YOU EVER SEE HITLER?!!!!!
I KNOW HE HAD A LOT OF THOSE "RALLIES", the word "rallies" said with voice emphasis and the before described hand motion. "RALLIES"

Oh My Gawd. Between the blacks and the Hitlers, I am sure I was the only one in there that thought that conversation was TOO BIZARRE. That Daddy was asking Mamaw, 83 years old, if she was ever a fraulein in the throbbing masses of blonde haired soldiers at one of those "rallies."

I called Sissy on my way home and relayed the whole story and she too thought it was funny, like Daddy had been asking Mamaw if she'd gone to see Hitler in concert!
Good gracious. That's one for the books.

General Rambling

The new job starts tomorrow, and I am quite happy to be bringing unemployment to an end. Orientation, code word for really long meeting, is 8 1/2 hours tomorrow. Ugh! But still, as of the morning I get there, I am employed and on salary and on insurance. Just as soon as the insurance cards come in, I'm going to get my teeth cleaned. I'd hate to admit to how long it's been.

Went to Little Rock this past Thursday and had the nicest visit with a friend of mine from high school and her family. Her two children are the ages of my two nephews (who are, by the way, adorable). We had a nice lunch downtown on their river district, Little Rock's attempt at a Beale Street or a walking tourist area. Then drinks later with some friends of hers, two or three I've met in the past. I ended up trying, poorly, to play the on screen trivia game with one of her friends, a really cute guy who obviously didn't know I was gay while we stood at the trough in the bathroom peeing. He was just too funny. Anyway, that little fantasy aside, dinner back at the house was ribs left over from the 4th of July and they were very good.

(You can see Clinton's Trailer from a great distance. I just can't imagine for a minute he didn't realize that the outside is ugly and looks like a large metal rectangle box. Someone really should have pulled him aside in the early stages of construction and said, "Look, Bill, I know you were governor twice, and president and all, I mean, I know it's your library, but uh, let's look back over this design one more time." My Fella are hoping to go back together and go through the library, ugly not withstanding.)

Am visiting Mom & Dad today, who ticked me off within 15 minutes of my arrival. I think it was "Your mom would have cooked lunch, but your brother never said if they were coming down or not." Uh, yea, so I'm starving and making a white bread sandwich because my little brother and his wife & kids weren't coming for lunch. I was less than pleased. For supper tonight, she's cooked my sister-in-law's favorite pie. But I will admit that it's one of my favorite meals, her home made chicken strips. To fry them just right to a good golden brown, battered in egg white and flour, it takes fer-ever. Not just forever, but fer-ever. lol. I think Mom is inviting my sister-in-law's parents. They've always gotten along real well and I enjoy seeing them. I've also invited Mamaw, who is Sissy's grandmother by birth. Her birthday was yesterday and I haven't seen the holidays. She'd best not say a word about how fat I am. That little repeat of the holidays . . . . .

The dog, Princess, is getting older and older, and it hurts my heart. When she first came to us, I could hold her in the palm of my hand. Dog years, they say, and she's more and more aged with each trip home.

Soon Nephew 1 is going with me to get Mamaw. My home computer is on the fritz, and we think perhaps that I was negligent in having a firewall, allowing some virulent virus to come through the Comcast system and attack. So posts are few and far between.

Quotes

Don't sprinkle sugar on this shit and call it candy. - the character of Michael on Burn Notice

I save my small talk for small people. - the character of Miranda on A Texas Funeral

That's why we grew up and moved away - Sissy, after me telling her how Mom & Dad had both annoyed me within 15 minutes.


(I may have to edit these later but they're close)

There's no place like home, there's no place like home. . . . .

You'd think I'd been gone a week, but it's been well less than. I was up and on the road at 8:03a.m., and traffic out of Baton Rouge was steady, but wow, those folks coming into the city on the interstate! (Here's a hint - several cops running radar in both directions.)

Talked to my soon-to-be boss today and confirmed everything. I have an appointment in the morning, a couple of them, to do various and sundry bits of paperwork, and I think I'll cap it off with lunch with an old friend. I'm very much looking forward to ending this "unfortunate period of under-employment" with a positive job and payroll. I have orientation on Monday & Tuesday, and start to be all that I can be on Wednesday.

My Fella is coming Friday & Saturday, and we're hoping to take several friends to supper Friday night at a favorite pizza joint as a thank you for their support during these past few months. On Sunday, I'm headed to my Mom & Dad's to get a nice visit in with them before the new job.

Tonight I am at Sissy & Kitten's (also called "Noodle" in her own blog) for a bite of supper. It smells yummy. She's making a rotel chicken, and she's battering & deep frying vegetables. The best kind! Afterwards, I have to pick up some groceries. There's just nothing at that house of mine!

The road home

begins today.
It's a bit after 7, I 'spect I'll be on the road by about 8. It's been a very nice trip, a wonderful half-week filled with family, friends, memories old and new. And a cat that wanted to sleep with me about 2am last night. He doesn't seem to be holding a grudge that I unceremoniously tossed him out of bed and closed the doors.

Quote

"I was conceived on New Year's Eve, 1960, before cigarettes and scotch were replaced by Lamaze and sonograms. Parties are in my genetic makeup. I have a photograph of my mother, six months pregnant with me, at a Fourth of July cocktail party, a double scotch on the rocks in one hand, a Benson & Hedges 100 in the other, leaning back in a chair, midlaugh, a good time being had by all. I have always loved a party; I was born into it." - Robert St. John, "Deep South Parties"

I just love that paragraph, and so far I am really enjoying reading this cook book.