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 I
think we’ve all
started projects that we wish had never entered our minds. Don’t you?
Last weekend, I started thinking that we needed an extra refrigerator for the
garage. I don’t know what will happen if we ever get to the point where we
have to cook for just the two of us. None of the recipes we have seem to work
for just 2 people. We always cook like we’re feeding an army. Maybe it’s
because we have boys that live close by and they never seem to get filled up.
Must have empty legs or something. Anyway, we always cook lots of chili, gumbo
and soups to keep these kids healthy, wealthy and wise. I’m hoping the wealthy
part will be a good investment when I get old…….”Remember, when you were
hungry and we always had something to feed you?”
Send dear old Dad some bucks. Anyway, it really gets important about this
time of the years since the holidays are coming. Always can use extra room for
pies and ice and stuff. So I go out and buy a used refrigerator and carry it
home. The guys I bought it from would take another whole column, but I’ll do
that sometimes later on. So, I get it out the garage and guess what? The only
place that it will fit and where the plug is, has just about everything in the
garage piled up in front of it. So, I start re-arranging the garage and cleaning
the place up to accommodate my latest purchase. Now, I’ve watched some people
with a chore like this and I think I must be different. As in, they may be sane
and I may be, well, different. The only way I know how to do something is to
jump in and go like crazy so that once I’m committed, I can’t really stop
until I’ve finished. Do you understand this? So, here I’ve torn the whole
garage up and moved everything in the space of about an hour. Then I start
putting boxes, bowling balls, lawn stuff; old furniture back in where it looks
as good as you can make it inside of a garage. Well, as usual, once I start one
of these things…one thing leads to another. In this case I find 6 big boxes of
old photographs and albums. Thinking that these will be ruined in the heat, I
bring them inside the house. Then I finish cleaning the garage and getting
everything back in order. Much later, I notice the boxes sitting on the floor in
the den. What happens next? You know as well, as I do. We open them up and start
going back in time. God, were we ever that young? Were the kids ever that
little? Hours and hours pass by and we realize that we need to get these in some
kind of order, so we sort everything into large groups and vow to start in on
this project sometime in the winter when we don’t have anything else to do.
The good thing about old pictures is the fact that they can let you go back and
reflect upon the good parts of your life. Nobody takes pictures of bad things.
Only the good parts of life. This morning as I was starting to think about what
to write for this week, something dawns on me. These 6 boxes are only about ½
of our 28 years of marriage. These boxes are from years 1 through years 15 or
so. So, where are the rest of them? Not in the garage, I’ve been all through
that stuff. No, I start to think about a closet in a back bedroom that I never
go into. I go get a cup of coffee and enter this part of the house. Maybe it’s
my imagination, but I think that part of the house had started to sag under a
lot of weight. Probably from all this stuff that’s been hidden away. Once I
get inside the closet and start opening boxes, I find the rest of the pictures.
Another 6 boxes at least. If I got sent to prison, I could work on these for my
entire sentence and still have things left over once I go out. Here are a couple
of years of solid work at best.
Oh, well, a least I’ve got something to keep me busy. It’s kind of
funny how you can ramble from one project to another without planning to do so
isn’t it? I as reminded of a story I heard years ago that went like this.
An old guy was standing at a bus stop when a younger fellow walked up.
After a few minutes the younger guys asked the older one…”Could you tell me
what time it is?” The old guy looked at him and said…”No, I don’t think
I can.” Well, the younger man could see that the old guy was wearing a watch
and was curious as to his response. So he says….”Can you tell me why you
won’t give me the time….?” The older guy looked at him a moment and said
…”Sure, if I told you the time, you and I would starting talking, then the
bus would come along and we end up sitting together and riding into town. You’re
a nice looking young man…..So I’d ask you to come home and have dinner with
my wife and family. Then you’d meet my daughter. You’d like her and she
would probably like you. You’d date her and sure enough after awhile, you’d
want to ask me for permission to marry her. And quite frankly I don’t want my
daughter getting married to someone that can’t afford a watch.”
So, there you have it …one thing leads to another…. You know how it
is. Have a good week. Send your praises and compliments to www.pearyperry.com.
Send everything to me in an envelope marked “confidential ” care of the White
House, Washington D.C. I’ll get it eventually.
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