Somewhere Familiar

I’ve been away for a bit.  Longer than I intended.  I had plans to get my life organized.   I was going  to make a date with myself.  Just myself.  Set aside Tuesdays for going to the library where I won’t be distracted by my house and my yard and my dog and my husband and shiny things and I will write. Unfortunately I kept standing myself up.  But  I’ve kept my date today and I’m at the library getting into my blog.

Except everything has changed.  The entire format is different .I fumble around trying to get oriented.  Start to type.  Can’t find a Save Draft or  Preview button anywhere .  Click on Help.  Wander around the internet.  Nothing.  The only button is Publish.  So I click on it.  Sure enough there is the title I typed.  That’s all there is because that’s all I wrote, not knowing where it’s going or how to control it because there is no Preview. It’s a test run. But there is it, a title with nothing else. Stunning.  I click Edit figuring I’ll delete it.  But lo and behold!  The Edit button from the Publish screen returns me to familiar territory.  Everything is as it used to be.

It’s like the night shortly after our return from Mexico.   While in a foreign country at an unfamiliar house I woke up each night, completely oriented and made it to the bathroom without a stumble..  But a short time after we returned home I woke up one night with no idea where I was.  I got up and started walking thinking I should head in that direction but not sure why and rather frightened. I arrived safely  but  didn’t fully understand I was home until I crawled back into bed.

Be it my blog or my bathroom, it sure is nice to be somewhere familiar.

How To Draw a Bath

“When drawing a bath scatter bubbles or crystals directly under the faucet before turning on the water, but drop in perfume oil while the tub is filling.”

Such was the advice in the November 1959 issue of Women’s Day magazine, as published in their recent anniversary special.

Kind of makes me laugh.  We need directions on how to draw a bath?  I guess someone thinks so.  We have directions on shampoo bottles explaining how to use that product so I suppose we need help on how to draw a bath.

Of course, that was in the old days, the 1950’s.  Few people take baths now. But if you should want to take a nice relaxing soak ala Calgon Take Me Away you really should print off these directions.

On the other hand, I really think the best way to draw a bath is with a pencil.

Bloomsday

Tomorrow  the family heads to the homestead in Spokane for another Bloomsday.

We’ve been doing it every year since 1983.  My youngest daughter, born in 1988, has been in the race every year of her life.  My brother and his wife fly out from Mississippi. Friends come from Idaho.  I’ll walk with my childhood friend who lives in Spokane. It’s a happening and no one asks Are you going to Bloomsday?  Of course, we are  going!

Our going has gotten slower, but we go.  I jogged the first couple of years.  Then I began having babies (sounds like I had dozens of them but I only had two) and my jogging stopped and my walking and carrying or pushing the young ‘uns took over.  Then the young ‘uns grew up and started propelling themselves along the 7.5 mile race. They got older still and began running the race  while I got older too, and soon they left me in the dust.  But I’m still going.  And I’m quite proud of myself.  And I’m proud of the weatherman, too.  He’s predicting sun!

Go Bloomies!

Dad’s Birthday

My two brothers, my mom, and my dad all have birthdays within two weeks of each other, the end of April and the beginning of May. (My birthday is 6 lonely months away in December but that’s another story for another day.)

Dad and my oldest brother’s birthdays are in April.  Mom and my younger brother’s birthdays are in May.  That much is easy.  But for years I had difficulty remembering which date was whose birthday.  I finally recognized the pattern that became my crutch for remembering:  oldest is first, youngest is second.  Dad is first in April then my brother; mom is first in May than my other brother.  Thought I had it down.

Until last week.  I was about to text my brother Happy Birthday when I had second thoughts.  It was his birthday, wasn’t it?  Or was it dad’s?  Oldest is first, then youngest.  I’m almost sure. (I should know this by now, shouldn’t I?  How can I be so pathetic?)  This is my brother’s birthday.  No, it’s not!  Dad is first.

Dad has been gone for 14 years now and I still miss him.  Even after a dozen plus years the monitor is getting blurry as the tears start to well up in my eyes thinking about him.  I let myself be sad for a bit, realizing that that day was in fact dad’s birthday. Then I congratulated myself on catching my error before I texted my brother.

Not long after my congratulatory party ended I got a text from my brother.  It just said, “Dad’s birthday”.  So  brother, some 2000 miles away, and I reminisced  a bit about dad and our missing him.

And I got a subtle reminder that my brother’s birthday is coming up