It has been a mixed bag of a day today. It has had its ups and downs and we have a long way to go before it is over. It started out like any other Thursday. We got Max off to school and then I went over to my mother’s house. Every Thursday I do the work that she needs to have done. I washed the shingles on the roof; there has been a lot of mold this year. I also trimmed back her bushes. Then after that it was time for a road trip.
Several weeks ago I put up a guest post from my friend Rich Mountain regarding an organization called suitcases4kids. Its goal is to replace the garbage bags that kids in foster care use to move their belongings with suitcases. Ever since I told her about it Mom has been searching out and giving me 3 or 4 suitcases a week to give to the charity. Today when I arrived she handed me 2 but then she wanted to stop at a couple of places where she has had good luck finding them.
We found 1 suitcase at our first stop but then saw a beautiful one at the second. As we entered the place a gold Mercedes Benz pulled in behind our car. A fiftyish man got out dressed in expensive clothes. He was wearing a tight v-neck jersey with black chest hair pouring out and gold chains around his neck. He followed us inside.
This is an interesting place. Residents of this town drop of items that are in good condition that they don’t need anymore. If they or someone else sees something they like they can just take it. There is no rhyme or reason to the place. People drop their things anywhere they find a space so as a result rather than having a clear path to move through quite often we have to step over things to get to another spot.
Mom has had good luck finding suitcases here. She has a system; move through the place once to see if she finds anything she wants. Once she completes her first circuit anything she has picked up she hands off to a companion, me in this case. She then makes a second run because she finds that she always misses things the first time. Depending on her mood she may make several more trips after this.
It was during the second pass that I saw the beautiful suitcase; some child would love this. As I moved towards it suddenly out of nowhere appeared that gentleman who had also discovered it. He scooped it up before I got there and examined it to see if it was in good condition. I was amused that he was even interested in it; even more so when I found out that he was going to sell it in a yard sale. When I approached him and suggested he donate it to the kids he shrugged me off; apparently the money was more important. No matter, Mom had found 3 so far this week for me.
When we were done I dropped my mother off at her house and headed home. My wife was waiting for me at the door; she was unhappy. She had been sick for some time and had finally been able to see her doctor. After he tested her he gave her some not so good news. He said that she had parasites, a yeast infection, and a tape worm; he prescribed some medicines for her. He also suggested she stop eating wheat because of all the gluten and chocolate because of the sugar. He said that she was feeding the parasites, the yeast, and the worm.
She won’t have much of an issue cutting out wheat; she has been slowly working on doing that for some time now. It is the chocolate she will have a problem with. As she puts it, she’s been eating it since she was a baby. She calls it her addiction. I believe it; I have seen her kneeling on the floor in store candy aisles pulling bags of candy off the bottom shelf just so she can find the ones that she loves. We will be working on this one for awhile.
And guess what? Max got home from school on time but then had a meltdown. Why? He didn’t know; he just knew that he was upset. I convinced him to sit quietly on the couch until he could get it together. When he recovered we told him he could have his best friend over. This was a big deal; they haven’t been together for 3 weeks. Separating them started out as loss of privilege, or punishment, or whatever you want to call it. Max had taken issue with something his friend had said and started hitting him. We took Bobby home and told my son that he couldn’t play with him for a few days.
But when we gave Max back the privilege of seeing his friend, Bobby had disappeared. Turns out he and his mom went on vacation and when they got back she was very sick so we weren’t able to communicate with them. 3 weeks later the boys are back together and as I write they are having a ball. They are dividing their time between playing indoors and outside. It’s about to rain so I expect they’ll be camping out soon in front of my office door.
Even though the day is far from over it has certainly been a mixed day of successes and upsets. I’m hoping for a quiet relaxing evening tonight. Oh wait, probably not. The “So You Think You Can Dance” result show is on tonight and I know my wife will be terribly upset at whoever is cut. It has been whittled down to 4 girls and 4 boys and unfortunately my wife loves all of them.
Did I say I was hoping for a relaxing evening?
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