I love history. I love reading historical fiction and historical non-fiction. In 2019, Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch began their “Conspiracy” series. It started with The First Conspiracy about the filed plot to kill George Washington. Then there was The Lincoln Conspiracy which was about a failed plot to kill Lincoln. This was followed by The Nazi Conspiracy which told of the failed plot to kill Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin.
This time around it is the JFK Conspiracy which is about a plot to kill Kennedy before he even entered the office as President.
I had never heard this story before, but it was very good. Here is the Goodreads synopsis:
From the New York Times bestselling authors of The Nazi Conspiracy and The Lincoln Conspiracy comes a true, little-known story about the first assassination attempt on John F. Kennedy, right before his inauguration.
Kennedy, the thirty-fifth president of the United States, is often ranked among Americans’ most well-liked presidents. Yet what most Americans don’t know is that JFK’s historic presidency almost ended before it began—at the hands of a disgruntled sociopathic loner armed with dynamite.
On December 11, 1960, shortly after Kennedy’s election and before his inauguration, a retired postal worker named Richard Pavlick waited in his car—a parked Buick—on a quiet street in Palm Beach, Florida. Pavlick knew the president-elect’s schedule. He knew when Kennedy would leave his house. He knew where Kennedy was going. From there, Pavlick had a simple plan—one that could’ve changed the course of history.
Written in the gripping, page-turning style that is the hallmark of Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch’s bestselling series, this is a slice of history vividly brought to life. Meltzer and Mensch are at the top of their game with this brilliant exploration of what could’ve been for one of the most compelling leaders of the 20th century.
Meltzer and Mensch do such a wonderful job presenting this. There are the familiar characters that we all know: Bobby Kennedy, Joseph Kennedy, and Jackie Kennedy. There are names from behind the scenes, like the men of the Secret Service, too. The book does a wonderful job describing to readers the plan to kill Kennedy. It also shows some of the more “touching” moments with Jackie Kennedy and all that she went through.
I suppose any book about JFK would have to talk about the assassination, and they save that for the end of the book. It all ties together really. Clint Hill is the Secret Service man who is assigned to protect Jackie Kennedy. He is also the agent in those chilling pictures from Dealy Plaza who runs to the President’s car and jumps on the back after the shots are fired.
I have yet to be disappointed by this series. I hope that they continue to find stories like this one to enlighten readers.
The Oxford Dictionary defines a “rite of passage” this way: a ceremony or event marking an important stage in someone’s life, especially birth, puberty, marriage, and death.
Wikipedia says: “A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status is society.“
Some popular rites of passage include:
Getting a driver’s liscence
Completing toilet training
Getting married
Retirement
Getting baptized.
Graduation
While the rite of passage I am talking about today may not be as big an event as the above mentioned, it means a lot to me. It is one that has been passed down to all the males in my family. My grandfather introduced them to my dad. My dad introduced them to me. I introduced them to my two oldest sons, and now my youngest son.
Thursday night, Andrew was fighting wearing his CPAP. This is a regular occurrence that requires some bargaining by mom or dad to get him to do so. Usually, it means he can watch his tablet for a bit or a short show on TV. (Yes, I am aware of how bad TV and screen time before bed it, but a dad’s gotta do what a dad’s gotta do!) My wife’s suggestion floored me. It made me giddy!
“What if dad puts on the Three Stooges for you?”
Did I truly hear what I think I heard? Yes. Yes, I did.
So my son crawled up into bed with us and I found an episode on Youtube.
He chuckled and laughed out loud through the entire episode. Moe slapping Larry or bonking Curly on the head made him laugh almost uncontrollably. I laughed along with him and the two of us, just like his brother’s before him, bonded over slapstick comedy. When I left for work on Friday, he told me that he can’t wait to watch “the three funny guys” again with me.
My wife posted her own picture on social media with the following caption:
“I guess I didn’t know that the love of The Three Stooges was a genetic thing when I married Keith. Now here I am stuck watching this stupidity as a bribe for Andrew to wear his CPAP machine.”
This is a true rite of passage. I couldn’t be more proud! Atta boy, son! The torch has been passed ….
I wish that this picture of Baby Keith was a bit clearer. I must have moved when the picture was taken, because it looks like my hands are a bit blurry. The rest of the photo is clear enough, though.
