Sunday morning, favorite morning of the week, no intention of working, no real plans, sleep in, read my book, ride the bike, watch the British Open, check my e-mails, new e-mails from Jackie, Dad wakes up, I go out with the dogs, it's overcast today, not near as hot as yesterday, think about fishing, watch more golf, Tom Watson is still either leading or tied for the lead, he's today's story, the guy to root for, 59 year old hero. So we watch the golf, Dad, Howie and I don't eat breakfast until after 12. We are glued to the golf. Watson chokes on his final put on the 18th and the tournament goes into overtime. I call Jackie, she answers, I tell her, I have a little boy here who wants to talk to his mamma. They talk for 10 minutes or so, which is great. Howie gives me the phone and we talk for a few minutes, she's at dinner with a bunch of people so we cut it short, she will be home in 2 days.
We watch the extra 4 holes, Watson loses, Cink wins. We eat breakfast, Dad takes a shower, Howie and I play basketball in the driveway. I do a quick car wash, then the three of us take the dogs for a walk. It looks like it's going to storm, we get home before the rain hits, it never really seems to hit, there's thunder, there's lightning, very little rain. A little before 4 pm I head to the baked moose softball double header. I leave Dad and Howie in front of the Mets game. The Baked Moose gets off to a great start scoring a bunch of runs in the first inning. Micah calls me at 4:30, he's at the Hungry Moose, he had taken the bus from Bozeman and got dropped off at the store, does not want to go to the ballfield, he's tired and wants to go home. So I leave the game, pick him up and take him home. He looks absolutely exhausted, he had a great time at the fair. About 30 seconds after he gets home he is fighting with Howie, so I send him downstairs, away from Howie. Not sure were my father is, but I just leave and go back to the softball games. We are winning big and end up winning the first game easily. The second game we just can't seem to keep it up and we lost that one, almost make a comeback, but its too little too late.
Then it's home for a barbecue at the neighbor's house. Chris and Mike do it again, having a bunch of people over and it's very social, and fun, but no kids there but Micah and Howie (the fighters) and Chris and Mikes 3 year old twins. Micah is starving, but the foods not ready, appetizer comes out and I feed him, then when dinner is ready I get him a plate right away, and then he goes home. I'm hanging out with Dan, Mike, Ty, Christian, Chris, Laura, Amy, Stephanie, Pride, Grandpa Stan. It is a fun gathering, it's storming out there, sky opens up and it just pours and then we get rainbows. Always a good sign. Dan and I were talking about happiness and sadness. He says his goal is to have all the bad moments in a small pile that he can step over and all the golden mountains to be a mountain in front of him that he can't see over. I was telling him about this article I read which talked about how sadness can sit heavy on you and stick around while happiness is fleeting. He disagreed, he felt that he sat on happiness and let the sadness be fleeting. Is it really all out about attitude and perception?
So all I need to do is hang out with Dan as much as possible and learn to be happy and positive. Interestingly enough I am usually very happy when I am hanging out with Dan.
Amy sat with my Dad and they talked about him working for his father-in-law at his bakery and how they didn't get along, but now much later in life he realizes that that probably had a lot to do with him as well. "It takes two to tango." Amy was asking him about my brothers, and just making nice conversation with my old man. She is such a sweetheart. Dad thinks all the women in Big Sky look alike. They are all blonde and beautiful. I told him when he meets people or sees them again, he just needs to ask them who they are. They all know he has trouble seeing. On our way home from the party, Dad said to me, "You and Jackie have made a really great life for yourselves here, and for the kids, when you first moved to Montana I wasn't so sure..."
After taking Dad home, just needed to walk him down their driveway and up ours - actually Howie was lighting off some fireworks with Mike and Christian, so we stopped to watch the light show and then I took Dad home, needed to escort him home because it was dark and he can't see. Couldn't take the shortcut, no banister, no light and a lot of uneven ground. After taking him home I went back to the party to say good night to all, thank Mike and Chris for another great party, and to get Howie and go back home to wind down. First I had to take Buddy for a short walk, Murray was still in the bathtub downstairs scared from all the thunder and the fireworks. Then I took a shower, and now I'm writing.
Dad just walked over after turning off the t.v. And had this funny smile on his face. I got up and gave him a big hug and a kiss, "I love you Mawkie," "I love you, too." It makes him very happy to see me hanging out with all these great friends. We were all talking about Jackie and Andrew coming back, and I'm very honest, I'm very excited, but I'm nervous. It's all going to be great, but it's going to take some time. Today as I was driving to the softball games Margy was outside so I stopped to talk to her. Howie wants to see her tomorrow, so I set that up. Margy was telling me that when Jim used to go away a lot and come back it was always hard and it was best if he just went to work. Margy told me to go to work a lot and give Jackie time and space to get back into her Big Sky life. Good Ol' Margy.
So I sat there with my friends and my Dad and we just chatted away. They are all hiking to Windy Pass for an adult overnight on Wednesday. A little too soon for me to join in, but I'd be happy to commandeer an empty house for the night...
So I said good night and headed home. And here I am again trying to remember things. Howie was hysterically funny today while we played basketball. We were playing horse and he kept dribbling to my car and reading off the license plate and the make of the car then running back and missing the layup. If he made it I was supposed to do everything he did. He ended up beating me 2 out of 3 like he usually does. He's becoming a good little shooter. He can be so funny, I wish I could remember all of his gems and grandpas gems.
Today while we walking the dogs, Dad kept telling me about his cousin Sylvia, and that his grandmother had 4 uncles, or was it his mother? and that Sylvia was beautiful when she was younger but now she was 92 and she had a lot of trouble walking. He called her recently and she loves to talk. And I was trying to understand all the relationships, but unless I'm sitting in front of the computer while he tells me I will never get it straight. There seem to be a lot of big families from back in eastern europe. His grandfather had 4 brothers? I think that's what he said and one of his brothers came with him to America. That's the grandfather that brought us to America, that's the one were supposed to say, "Thanks, Pop," to.
Time to check on the kids.
So I just put the boys to bed for the night. Howie was telling me some dream he had last night. He kept saying how hard it was to explain. He was walking around, but had trouble keeping his eyes open, and when he was finally able to keep his eyes open he woke up. "But there was more to dream than that, there were these other 2 people I was with and we had a flashlight and when you shined the flashlight everything was blurry, but without the flashlight everything was completely dark. I don't know, it's hard to explain." He had such a cute smile on his face and kept shaking his head as he told me about it.
Meanwhile Micah was brushing his teeth and taking out his contacts and Howie was asking me if it was possible to be almost falling out of your bed and still stay asleep and then we were talking about the time Micah fell out of the top bunk and miraculously landed in a radio flyer wagon full of stuffed animals that Grandma Pearl had made. He still bumped himself, but he was fine. I remember that fall. I was asleep upstairs and woke to a big thud. I ran downstairs and found Micah half asleep and half dazed in the corner of his room - he actually fell off the head of the bunk bed, not the side, and somehow did break his fall in all those soft stuffed animals. Who knows exactly what happened, no one witnessed it and he was asleep, but he was O.K.
So then I tuck them both in and they are asking about mom. "Tonight is Sunday and Mom gets home on Tuesday? So tonight is Mom's and Andrew's last night in Africa?"
"Actually, it's morning there and they are getting up and are about to spend their last day in Kenya, for this trip. I'm sure Mom will be going back someday," I tell them. " They will be leaving tomorrow around 2:30 our time - so you will be at Margy's Howie when Mom and Andrew are getting on their first plane. O.K. guys, good night, I love you."
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