The Month of May: NonSense, Car Sense, and Perfect Sense

To blog or not to blog, that is the question.  It has actually been suggested to me that I analyze the force that is behind the words.   Sometimes I get inspired and the words flow from my brain to the keyboard to the computer screen in a matter of minutes.  Sometimes one piece takes weeks to write.  In either case, blogging has become as essential to me as a workout to a health conscious man, the icing on a baker’s cake, or even the message from the clergyman’s sermon - it makes PERFECT SENSE.
Blogging is a way to write about my fascination with words.  When I write, I get the chance to explore synonyms, multi-meaning words, adjectives, homonyms, and a whole slew of word possibilities.  For example, this month I learned a new word – ramps.  Oh, I knew the word before.  They were inclined alternatives to a set of stairs or an escalator.  Now, thanks to the expertise of my sister Lisa, I can eat cooked ramps.  They are bitter leek-like onions.  This accesses my prior knowledge of the word leek, and how I knew that in both my distant and recent past, it was spelled leak and was associated with a troublesome trickle.  In the present, however, the ea has become ee, and it is a ramp-like onion.  In short, I can be thankful that there are no leaks or leeks on the ramp, for that would be dangerously slippery, or I can be thankful that there are leeks and ramps, but not leaks and ramps, in my salad or on my pizza!  And don't even ask me about capers!  Someone's been hiding capers from me for the last 56 years.  Sounds like a caper caper!  What a disturbing yet fascinating language full of NONSENSE English is……….
Blogging is a way to poke fun at and survive life’s little aggravations.  For example, last Saturday I went to our car dealer to get some routine maintenance done on the car, and I figured I’d be in the waiting room for less than an hour. Alas, a multi-point inspection revealed some necessary brake work and the replacement of all four tires.  With the added work, my stay in the comfort room would be extended!   I began my sentence by perusing the small selection of magazines available.  I was not in the market for, and certainly could not afford a new car, so the fact that car magazines were there was a moot point; I knew I’d never be a male version of a fashionista, so why bother with the manly stuff; and my children have been raised, and it’s too late to see if I did it right, so I declined reading the Parenting periodicals.  With the paper resources having been exhausted, it was time to turn to electronics.  Praise the Lord for WIFI and cable television!  I had my netbook computer with me, so for the first couple of hours, I was occupied.  I must say, though, that the Internet gets boring after a while.  Words With Friends, though fun and educational, wears out its welcome quickly.  And how many new emails does one as popular as me get on a Saturday morning, and how many times can I do a send/receive without feeling like I’m wasting my time?  And let’s face it…God and Facebook friends forgive me…an overdose of Facebook is excruciating!  It was time to put the computer away and gaze at the television in the waiting room, which was perpetually set to on the Food Network.  Hours of my time were spent watching Garth Brooks’s wife teach me to cook, a new Grandmother making an outdoor Italian feast on a terrace decorated with lights, and Paula Deen telling me how to prepare a dish that she couldn’t eat anymore due to her diabetes.  It was torture. To add to the 'fun' of the day, the dealer only had three of the four tires in stock and would put them on for me, but I would need to return the following Tuesday to have the fourth tire put on.   The shop was understaffed and overworked on that Saturday, and four hours after I entered confinement, I was set free, but not without the knowledge that I would have to return.  So on Tuesday, yet another hour was spent in the cell, and the Food Network was still on and the same episodes of the same shows were airing.  It doesn't make sense to me, but I guess in the world of automobile dealers and mechanics, it's CAR SENSE.....
And of course, blogging is a way to acknowledge a milestone.  The milestone I am remembering right now is Jackie’s and my 30^th wedding anniversary.  We have been at the Jersey shore enjoying the Cape May beach, a trolley tour of the Victorian architecture of the city, and some of the best lunches and dinners we’ve had at restaurants in years, all while being treated like royalty at a bed and breakfast complete with afternoon tea and treats, and my personal favorite part of the trip, a whale and dolphin watching cruise.  We came to the shore at the perfect time:  before the Memorial Day rush and before the stifling hot weather.  We’re no strangers to excursions to the Jersey shore.  For as long as I can remember, I have been there nearly every year.  I have been a little tiny sand castle builder and wave jumper, a teenage boardwalk walker, a young married romance seeker, and a parent hand holder to little wave jumpers and boardwalk walkers.  This year, at all the attractions, at the Inn, and particularly on the boat, I noticed the number of older looking folks enjoying the ambiance of Cape May.  Many had trouble walking or getting up, many had gray hair and had some extra pounds, and many talked about their children, who were not with them.  Some were grandparents.  Some announced that they were also celebrating their anniversaries.  Some had been married 26 years, some 30 like us, and some a little longer.