This photo was a real treasure to find. First of all, I’m in it. Ha! My grandma had a huge light on the ceiling, and eventually a ceiling fan. Based on the year of this picture (1970-71), I don’t think the fan is there yet. Obviously, I am enthralled by something up there.
Second, it is at my grandma’s house. What surprised me about this photo is that there is tile on the floor instead of carpet. Honestly, I do not remember there being tile on the floor, but there it is. This was their living room, so I can’t even understand wanting tile instead of carpet. I suppose I do remember hearing old commercials for Johnson’s Wax on old radio shows, so maybe this was a thing?
Check out that big honking TV in the background! I don’t recall that TV in particular, so I am assuming that by the time I was 6ish, it was gone. Then again, by the time I was 6, there was carpet on the floor, too. Anyway, I love these old televisions. I remember so well those knobs – one for UHF and one for VHF channels. Those things were literally a piece of furniture.
I have no recollection of that ugly rug on the floor. But I do remember seeing that coffee table in a few other photos. I think by the time I was 5 or 6 it had been moved into the front room. I am guessing grandma didn’t want us bonking our heads on it. As I think about it, I don’t know that coffee tables are a thing anymore. Are they? I don’t know many folks who have one in the middle of their living room.
Now, end tables, yes. I think almost everyone has/had them. My grandparents had at least two in every room. Ok, maybe the ones in the bedrooms were more like night stands, but still….
That end table in the corner is one I do remember. I also remember that ugly lamp on top of it. I remember it was very heavy. I think the base of it was concrete or something “rocky.” I have to laugh because if I zoom in on the white bag sitting on the table, it looks like that might be the K-Mart logo. I could be wrong, but my grandma did a LOT of shopping there, so chances are good that it is from there.
Two other things stand out in this photo. The scratchy yellow couch can be seen at the left of the photo. That couch is a core memory. I don’t think I will ever forget that or the scratchy green chair made of the same material.
The last thing is the lone hand in the picture next to the couch. Don’t ask me how I know, but I am 99.9% positive that is my grandpa’s hand. I held his hand often as a youngster, and looked at it age as I grew up. I distinctly remember the look of it as he held a cigarette, a cup of coffee, or a pinochle hand. I also remember it from the last night of his life. I remember holding it and talking to him. Funny how a blurry photo can bring back so many clear memories, isn’t it?
I want to take a moment and say thank you to those who have emailed or commented asking about my wife. She is recovering nicely and has her two week follow up this week.
I returned to work on Thursday. I was supposed to be off Thursday and Friday, but my wife decided I was driving her crazy being home and sent me back early. While I really wasn’t ready to go back, it did allow me to put back some hours in my PTO bank.
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Saturday, my wife said she was going crazy being in the house. She asked to go to Target to walk and shop. We packed every one in the car and spent a good hour walking through the store. As we walked, my kids were literally tossing item after item into the shopping cart! We told them that they could each get one thing. Apparently, they heard one “PILE” of things.
When we got home, my wife went into our room and laid back in bed. It was a lot for her to be out and on her feet that long. I suppose that is why I was surprised when Sunday she asked to go to the Barnes and Noble. I asked if she was sure she wanted to do that. Her answer was a resounding YES.
Again, we packed up the kids and headed to the book store. The kids each got to pick a book and Sam found the one she was looking for as well as another that was recommended to her. There has been a book that I have been waiting to hit the Libby/Hoopla apps, but it hasn’t. So I decided to treat myself to it. I just hope it is as good as all the reviews I read about it.
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We had some nice weather this week, which was great for the kids. They couldn’t wait to get out on their scooters and ride them up and down the sidewalk. They are already asking for their bikes, which are all the way at the back of the garage. At some point, I need to start bringing out the spring/summer stuff so I can get them out.
It will be the annual “Seasonal Shuffle.” The Christmas stuff, which is currently in the front of the garage, along with the snow blower, will have to come out. Then the Barbecue, and other spring lawn furniture will come out. Then the riding lawnmower and lawn tools will come out. That will get me to the bikes and motorized car the kids have.
Once it is all out, I shuffle the winter stuff to the back of the garage. I’ll put the Christmas stuff up in the loft. Finally, I will bring the spring/summer lawn stuff back to the garage so that it is in the front and I can access all of it. It will stay that way until it’s time to shuffle again in the fall. Fun stuff!!
