as i said, i've been stayin at mom's all week. only coming home for a few minutes here and there while she eats or whatever. 1st thing i do is check various emails and blogs for signs of life.
[my pathetic electronic life, that is.]
2 minutes later, i'm like, "well, i guess i can go back now. nothing to distract me here."
---------*!*-------
how was your 4th of july?
mine was so exciting i can hardly contain myself.
at 2:15 we started on our way to the dining hall.
and there was great anticipation.
2:20: yep, still walkin'...
2:25: are we there yet?
2:30:
we did finally make it there and let me tell you, folks. the party began at at 2:30 sharp.
and it was Rockin'!
the pictures are blurry, but surely you get the gist.
we said the pledge of allegiance, which i know you all know i'm a big fan of.
we ate red white and blue Popsicles...
(after the 1st bite, the red part was gone. no lickin' here if you still have teeth.)
mom bitin' the red:
the music was actually good even though it was an imitation karaoke/synthesizer/electric keyboard/one man band guy.
he 4th-of-july-ed us in nonstop fashion with a whole bunch of Sinatra, Duke Ellington and big band stuff. Even a real toe tapper of a Fats Domino number. (blue heaven)
and of course the corny "i am a flag" poem. but even that was recited with ray charles' version of 'America' as a kind of backdrop music. (ok, maybe a few people left at that point, but i liked it. i've never had a problem with negro music, but...HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!)
oh, & there were a boatload of flag songs. you know, all the regular patriotic God Bless Americas and Yankee Doodle Dandies.
most of those were 'sposed to be sing-a-longs (that dynamic was both sweet and sad), but the the real crowd favorite, no holds barred, was...
"Has Anybody Seen My Gal."
your heart woulda soared had you been there to feel the response to that one.
i made a few 20-second videos with my cheesy phone camera that came out way too dark to see, but the sound is ok. my favorite is a video i took of toes, hands and heads bobbing to the beat. i really wish i could share them with you. one even has my mom's hands a-tapping out of time. the spiffy old dude in the fedora is the genuine article. and the rest are all somewhere in between.
good stuff. it was a good time. a good time was had by all. even reluctant me.
oh, & did i mention there were lots of flag shirts and lots of red, white and blue, and that Fred was there? (fred's my favorite. he wheels in in his go-cart and is a presence. maybe i'll dig up an old photo of him for you.)
and that we also played are you smarter than a 5th grader?
the old folks' version of that ricoculous tv game show took on a hilarious turn when the MC asked:
"Where are most U.S. flags made?
-china?
-taiwan?
-pennsylavania?
......Say 'yes' is you're for china..."
i swear to god i laughed out loud when he said that.
it sounded exactly like, "are you vagina?"
which brings me to one last blurred photo. (notice the person in the foreground)
sometimes i hear myself thinking, "man! who's that blonde? if only i were 20 years older..."
yes, that's when i'm sure i've lost it completely.
a good time was had by all.
and a happy 4th of july to you, too.
with love,
what in the cornbread hell
6 comments:
Boy, I'm jealous! Your party was much better than mine. How many of those women acted like they were falling, so you'd have to catch them? Oldest trick in the book for women, you know. You going in there is pretty similar to me going into the tittie bar. You become quite popular....
only you could come up with an analogy as weird as that.
You have aptly captured the essence of a nursing home. My grandma was in one for about a year (fortunately without memory loss), and she had us all out last year for the 4th of July picnic there. I got there late, but it must've taken an hour to get the residents outside.
thanks for the comment.
i'm moving mom to the *memory unit* TOMORROW. yikes.
but i'll probably be taking her to all the special events on the other side long past the time she's able to recognize old friends. now they're my friends.
i just love those old coots.
I don't know why I want to thank you for being a good son, but I do. I never had to deal with what you're going through...my mother died at 52, my father made it to 80 with all of his faculties and able to live on his own. I didn't even have grandparents who lived past 65, and I've only been in nursing homes to sing Christmas carols with my kids when they were little.
Anyway, I think you're pretty damn special.
thank you.
normally i'd pooh-pooh such praise, but lately i actually have been acting like an ok son.
right now i'm an exhausted son, but am headed to your blog to see what you thought of "today's" puzzle.
personally i loved it. easy, but tricky.
[it was the BACKwards themed one.]
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