After getting rolling with a nice cup of green tea I started working around the house a bit. The wife and kids slept really late this morning. She’s still nursing a headache and going back to school is taking it out of the kids.
We got the grocery list together and spent the afternoon together (me and the wife) doing the shopping. It’s nice to be alone for awhile. It’s a rarity nowadays. Becoming a thing more often now that the kids are older.
We watched Ghostbusters: Afterlife tonight as we are dinner as a family, something else that’s a rarity lately due to so much going on with school and work.
I believe this one to be equal to the original.
Laughs, adventure, hero moments and a heavy pull on the heartstrings.
For a long time, my world was no bigger than two counties. Kershaw and Lancaster. My dad’s family is from the former, and my mom’s family is from the latter.
I spent a lot of time with my moms dad and mom. My Mamaw and Papaw Criminger. They farmed. Most every thing they ate came straight from the field to the table or from some animal they raised.
I remember slaughtering and salting a hog. I remember shucking corn and shelling peas. I remember eating cucumbers straight from the field for a snack and my Papaw having a tiny salt shaker in the front pocket of his overalls for the cucumber.
I remember collecting eggs from his chickens. And I remember his old plow mule, Smoky. Smoky loved bubble gum.
So many memories.
One of my contacts on Twitter posted this tonight:
And I instantly had an overwhelming memory of their house, of the sound and the smell of the old wood heater going in the living room, of the scent of Mamawβs cooking.
And what my Mamaw and Papaw gave us every single year for Christmas.
A blue shoebox wrapped up all nice. And in that shoebox was an orange, a candy cane, and a five-dollar bill.
That doesn’t seem like much nowadays. It was probably a lot from them. They didn’t have a lot of material things.
But they gave me their world.
I don’t realize how much I have now going back to then. I don’t realize how ungrateful I would probably seem to them in my mindset at times. I have a whole other world that they never saw. A world that would be silly to them.
They gave me simplicity and an appreciation for simple things. I need to remember that more often. They gave me cucumbers, the dirt, friendship with an old mule, and a couple of dogs. And a place to become something from.
It’s only August 5th, and the kids are already going back to school. It is way too early for school. Summer isn’t over. We used to get out in May and go back after Labor Day.
I wouldn’t say I like this.
I now have a sixth-grader and a junior in High School.
I am getting old.
I wouldn’t say I like this.
Both of the kids are in the High School marching band and I am extremely proud of both of them.
Logan shines in the band. It’s her thing. I have never seen such a change come over a person when they take the field. She goes to battleβa completely different kid from her usual laid-back self.
Sam was invited to try out for the high school band this year (he’s a sixth-grader), and he made it. Heβs in the percussion section. Today was the first day of middle school.
Heβs in middle school band class with a couple of kids from his elementary. One of them is Mallory, with who he has been in a rivalry since kindergarten. Grades, sports, etc.
She is a pretty thorn in his side.
He was talking about band class and mentioned that Mallory was in that class with him.
I look over and say, βSam, you did it. You beat Mallory. You’re in the high school band!β
He’s been walking around the house grinning like an idiot for the last thirty minutes. βI did it! Iβma have a celebratory donut!β
Celebratory Donut
You take the losses with a good attitude. But everyone should celebrate themselves every once in a while.
It would seem that being up twenty two hours straight and only getting five hours of sleep (I just canβt sleep during the day) will stop you from doing something you want to do, like writing a decent post.
That is exactly where I find myself tonight. I am groggy.
Iβm still up because I wanted to spend time with the wife, so weβre watching The Sinner on Netflix. Interesting series.
Season 2. We binged the first season earlier this week.
We had a severe thunderstorm warning here today. There was a possibility of tornadoes, again. The wind got up and it rained a bit.
The storm passed to one side of our location.
On the plus side the new weather radio worked like a charm.
Iβve mentioned on here before about the tornado that passed over our home last year. I get nervous when we have severe weather. Itβs just a little bit of PTSD from the aforementioned storm last year.
