Last night turned out to be different than I had anticipated. Actually, I knew Wednesday night that it would play out differently. Instead of heading for home when I left the office on Thursday, I headed for Cat Spring. That was a really good choice on two counts.
For starters, I have a board meeting this morning near Independence and it is only about a forty-five minute commute. Slice that anyway you want, but that beats the two and a half-to-three hour commute from home. Secondly, it saved me a ton of money. Okay, so it saved me a little money.
Yesterday was the General’s birthday. I had anticipated that we’d opt for dinner at a nice restaurant. For starters, the General only eats healthy food. Restaurants that specialize in healthy food charge extra for the ingredients. Her diet regime and exercise program is working out really well for her. She doesn’t look young enough to be my daughter, but I’ve been asked if she’s my much younger sister. Go figure!
The General has been in Sealy this week having the time of her life and going to daily after-school sporting events to watch the grandkids play. After school sound a bit misleading. The events do occur after school in the early evening. How does a block of time closely aligned to from 6:45 – 9:30 p.m. sound? If you answered: “That sounds like too much”, your answer coincides with mine. Of course, it is my belief that elementary school age children need to be in bed by 9:00 p.m. I guess you could say I’m old school. Actually, I remember hating 9:00 p.m. bedtimes when I was a kid. So maybe it is a matter of perspective.
It had been the General’s plan to return home yesterday morning. In my mind, I had it all sorted out in my head. She’d probably arrive at home mid-morning. It wouldn’t take her long to notice dog hair on the area rug in our room. That would probably remind her that we have dog hair all over the house. We dog-set for the grand-dogs last weekend. Consequently, the downside (if there is one and I’m not saying there is one) is left over dog hair.
Someone recently mentioned a self-help book entitled: “How To Knit From Dog Hair”. I smiled when I heard the title. Although I have no interest in developing the skill set, I can certainly point them in the direction to find what they need to get started.
You’re thinking, “If the dog hair bothered you, why didn’t you vacuum?” Honestly, I gave it a moment’s thought. I intended to get to it, but somehow my time got caught up in other things. Actually, the only nights I was home to discover the dog hair was Tuesday and Wednesday. I visited with Kevin, Andrea and the grand-dogs at their home on Tuesday evening. Wednesday found me making Home Depot runs until about bedtime. I didn’t turn on the overhead light in the bedroom. Consequently the lamp didn’t illuminate that which needed to be removed.
At any rate, on Wednesday night the General changed her birthday plans. Actually, she probably didn’t have birthday plans. I am the one who had plans for her birthday. The plans didn’t include a cake. I was going to take her to a nice restaurant for dinner.
The General made me a German chocolate cake for my birthday last month. Most of it got put in the freezer and the General has subsequently been parceling it out to me. Actually, it reminds me of the build-up and much ado she makes with the dogs when she offers them a treat. Absolutely delicious is the only way to describe it.
At any rate, the plans for dinner in a fancy restaurant all got pre-empted when our granddaughter wanted her to stay for her soccer game and subsequently late night ballgame on Friday night. Of course, that also made her available for another baseball game of one of the grandsons.
I guess I could say the General has been pulling rank on the grandkids since Monday. Of course pulling rank on the grandkids differs somewhat significantly from the way she pulls rank on me. Who knows, maybe I’m just wise to her ways? She has a way of presenting options, but I know that they really aren’t options. For example, “Do you want to clean up the mess you left on the counter first or do you want to take the trash down to the curb?” Either way, neither of those is optional. I know I’m going to do them both.
The grandkids aren’t yet wise to her ways. Actually, I think she probably cuts them a lot more slack that she cuts me. I’m not complaining. I actually benefit from the structure.
So what did the General really want to do to celebrate her birthday? The day before my oldest grandson’s birthday and he opted to go to the youth group at church to celebrate his birthday. He’ll actually have a birthday swimming party with his friends the next weekend. The General simply wanted more time with grandchildren.
I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the time. Casual and relaxed define the parameters and it is all about the kids. In addition, Becky either is related to or went to school with 99% of the people who attend the games. Consequently, it is like old home week for their family.
I asked one of Becky’s cousins how often they come out to watch baseball. The lady smiled and said, “We’re here four nights a week”. Of course, they have three grandchildren playing at three different times. Wow! That’s a lot of baseball.
As we drove to Craig’s home way past my bedtime, William said, “The coach told me to’ lay it out’.” I thought he meant, Knock it over the fence. How could I know? Then he told me ‘to bunt it early’. I don’t know what that means either.”
At any rate, it was a great evening.
All My Best!
Don
Carpe Diem 