What an evening...
What an evening Tuesday night was for our youngest boy, A-Man. Finally something went right this year for him after having several disappointments with this Covid crap messing up nearly everything his senior year of high school he been expecting to experience.
Tuesday evening was the Senior Anointing Service for the graduating class of 2020 and it was the only “tradition” that was able to come fruition after a couple of rescheduling dates.
You folks know that Blondie and I have had our “run in” with the youth minister of the church from her confirmation in the past so I have pretty much said “adios” to the church.
Sometimes though, you...
Sometimes though, you have to set some things aside when it comes to the children. I ended up going to the anointing service and even wore a damn mask at the service.
The evening started with a meal in the Family Life Center and then after the meal the service was held in the church. I guess you could call it a “meal”; Chic Fil A chicken sandwich with a bag of chips & a chocolate chip cookie. I guess the Covid situation played a part in that too; normally in years past it was a cooked on site meal that the church ladies prepared.
The service also...
The service also deviated from years past in that each senior had to have their parents record their messages and bible verses ahead of time and the recording were played instead of being read aloud at the service. Also it was limited to immediate family and “speakers” (those who had recorded the readings).
You folks might remember Pattie from the gambling trip to Oklahoma. She is also A-Man’s God Mother so he made sure she had a bible verse to read so she could attend the service. She is a real character and lifelong friend of my wife and now A-Man’s gambling buddy to go along with her God Mother status.
After the service...
After the service we had planned to go get some ice cream at the local ice cream place but the service ran longer than expected. By the time we reached the ice cream place the doors were locked and then it was time to regroup.
A-Man had invited his best friend from the church group to get ice cream with us; that would be Noah. Seeing that time was short & places to choose from were even shorter we opted for the local Mexican restaurant. Our family has quite a history going back with that place; all of it real good too.
We got there...
We got there 15 minutes before closing time and ended up there for nearly two hours. The restaurant has three owners and one of them I’ve known for over 35 years, in fact he and I met when he was a waiter at a place called “Cinco DeMayo” that burned down back in the late 80’s.
So when you know the owner and nearly every server and waitress by name they didn’t mind staying past closing time. I have a reputation of tipping very generously so that might have played a part in it too.
Noah and A-Man have a lot in common; one of those things is that they both home schooled and pretty much the rest of the church group kids went to the Lutheran High School or public school. So they hit it off four years ago when they first met at the high school youth group meeting. Noah hadn’t been around our family though outside of the church setting so he was in for a surprise.
Stories of the...
Stories of the past were flying left and right about A-man and some of the crazy things he’s done in his eighteen years of life. Then there was the stories Pattie had to tell about her and the wife’s escapades.
Picture Thelma and Louise driving over the cliff in the movie “Thelma and Louise” and you’d have a pretty good idea of some of the stunts they have pulled in their lives together.
When the waiter dropped a bowl of chips off his tray the word “guzbuck” instinctively slipped out, it really was a guzbucking mess.
One slip of...
One slip of the tongue though and I ended up being dragged into the stories.
Noah hadn’t heard the word guzbuck before so Shortie said , “Oh just Google it… it’s a real word alright… and our Dad invented it.”
Then it was on. They started ripping into me about my blogging with comments like, “we don’t read much of what he writes but evidently some folks do”, said Blondie.
Pattie was in disbelief, she had no idea that I had been blogging. “Eight hundred people follow you?”, she asked. “It’s nine.” I said. “Yea, anyone can get nine followers, I thought Daisy said eight hundred”, she quipped.
“No Pattie, you heard her right… she was just off on the number … I think it is 894 to be exact. So I just said “nine” as in 900. ( I rounded up.) Noah was looking at his phone trying to decide if he should Google it but was too busy listening to the banter back and forth.
From there we...
From there we got into crypto discussions and a whole host of other stuff about blogging and topics and of course they had to bring up the fact that only Shortie and Blondie were the only ones at the table who had fewer birthdays than me.
They told the story about getting me a birthday cake this year that said, “Happy 16th Birthday Dad” on it and the lady who took the order was “soooo confused”. I guess they don’t teach much about Leap Day in the schools.
All in all it was a pretty good evening and I think A-Man’s friend had a great time learning why his buddy has the sense of humor he has. A-Man lives with a family that just loves practical jokes and storytelling.
I’m just glad Daisy or A-Man didn’t bring up the time that I was umpiring his tee ball game and ended up having to throw him out of the game.
Until next time,
Sult
Photo credits: Sult N Papper
Guzbuck! A truly great story, well told!
Would you call the Mexican restaurant a 'family tradition'? I certainly would. The kind of place you can be comfortable and late at. Finest kind.
My brother and sister in law and I had dinner at their favorite Mexican restaurant when I was there a month ago. It was their first meal 'out' in 6 weeks. It was before their county reopened, the owner had two couples eat on his patio as a 'test' (allowed by the restrictions) otherwise it was just open for take out. They were excited just to be out...
So. For the record (which my father made very clear later) when my father 'adiosed' me in a little league game it was not for 'smarting off to the umpire'-that was acceptable to him. It was for smarting off to my FATHER.
Thanks for a great dose. I really appreciate it!
Without question or hesitation Mexican restaurant is a "family tradition" in my book. Just doing some quick math in my head we've celebrated over 100 birthdays combined at that one little place in the 26 years we've been married. Not to mention other things like fathers day , anniversaries, and Cinco DeMayo.
The Cinco celebration wasn't so much for the "day" but in remembrance of the other restaurant that burned down. That in and of itself has been a family tradition. I can still picture in my mind that Sunday afternoon when we saw the billowing black smoke from the fire and decided to go see what was burning. We lived a good four or five miles from the place so you know the smoke meant the fire was big in order for us to see it.
We were able to make our way over there and were devastated to the see the place fully engulfed and the volunteer fire dept couldn't really do anything to put it out. Luckily no one was hurt. It started as a kitchen fire and being a wood frame building it didn't take long to spread.
I am sure you've seen the movie "Bad News Bears" and would probably remember the kid doing the cartwheel across home plate to score a run. A-Man decided he would re-enact that episode and I had warned him ahead of time that he better not. Well he did and it probably wouldn't have been a big deal but for the fact that I was the home plate umpire and the catcher was well out the way of A-Man to just cross the plate running in to score.
But he did that "cartwheel" move and plowed into the catcher with his follow through of the cartwheel. He spend the last two innings in the bleachers sitting and watching the game with his mother.
If he hadn't of taken the catcher down with his antics, I would have just disciplined him at home for his going against what I had told him. The crying catcher was the straw that broke this old camel.
Smarting off to the umpire is a another family tradition....
Sult
Ahahahahaha Can't blame the kid for trying :)
My Dad said he was catching a game in Sprague (a notorious homer ump) and he turned around to inquire (politely I am sure) about a missed strike call. The Umpire replied "That's the way they call 'em on TV." Dad watched the rest of that game from the local tavern...
So. I guess smarting off to the umpire is a family tradition for me, too.
Congratulations to your son and I'm very happy that the service came to fruition for him and your family and Noah! It sounds like a good time was had by everyone. Sounds awesome that you have such a nice and long relationship with the restaurant. I thinks it's funny how you got dragged into that story though..lol. 😂