May 21st, 2013 - 30th Anniversary

Fitting in sporting my classic car tee shirt
and my Greatest Grandpa hat

In further examining the whole scenario, I glanced at my shirt, a tee with a collection of 1950’s classic cars, including my favorite ’59 Chevy, and then remembered the hat I was wearing boasting the phrase ‘Greatest Grandpa’, and I realized I was with my peers, my fellow empty nesters, grandparents - folks on the far side of middle age who had earned a getaway and who had seized the opportunity, and are enjoying it. To me, it makes PERFECT SENSE! 

Godspeed, Jimmy.........

Today, I paid my respects to the family of a favorite cousin of my parents. 

From Mom's archives:  Jimmy, Uncle Henry, Uncle George, and Mom, circa 1925.

His name was Jimmy, and he is responsible for the existence of my sisters and I. Relax, there is no controversy, no scandal, only another plot on the timeline of my family history that has been revisited with the passing of time...and yet another family member.  

When the news of Jimmy's passing came last week, I was reminded, after talking to family members who were close to him in his younger years, that not only was he my mother's first cousin, but he was also one of my father's best buddies in their pre-World War II later teen years. Within weeks of my paternal grandmother's unexpected passing in 1941, my grieving father was introduced to my mother by Jimmy.  My parents' relationship resulted in marriage, and four children.  

Another from Mom's archives: Jimmy, Carmela, Mom and Dad, circa 1946.

My parents' relationship with Jimmy, and all the cousins of his generation and their spouses, was lifelong and heartfelt, and their regard for their extended families was unmistakable.  

Yet another from the archives: Mom, Dad, Anita, Wally, Jim, and Carmela, circa 1947.

I can remember the stories of the cousins all living within walking distance of each other throughout their younger years, and only a short drive from each other during their young married days. With each of the events like today, the folks of my generation and the one preceding it all express their disappointment in today's 'way of the world', and the significance of funerals as the only chance for meetings of all these fine folks.  Today, I must concur that they are correct. Most of the family members I saw today, I last saw at my mother's funeral two years ago, and my sister's funeral two years before that.  

My personal recollection of Jimmy was that he was a family man, very active athletically, and always smiling. Maybe it was Jimmy's doing that on my way back to work after visiting his family, my cellphone rang.  It was a funeral home...not the one that arranged Jimmy's celebration, but the one that arranged my mother's some twenty-two months ago.  The conversation went something like this:

Woman:    Hello, is this Joseph?

Me:   Yes it is.

Woman:  Hi, Joseph, this is _________ from ________ Funeral Home calling.  How are you today?

Me:    Fine.

Woman:    Great, We're just calling to see if you'd like to schedule an appointment to come in and discuss your wishes for prearranging your funeral with a member of our staff.

LONG PAUSE..........

Me:    I don't think so!

At first I was taken aback.  I don't really think Jimmy had a hand in this coincidence, but I'd like to think that Jimmy, Mom, Dad, and everyone else up there got a chuckle out of my "What the ______?" moment.

I do sometimes wish we lived in a simpler world in which distance and obligations would stop preventing family reunions that didn't involve funerals.  I wish that death and sickness didn't have to be such a big factor in life.  I wish that all in the family could know that, despite the distance and the obligations, good thoughts are with them as we once again go our separate ways.  Maybe our next time together will be a happy one.

Godspeed, Jimmy: thanks for getting the folks together in the first place and being such a special part of their lives. Peace to you and all of yours.........

READ, READ, READ!

It was Dr. Seuss's birthday this week!  Read Across America! 