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Ella has been working on her reading. Her teacher says she is really excelling. Other kids in her class are working on sounding out words, too, but Ella is reading.
Tuesday, the teacher sent a book home for her to practice. Yesterday she got to read it to the class. She did it without help! The teacher said her classmates watched her and listened in awe.
We are so proud of her!!
The worry now is that she will be so far ahead in kindergarten that she’ll get bored. I hope that isn’t the case.
Welcome back to The Music of My Life, where I feature ten songs from each year of my life. In most cases, the ten songs I choose will be ones I like personally (unless I explain otherwise). The songs will be selected from Billboard’s Year-end Hot 100 Chart, Acclaimed Music, and will all be released in the featured year.
I started this feature on my birthday back in May. We have come from 1970 to 2013. I would turn 43 that year. I was still working in radio part time at the Adult Contemporary station. I also graduated from college that year. It was 2013 that saw the career change from radio to sleep medicine.
Musically, there were quite a few tunes I really liked from 2013. Here are ten of my favorites.
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It is not every day that you hear a “chant” on the radio. That chant is what made Pompeii by Bastille very unique, and maybe even helped it reach top 5 status on the charts.
Songfacts says,
Rare for a hit song, the title never shows up in the lyrics. So why is it called “Pompeii”? Dan Smith told The Daily Telegraph that he was imagining what the dead inhabitants might have to say to one another. “It is essentially about fear of stasis and boredom,” he added. “Being quite a shy, self-conscious person, I was afraid my life might get stuck.”
Dan Smith was not a professional musician when he wrote this song – he was a bartender and student of English literature. He wrote the song in 2010 on a laptop in his bedroom after reading about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. He didn’t think anyone outside of his circle of friends would ever hear the song, but when he posted some tracks online, they got enough attention to earn his band a deal with Virgin Records. “Pompeii” was included on their first album and became their breakout hit.
While it isn’t a very “happy” subject, the song did very well.
Pompeii
There’s a song that Willie Nelson recorded called, “You Just Can’t Play a Sad Song on the Banjo.” I suppose that is true. The banjo is what really makes The Best Day of My Life by the American Authors stand out.
Songfacts.com says:
This joyful, banjo-laced tune celebrates the best in life, but was conceived in reaction to tragedy: the Sandy Hook school shooting on December 14, 2012. American Authors bass player Dave Rublin told Songfacts:
“We were upstate in the woods writing with our producer when the Sandy Hook shooting happened. When we heard the news, it was shocking to all of us because it happened right down the street from where we were. And in that framework, we were thinking that the world has hit a whole new low, and we wanted to focus on making things that make people happy and make people feel positive, because that’s something that was missing from rock and from songwriting, just something so simplistic that can be an earworm, that can carry people.”
Vocalist Zachary Barnett said, “We wanted to tell this story of how no matter what’s going on – whether you’re stuck at your job or having a bad day – there’s always an escape from that, and there’s always a way to make any day the best day of your life. It’s about escaping reality and entering into that dream world.”
This song was a big one at school dances when I was DJing. The positive message of the song is one that I can appreciate.
Best Day of My Life
To be clear, I have never seen Pitch Perfect, nor do I intend to (unless asked by my wife). At any rate Cups by Anna Kendrick is a song from that movie. It features the voice of Anna Kendrick accompanied only by a plastic cup, which she uses as improvised percussion. The song serves as her character Beca’s brief audition for the Barden Bellas, an all-female a cappella group from Barden University.
The version used in the movie was not the “hit” version. A longer version (a whole 2:09 minutes!) featuring instrumentation was released to radio in March 2013. I really liked this ditty.
Songfacts says: This song’s success meant that Kendrick became only the second artist to have earned both a top 10 single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and nominations in the two leading acting award ceremonies. The singer-actress was nominated for a 1998 Tony Award for featured actress in a musical (High Society) and the 2009 Academy Award for actress in a supporting role (Up in the Air). The only other performer to achieve the same feat is Barbra Streisand.
Cups
Life can be scary. As I have said in the past, my marriage to my ex was over at least a couple of years before the divorce. I stayed because of my boys. I had sworn that I would never divorce or fight like my parents, but I did both.