Iβve gotten better. Iβm prepared for what might happen. And thatβs what I can do.
Because, in reality, there isnβt a thing I can do about the storm itself. I have no control. Iβm just a man.
I can pray.
I can trust God to get me through them.
To protect my home and my family. And to help us through what comes next.
Tonight we continued the childrenβs cinematic education with Ferris Buellerβs Day Off.
The movies of my day (yea, this is very much within the timeline) rated as PG-13 prove one thing, we were not sheltered from language and innuendo like kids are today.
PG-13 from 1986 would probably be a hard R today if you threw in a bare breast.
Personally, I think that the John Hughes movies of the 80s are masterpieces. Gen X can quote them line for line. It might even be a better proof of age for most anything in place of ID.
Cashier: Can I see your ID?
Customer: Oh, he’s very popular Ed. The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wastoids, dweebies, dickheads – they all adore him. They think he’s a righteous dude.
They donβt and wonβt make movies like this anymore. Their day has come and gone. Often replicated, never duplicated comes to mind.
At least we have the historical archives.
Which reminds me, grab those hard copies while you can.
This was an old toy flashlight of my daughters. For years I had it sitting on top of the light on my work bench in the garage. It was a reminder of when she was little, I suppose.
One day it fell and smashed to bits.
We lose things along the way and only have memories of them to hold onto.
We spent the evening with mom and dad. Just like every year. We see them every day so no worries over Covid (since thatβs the first thing to come to peoples minds). We see a lot of people every day.
We had dinner and exchanged gifts and then sat,without phones, and talked for a couple of hours. And thatβs what we used to do. Itβs just proper sitting there with no real distractions except the kids acting goofy.
Itβs nice.
Our neighbor, letβs call her Ms. Betty (because thatβs her name) lost her husband this year.
Mom and Dad always watched over them and on holidays when we have big meals we always took them a plate. And that tradition continues. The wife and I took the food down this time.
Sheβs alone now, of course, and the we stayed and chatted with her a bit before going back to mom and dads. But I can feel her loneliness.
Itβs so very sad.
I wrote that last bit because it makes me appreciate what I have. The wife, kids, mom and dad. My work, the friends I have at work and the customers I see every week.
They are all a part of my life and it makes it full.
Appreciate what you have. And if you donβt have it, try to find it. Family is everything. No matter how bad it gets sometimes.
Good friends, your tribe, your gang! It doesnβt have to blood. Sometimes family isnβt.
Now, I love all my kids equally, but Ashley was without a doubt my cat, as much as any cat can be anyone elseβs. I was her human is probably the correct way to put it. I was her favorite human. She was always by my side, much like Fibble is now.
I loved that little cat, so much so that when we changed living room furniture I had to find a chair that wasnβt just comfortable for me but for Ashley as well. She always laid at my left shoulder. (Wow, Sam! On your left!) So I would look for a chair that had a cushion where she could make her spot.
I hadnβt realized until just now that Fibble does the same thing. She likes to lay on my left. This chair is a lot higher so itβs probably a βlooking down on the mere humanβ type of thing.
Iβve been watching Fibble lately, she has developed some nerve issues in her back. Not really bad, just sensitive enough to make her a little edgy. Iβll catch her out of the corner of my eye in the kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, etc. and I just watch to make sure that everythingβs okay. She is very important to me, she gives me comfort, and I want to return that favor.
Hereβs the thing though.
Iβll see her out of the corner of my eye in the kitchen and then walk into the living room and sheβs asleep in our chair. This is all in the space of ten seconds.
Thatβs not Fibble Iβm catching out of the corner of my eye sometimes. Itβs Ashley.
It sounds crazy. I sound crazy. But this does happen.
Fibble in her night spot.
I think what Iβve got is a guardian angel. Sheβs just helping Fibble, her younger sister, watch over me.
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