 Imagine the difficulty in being the only curmudgeon in a building full of fun people.  The threat to my quiet and reserved demeanor began with a door decorating contest.  It was decided that the Reading Department would decorate with Thing One, Thing Two, and several other Things.  I obediently traced the Things onto paper with the aid of an overhead projector, but being an individual and the only male in the department, I deviated from the request to be one of the Things, and traced the Grinch to represent myself.  

    

The Reading Room Door
Guess who's the Grinch?!

The work week was chock full of fun things for the students and staff to do to make it a fun week.  Monday was Silly Sock Day.  I had been ill throughout the weekend, and needed Monday to fully recuperate, so I missed Silly Sock Day.  I figured that on Tuesday, I could wear the silly socks, and unless I lifted my pant legs, no one would know I was belatedly participating in the fun. 

Unbeknownst to me, Tuesday was Striped Shirt Day.  I felt well enough to return to work, and put on my silly socks.  Temperatures outside were milder on that day, so I donned a short sleeved striped shirt.  Imagine the wonder and awe when my coworkers thought I had actually worn a striped shirt to support their cause.  Anyone that noticed my accidental homage to Striped Shirt Day was treated to a lift of the pant legs, and a view of my daughter's mismatched soccer socks, one bright red, and one blue.

Wednesday was Dress Like Your Favorite Character Day.  Oh yes, this sounded like something I would love to be a part of.  My favorite character was a gray haired old curmudgeon, and as such, they got just what they wanted...no costume necessary!  I do have a tee shirt with the Grinch's picture on it, and I wore it under my shirt that day.  Whenever a coworker asked where my costume was, and if there were no children around, I lifted my shirt and showed them the Grinch.  This was almost getting to be fun.

Thursday was the most comfortable day of the week to this point.  All I had to do was wear a shirt with words on it. I wore my lovely daughter's Temple Owls tee shirt.  Oh, the spirit those kids thought I had now!  I knew better.

It was finally Friday.  I was starting to feel this spirit of f-f-fun in the air.  It was Hat Day.  That morning, I went through my collection of hats.  All my favorites were there:  the one from Wildwood, New Jersey, making me yearn for a vacation; the one from Lackland Air Force Base, where my son Kevin graduated from basic training; a Father's Day gift hat boasting, 'Aged to Perfection';  another Father's Day gift hat lamenting, 'I Can't Take It Anymore!'; a beanie with a propeller, reminiscent of my days of watching Beanie and Cecil as a kid; my personal favorite, my 'Greatest Grandpa' hat from you know who; and, finally, the ugly plain yellow one I bought at a Dollar Store on the boardwalk because I'd forgotten all my other hats on that particular vacation.  I couldn't decide which to bring, for they were all so much fun to wear when I was indoors, and they all looked so stunning on me.  Well, not only am I the proud owner of so many fun hats, but I also have a collection of Walmart's plastic bags in my pantry, and I think they multiply right there in the pantry, so I stuck ALL the hats in one of those bags and alternated them throughout the day, and by the end of the day they all had been worn. 

HATS!

In the end, it was time to put all the amusing visuals aside and do something that would define Read Across America for me:  entering a classroom as a mystery reader.  I knew I wanted to read a Dr. Seuss classic, but the choice was difficult, given that there were so many to choose from.  I had read in an article that Dr. Seuss's first book was And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street, and lo and behold, it was included in a Dr. Seuss Treasury book right in my home, and in my children's bookcase,  right in front of my eyes.  With the book chosen, I wanted to give the students something to take from the experience, so I wrote a poem in limerick form just for them, leaving a blank space in the last verse for their name, and gave a copy to each of them.  I told them of my love for writing, and of the importance of reading in anything they were interested in doing in their lifetime.  Their undivided attention, as well as their enthusiasm and response for the phrase I saw it on Mulberry Street whenever they heard the cue made this a fun fifteen minutes for me.  They may forget tomorrow my little poem about the importance of reading, but for a short time, they followed it, they understood it, and they shouted their names in that last verse.  

It was Dr. Seuss's birthday this week!  Read Across America!  Things have come full circle.  As a boy, I would read Dr. Seuss classics over and over again.  When my own children were young, I read the same classics to them.  Now, I have had the chance to read one of them to a new audience of youngsters, and the enthusiasm hasn't been diminished by the passage of time.  I had fun this week.........