“Everything has a last”
I remember well Thanksgiving of 2017. Kay and I stopped in mid-afternoon at a Furr’s Cafeteria in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The place was packed. We were in line for at least an hour. Maybe three.
The food wasn’t all that good, but there was a lot of it. It wasn’t a self serve buffet, but a guy kept coming by to ask if he could get us anything. I couldn’t believe it; there were about—Excuse me a second. “Kay, how many people do you think were at Furr’s when we were in Santa Fe. -- “Two million!”
I don’t know if you’ve caught on yet, but Kay can get real surly sometimes. It’s her way of telling me to leave her alone. Right now she’s in the living room watching “The Wizard of Oz” with Jill. I have half a mind to go in there and tell them how it ends.
Kay and I hosted the family Thanksgiving this year, and Jill stayed over. I couldn’t get her to leave. -- That’s a joke. Her stay was pre-planned. She made sure to bring a scary movie with her.
Excuse me a second. – “Jill, what’s the name of the movie you brought with you?” – “Two million!” -- I get absolutely no respect around this house. Or out of this house, for that matter.
This rude behavior has gotten me off point. What I wanted to tell you from the get-go was that Thanksgiving this year was void of anything that would cause me to remember it a year from now. Give me a minute. – “Jill, how did you describe this year’s Thanksgiving?”— “Uneventful! Now, leave us alone! The flying monkeys are getting ready to attack!”
You heard it. “Uneventful.” Kay and I worked our buns off, and for what? “Uneventful.” I guess I should’ve come up with some games. Jill actually purchased two board games for us to play. At one point she got out all the pieces for one of the games and started studying the rules. None of us said a word about it. We were afraid to encourage her. I haven’t played a board game since I graduated from High School. I can live with that.
So, all we did was sit around and talk about the same stuff we always talk about. Unfortunately, some of the stuff I had forgotten. The fact that Al went to Southmore Junior High was like a big surprise to me. I thought he went to San Jacinto just like the rest of us. The crazy thing is, it wasn’t long ago I knew stuff like that.
Jill recommended I get me some Lego’s. “They can help old people.” That’s what she said. Jill is three years younger than I am and she’s telling me I need help. She did tell me that she bought a set of Legos and they helped her. She never explained what they help her with, but they help all right.
She pulled up some pictures on her phone to show me what she built with her Lego’s. She built a four-wheeler, a lifeguard stand, and a camper. I had completely misjudged Lego’s. Jill had a coffee pot, a stove, headlights and wheels, all of which were not made of Lego’s. They were pieces included in the Lego kit. I considered that cheating. I assumed everything had to be made out of rectangular or square Lego.
After the fascination wore off of the Lego topic, from ou to the blue, I mentioned that when Kay and I pass away there will nobody to take charge of the funeral or anything. My grand-niece Dusti said, “Somebody will take care of it, Uncle Mark.” I said, “Thank you, Dusti.” She immediately told me that she wasn’t volunteering herself; she was just saying that somebody will probably take charge.
Yep, that put the icing on the donut for me. As far as I’m concerned, that’s the last holiday gathering. It may sound rather sad, but I’m good with it. After all, there is a last time in everything you do.
Unfortunately, watching a scary movie with my sister isn’t one of them. I believe the “Wizard of Oz” is over. Time to put in the scary movie and watch some nitwit get decapitated after entering a room without turning on the lights. You ask me, some of these scary movie characters deserve what they get.
end
You can contact Mark at hayter.mark@gmail.com
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