Family
Letters from Grandma
Grandma had her finger on the pulse of the town. While the names changed from letter to letter, the circumstances were always the same… and they weren’t good.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Turning Ten
“How does it feel to be ten?” I asked.
“I’m not nine yet,” he told me. “I was born at night, so I’m still nine until tonight.”
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )A Vote of Confidence
I ended up inflating the balloon to Daniel’s specifications. It ended up a little bit larger than I would have made it myself, but I thought it was manageable. I was wrestling with the end and trying to knot it up when I noticed Daniel was standing with his eyes closed and his hands across his ears.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )August 8, 1974
“Listen to this,” she said. “This is history. You’re going to remember this for the rest of your life.” She was right.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )Traveling to Tomorrow
“But it was Saturday when we went to Chicago,” said Daniel, yawning. I nodded. “And now it’s Sunday. It’s tomorrow.”
“Saturday and Sunday are the names of actual days,” I explained. “Today and tomorrow are descriptions.”
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )Losing by the Rules
“How do you have five points?” I asked. “I thought each basket was worth just one point.” Daniel explained the shots he took while demonstrating counted because “they were educational”. I didn’t remember that rule at the outset, but let it slide.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 4 so far )Saving the Fourth
You can imagine my surprise when – come 2:00 in the morning – I had no thunderous blasts rattling the window, no debris raining down on the roof. In fact, I didn’t hear anything: no hooting, no whoo-ing, no profanity. Even the hair band music that thumps off the siding of the houses in the cul-de-sac behind us was silenced.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )Past Sins Revisited
David loved to argue. He was passionate if not always correct. I learned a lot from arguing with my brother (mostly that it was pointless to do so).
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )How to Annoy Your Child
Daniel’s nose is crinkling now. I wait for the stoplight by the bank to turn green for my lane, so I can head down the main street of Belvidere… ironically not called Main Street (that’s two blocks over).
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )Spending the Night
I don’t know why they call them “sleepovers”; sleep is the last thing on anyone’s mind. I had many sleepovers when I was a kid. Meka had a few herself. Despite this, we agreed his friend could spend the night.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )The Elvis Alternative
I said I wanted a “hippie wedding”; to be barefoot in a meadow, maybe take our vows by a stream. Meka was on the same wavelength. She thought it would be nice to get married with a few friends and close family in her parents’ backyard.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )Tinth Anniversary
She passed on the canned fruit cocktail I had poured out. It was in heavy syrup (and when they say heavy, they mean heavy; it was essentially fruit flavored gravy). I guess she didn’t care much for the guava nectar either. It was imported from Mexico and the only kind of juice I could find in an actual tin can. Most beverages are in aluminum cans these days
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )Chalk One Up to Experience
Jack Benny created one of the first “sitcom families”. It consisted of Jack and the regular cast along with a number of frequent minor characters, including a put-upon sales clerk that seemed to work at every store Benny visited.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )Braking Away
After forty-four ounces of pop and a few minutes rest, I was ready to head home. Daniel took the lead again and led me down a “short cut” he remembered from his travels. I should have known better…
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Ozymandiasville, Illinois
Daniel showed me cracks in the wood. There was a chip missing where the baby slide used to be attached. Water will get in and that means “freeze cycles”. This is a favorite mode of destruction from the show.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )The Day is Done
There are a half dozen picnic tables behind the Dari Ripple to seat the approximately fourteen thousand customers. Daniel had picked a flavor called “Blue Moon”; his favorite, he told me (though I didn’t remember him ever ordering it before).
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Daniel and the Awesome Ads
He was poring over an ad for a big box hardware chain. We don’t have a deck. Unless they were marked down about 100% for the sale, it was unlikely we would be getting one.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Movies Under the Stars
Daniel and I drove down to the Cascade, one of a dozen remaining drive-in theatres in Illinois. They don’t charge by the car anymore, it’s individual admission now. On the plus side, you can bring in your own food.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 4 so far )Brought to You by Mike and Ike
“Of course, if someone is mean to me – you know – writes nasty things about me…” I paused for dramatic effect.
“You didn’t really buy any Mike and Ike,” he said.
I placed a light green bag of Mike and Ike on the kitchen table between us.
M-M-McBop
Who were the ad wizards who picked Sean Kingston’s Beautiful Girls? I tried to imagine a bunch of kids singing “su-i-ci-dal, su-i-ci-dal” without generating some vast parental s%^&storm in the process.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 3 so far )Thoughts on the Passing of Millvina Dean
I’ve always felt like a single thread intertwined in the middle of a patchwork quilt that makes up our history. As I asked my mom and dad about the past, Daniel asks me now about watching the Bears win a Super Bowl, remembering when President Nixon resigned, seeing Scooby Doo on television when it was brand new.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Trashy Treasures
I remember David had a map of Chicagoland tacked up on the wall in his bedroom. The suburbs were all color coded based on what night their trash was put out for collection.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Lights, Camera, Action
The floor on the sides of the auditorium slants upwards towards the “cheap seats”. One side had a flat platform, but I assumed that Daniel would be on the other side (Murphy’s Law). I set up on the slant, but I had a bubble level attached to the tripod to make sure the camera was on an even keel.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )The Nintendo 500
We only have one steering wheel controller for the Wii and when we play together, I don’t get that one. I find my real world experience as a driver actually hinders my playing ability. Steering with a horizontal wand doesn’t feel natural.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )Home Small Home
If I had to describe our house, I’d call it “cozy”. It’s the second smallest model available in our subdivision. However, that’s a relative measurement. Our first house is about the same size – square footage wise – as my parents’ last house together.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Decoration Day
People stopping by David’s site tend to bring things that remind them of him: old cell phones, little dog statuettes, cigarettes and roses. I know that everything in there is sentimental to someone, but most of it just isn’t built to last.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )A Fish Story
My first cast went about three feet, but my next one hit the river. Daniel did better; he hit the deep water on his first try. And when we left after an hour or so, our little Styrofoam cooler had his sole catch on ice.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )A Long Time Ago…
“Sorry, sir,” said the boy behind the glass. “It’s opening weekend.” My dad continued to pantomime protest. If we had been at a ball game, I’m sure the umpire would have changed his call.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Daniel Cooks Dinner
We had a chicken thawing in the refrigerator. Meka has a great recipe for it on the grill. I threw the football with Daniel until the shadows covered most of the backyard. It was almost 8:00 by then and neither the chicken nor Meka had moved.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Third Grade Origami
“So what did you do in school today?” I asked. I ask this almost every day and usually get one of the following answers:
* “Same thing as yesterday.”
