I can't drive 55
Having the Commander back home helped bring me back to some sense of normalcy. Space Camp had been (as I thought it would be) a wonderful experience. I'll always be sorry that my father would never get to hear about it.
Waking up on Monday was a little surreal because my vacation time had ended and I was now on bereavement leave. I work for a Company that requires men to be clean-shaven. I'm glad that I'm off work because I am just not up for shaving right now. I'll probably shave in a goatee for the funeral on Thursday.
Speaking of the funeral, the Commander had volunteered to put together a memory board for my father's services. We just needed to get some pictures. Number 2 was going to pick some up from my grandparents at the River and my Mom had sole custody of our family pictures after the divorce.
I was going to have to drive to San Diego today to pick them up.
Before I left, I answered some of the email that had been rolling in. Friends and family had been sending notes to me to see how we were holding up. I never really thought stuff like that really mattered but after going through this I can honestly say that every card, email, or phone call meant the absolute world to me. It is very humbling to know that there are so many people in my life that cared about what had happened to my family.
I had also made a lunch date with the Confidant. Her family was a day away from a really cool vacation and I wanted to spend some time with her before she left.
Lunch with the Confidant is always entertaining but I usually get some grief from her because I can't really drive more than one person in my car. Today, I'm driving the Commander's car and I'd be driving us to lunch.
We meet at her house and head over to a local Mexican food place. She lets me talk a lot and I tell her what's been going on. She's tells me how sorry she is that she will be gone for the services. I'm just glad she made some time for me today.
Lunch somehow ends really quickly and I drop the Confidant back at her house and I'm off to San Diego.
The drive to my mom's house is a pleasant one when there is no traffic. Today, I get to be alone with my thoughts but I still have to concentrate enough to stay on the road.
I start to think about pies. Lemon meringue to be exact.
I needed to get lemon meringue pies for the reception after the funeral.
It would be the perfect tribute for my father and everyone there would know it.
My dad made the BEST lemon meringue pie ever. They were perfect every time. The meringue always looked like frozen ocean waves. The filling tasted like an old-fashioned lemon drop.
I'm not exaggerating at all. You can ask anyone that had a chance to taste one. My dad couldn't bake much but his pies rocked.
I needed to find his recipe and then find a bakery that could replicate it.
It wouldn't be the same but at the same time but I know that he would have loved it.
Before I know it, I'm at my Mom's house.
She's left the door unlocked and I find a large box sitting on her dining room table.
It contains two photo albums and a half dozen slide reels. I hadn't seen any of these pictures in over two decades. I wondered how many little treasures I was about to stumble on.
How am I going to watch these slides?
I grab the box and lock the door. I spend a grand total of three minutes at my Mom's before I head back to Orange.
And I smile all the way home thinking about those pies.
VW
Waking up on Monday was a little surreal because my vacation time had ended and I was now on bereavement leave. I work for a Company that requires men to be clean-shaven. I'm glad that I'm off work because I am just not up for shaving right now. I'll probably shave in a goatee for the funeral on Thursday.
Speaking of the funeral, the Commander had volunteered to put together a memory board for my father's services. We just needed to get some pictures. Number 2 was going to pick some up from my grandparents at the River and my Mom had sole custody of our family pictures after the divorce.
I was going to have to drive to San Diego today to pick them up.
Before I left, I answered some of the email that had been rolling in. Friends and family had been sending notes to me to see how we were holding up. I never really thought stuff like that really mattered but after going through this I can honestly say that every card, email, or phone call meant the absolute world to me. It is very humbling to know that there are so many people in my life that cared about what had happened to my family.
I had also made a lunch date with the Confidant. Her family was a day away from a really cool vacation and I wanted to spend some time with her before she left.
Lunch with the Confidant is always entertaining but I usually get some grief from her because I can't really drive more than one person in my car. Today, I'm driving the Commander's car and I'd be driving us to lunch.
We meet at her house and head over to a local Mexican food place. She lets me talk a lot and I tell her what's been going on. She's tells me how sorry she is that she will be gone for the services. I'm just glad she made some time for me today.
Lunch somehow ends really quickly and I drop the Confidant back at her house and I'm off to San Diego.
The drive to my mom's house is a pleasant one when there is no traffic. Today, I get to be alone with my thoughts but I still have to concentrate enough to stay on the road.
I start to think about pies. Lemon meringue to be exact.
I needed to get lemon meringue pies for the reception after the funeral.
It would be the perfect tribute for my father and everyone there would know it.
My dad made the BEST lemon meringue pie ever. They were perfect every time. The meringue always looked like frozen ocean waves. The filling tasted like an old-fashioned lemon drop.
I'm not exaggerating at all. You can ask anyone that had a chance to taste one. My dad couldn't bake much but his pies rocked.
I needed to find his recipe and then find a bakery that could replicate it.
It wouldn't be the same but at the same time but I know that he would have loved it.
Before I know it, I'm at my Mom's house.
She's left the door unlocked and I find a large box sitting on her dining room table.
It contains two photo albums and a half dozen slide reels. I hadn't seen any of these pictures in over two decades. I wondered how many little treasures I was about to stumble on.
How am I going to watch these slides?
I grab the box and lock the door. I spend a grand total of three minutes at my Mom's before I head back to Orange.
And I smile all the way home thinking about those pies.
VW
posted by JVW at 11:31 PM
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