One time when she wanted to add a haircut to her weekly shopping trip, she waited at the salon for an hour and then went grocery shopping. I mentioned that the next time that happened she might consider grocery shopping first and coming back to see if they were less busy.
This has become complicated. Sometimes I feel like she needs black and white rules in order to make decisions. Once she has them, she never forgets them.
Example- she used to stop 4 feet away from the trunk of the car when it came time to put her groceries in. I finally figured it out and asked her if she had ever made mom mad by bumping too close to her car. There was my answer. It took about a year for her to realize that closer was easier but now we've got that figured out.
Yesterday we were walking out behind some slower people blocking any other path. I had to remind her not to get too close to their heels- we're still working on that one.
Rules for hair salon: If there are 1-2 people waiting, go ahead and wait. If there are 4-5 people waiting, come back later. If there are 3 people waiting but two of them are men, go ahead and wait. If all three are women, maybe check back later. That became too confusing. (duh) So then we decided I'd go with her to figure it out. But that was ridiculous. So I sent her on her way to make that decision on her own and she finished everything at the same time I finished my Subway sandwich. I'm calling it a definite win.
After I brought her groceries into her house, I called Greathusbandbob to see if he needed anything. He was on the phone and didn't answer. No biggie. He called back but I had already left. He said "Becky called, did she need anything?" She said "No, she'll call you when she gets home."
Now that's hilarious.
I got her to laugh for real twice during the trip. I'm in a much better mood on a Friday afternoon than I am on a Saturday morning. Mostly because I know that Saturday will be all mine. Once was when I told her about Bob telling our cat he was going to "kick her cat-ass" if she got in his way. The other was the cock-a-doo rooster idea. I managed to lay down a few lines of rap using the cock-a-doo and it is now required that that is our official good-by greeting.
Other news- not Friday related. Greathusbanbob does not read my blog. I share it with him now and again. He likes the way I write- especially since it was such a struggle for him when he first started writing about the family geneology. He has a bazillion funny stories from various adventures in his life (some of which I've shared on this blog.) He's great at telling them. In spite of the suggestion he do so, he is too self-conscious to write them. In a flash of inspiration I realized that I could do them justice. I knew as soon as an introduction popped into my head that this was a thing.
Meanwhile son of Greathusbandbob was sorting through saved garage items and sending photographs. (e.g. His membership to the Krishna palace where he did the electric wiring, a pencil from when he ran for mayor of Bridgeport Oh.) It has become a thing. I spent my last day of relaxing turning the stories I knew into consumable hilarity.
I share with you the introduction of Knows No Strangers©
Stories. My husband has them. A lot of them. He’s like the old grandpa that repeats them over and over. Except you don’t notice because there are so many of them. In the 90’s the show Seinfeldhad a character (Kramer) who “sold” his stories to someone with a boring life. Then there was the movie, Forrest Gump, with a character who always found himself in the right place at the right time. Robert Haddon Terry and his stories embody these characters. And while it’s great to hear them in person, the next best thing is having them collected in this book.
· He grew up on a block in Brooklyn, NY that had 360 families. (where he once thought the city had made a mistake when they forgot to remove some dirt and grass he spotted in the cracks of the sidewalk) He was orphaned at 13 but his drive to survive led him to Huntington Beach CA with many stories along the way. He eventually returned east to Bridgeport, OH to raise a family. Unemployment in the 80’s (due to Reagan’s railroad policies) brought another set of life experiences to what can only be called a charmed life.
· Each new life change brings another collection of believable and unbelievable stories- all true- he has witnesses. I will remind the reader that many of these events occurred at the height of the “turn on tune in drop out” era and drug use was the norm of the day.
· It is common for wives of story-tellers like him to roll their eyes and groan each time they know one’s coming. In his case I usually recognize which one to expect after the first sentence, laugh and wait for the uninitiated listener to wonder in disbelief. And after 15 years he can still surprise me with one I haven’t heard yet. ©2019
2 comments:
Great post! Loved hearing about the trials of Friday ‘s at Walmart and adored hearing about hubby. I am not around him often enough to hear his stories. Wish I could be!
His children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren will thank you for writing down his stories! I recently came across an audiotape (remember those?) from 1965 of my grandfather telling stories. Said grandfather won a liar's contest at age 80-ish, so you know his stories were good ones.
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