* “I don’t remember.”
* “I had recess and then I ate lunch.”
Like Son, Like Father
Daniel continued to slurp noisily, capturing the last few shake molecules at the bottom of the cup. He craned his neck to peer at my half-finished page. He frowned. “I can’t read your handwriting,” he said. “It’s too messy.”
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Senior Moment at the Age of Nine
Daniel was half eating / half wearing a caramel sundae. We were seated at one of the tall tables in the front of the restaurant. “I think I’m losing my mind,” said Daniel. I had to ask.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )Thank You, Shania Twain
Meka had an old cat – Coco – that made her home down in the basement on our couch. She didn’t meow, but she purred like no one’s business. One evening, Coco came waddling over to inspect Daniel, purring like a motor with a bad bearing. Daniel stopped in mid-cry, eyes wide with astonishment at the sound. Coco was our new best friend.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )On the Subject of Telephones
There were a myriad of ways I could have answered the question. I might have answered with just a simple “no”. I might have said I used to text quite a lot, except back then we called it “sending a postcard”. I split the difference and explained that – no – I didn’t text when I was young. The technology hadn’t been invented yet.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Slow and Steady Cheats to Win
There’s a paved path about a mile around the soccer fields and baseball diamonds. Normally, I walk out there as part of my Weight Watchers goal and general Beatles-like desire to be “half the man I used to be”.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Breaking and Entering
I made a circuit around the house with Daniel sheepishly trailing me. The screen door was locked. The sliding glass door was unlocked, but a thick piece of dowel rod was sitting in the door rail. Considering how cheaply made our house seems, the windows turned out to be surprisingly secure.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 6 so far )Asking for It by Name
“Can we get Fruit Loops?” he asked.
“We are getting Fruit Loops,” I replied. Daniel shook his head.
“No, I mean real Fruit Loops.” Now it was my turn to sigh.
Daniel’s Compensation Package
With a clearing of the throat and a sneeze of blue smoke, it roared into life on the first hard yank of the pull cord. I mowed around the edges of the yard and did the precision mowing around the bushes and trees. Daniel did a lot of the straight back-and-forth cutting. For the first time, I think Daniel did at least half of the lawn. I thought about offering him a job.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Grandma’s Breakfast
There is a fine line between crisp bacon and burnt bacon. When we’d go out with Grandma, she would fight with waitresses over this point. Her bacon was crisp to the point of being dry, but never burnt. It crumbled in your mouth.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )Miscellaneous Anonymous Fish
the fish hide so much, I think Meka just feeds them on faith; assuming they’re still in there… somewhere. Almost every guest we’ve had to the house has asked if we plan to get fish for the tank.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )Welcome! You Have Porn!
I had been connecting to computers for years, primarily via bulletin board systems. However, I could only connect to one computer at a time that way. And – unless I had a lot of money to put towards the phone bill – I couldn’t connect to a system unless it was nearby.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )College Memories: Hair!
I needed to be ready to sing a song between the years 1965 and 1975. I picked Norwegian Wood by the Beatles. I quickly figured out I was in trouble when I showed up with a cassette of Rubber Soul to sing along with. Everyone else brought sheet music.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )Three Little Words
Often times Daniel looks as confused and mystified as I do; he truly doesn’t know why he did what he did. This was one of those times.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Doctor Cars
“I think they used them to drive doctors around.” That might have been true. I grew up in the seventies and eighties. House calls were something from late night movies on television.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 4 so far )Talking Trash
Newspaper should be recycled, not thrown away.” I pointed out the recyclers only took newspaper that wasn’t covered in parrot poop. Daniel made a face and I was relieved to see it didn’t freeze in place. He heaved a sigh and headed up the stairs again, struggling mightily against the gravitational pull of the earth.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 3 so far )Ten Years After
Columbine wasn’t the first school shooting. It wasn’t the worst shooting. However, Columbine touched a nerve in me. The night before the shootings, Meka and I had spent a couple of hours on the phone, going through baby names. We had picked out “Daniel”, but we were still working on the middle name.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )Non-Toxic Assets
“So, which crayons are poisonous?” he asked finally. Now it was my turn to think.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Fat Lip Service
“Okay, we didn’t want you to worry…” he started. For those who don’t have children, here’s a message from those who do: never start a conversation with those words. Ever.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )The Final Easter Egg
“I have hidden 16 eggs in the kitchen, living room and family room,” read the note signed with a large paw print. Daniel narrowed his eyes and surveyed the area. I followed him around with the camcorder as he located the egg hidden in a flowerpot, one in a box of Kleenex and another sitting in the remote charger for the Wii.
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