When my therapist and I talked it became very clear that I was only hurting myself and the kids by staying. As scary as it was, I had to be brave and step out of the comfort zone. I had to do what was right for me. That is kind of the message of Sara Bareillis’ Brave.
Songfacts.com says,
The record was inspired by her own life and addressed some of the demons she was battling. “I have never felt more open and more raw in my entire life,” said Bareilles. “2012 was a year of deconstruction for me personally. I have been confronting some of my greatest fears in the last handful of months and have been amazed at how empowered I can feel when I muster up the courage to turn and growl back at those monsters under the bed.”
Brave
Another song I played on the AC station that I liked had been a huge hit in Norway before going worldwide. Am I Wrong by Nico & Vinz was another great uptempo song that the kids loved at dances.
From Songfacts:
This song was Nico & Vinz’s international breakthrough. It peaked at #2 in their home country where it has been certified three times platinum. The single also hit the Top 10 in many other European countries as well as the US. “We always knew it was possible to reach outside of Norway with our music,” Sereba told Billboard magazine. “With this song, we wanted to say, ‘Are we wrong for thinking that we can actually do this?’ That’s how that message came about – trusting your gut feeling, going for it and searching for your own happiness.”
The theme continues – Before deciding on the divorce I had to “trust my gut feeling and go for it” as Sereba said.
Am I Wrong
Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic had great success as a writer. He wrote songs for Leona Lewis and Beyonce, just to name a few. Counting Stars is the first hit for him as a performer.
For whatever reason, I was really drawn to OneReublic’s music. When I read this quote from Ryan, it makes sense as to why. He told Billboard magazine that he finds it gratifying that so many have connected with such an uplifting and meaningful song.
“I think it’s our responsibility as a band, and what separates us from everyone else. I took that from being a fan of U2 for two decades now, since Achtung Baby,” he said. “To this day, they might be the only band on that level who sings about things other than just boy-girl troubles or the kind of selfish, ‘I’m a badass’ stuff. I’ve spoken with Bono about this when we toured with him, and he said the same thing.”
“I felt a responsibility to actually write and sing about things that have a level of human gravity to them,” Tedder continued. “If everybody else sings about sex and love and lust and money, then somebody’s gotta be singing about life and faith and hope and things of that nature. And in the pantheon of their esteemed career, they’ve had two #1 hits, and I think both were 25 years ago. It’s not about that – it’s about what songs feel real. I’d rather have a song that peaks at #15 that’s meaningful and embedded in the cultural framework we live in than a #1 song that explodes for five seconds, becomes the dance hit of the summer, then goes away.”
Counting Stars
Here is another song that got the kids dancing at school dances. I can see why. The Best Song Ever by One Direction may not be that, but it is a good one. It follows a proven format that has been used for decades. More on that in a second.
The song was compared to being almost identical to The Who’s Baba O’Riley. As a matter of fact, The Who guitarist Pete Townshend brushed off unsubstantiated reports that his band wanted to sue One Direction or seek to have this song withdrawn.
“No! I like the single. I like One Direction,” he told Uncut magazine. “The chords I used and the chords they used are the same three chords we’ve all been using in basic pop music since Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran and Chuck Berry made it clear that fancy chords don’t mean great music – not always. “
“I’m still writing songs that sound like ‘Baba O’Riley’ – or I’m trying to! It’s a part of my life and a part of pop’s lineage,” Townshend continued.
“One Direction are in my business, with a million fans, and I’m happy to think they may have been influenced a little bit by The Who. I’m just relieved they’re all not wearing boiler suits and Doc Martens, or Union Jack jackets.”
To me, I feel it is different enough. I guess I can hear a little of Baba in here. What do you think?
Best Song Ever
Again, another uptempo AC song makes the list. Again, a big dance song. This time around the personal connection is I remember my oldest boy loving this song. Wake Me Up By Avicii was another song that I loved a lot.
Songfacts says, Songwriting credits go to Avicii, Aloe Blacc, and multi-instrumentalist Mike Einziger of the rock band Incubus. They wrote the song at Einziger’s home studio in Malibu, California. According to Blacc, Avicii and Eizinger had the track worked up when he arrived. He had disparate bits of lyrics on hand, one of which was the line “Wake me up,” which he felt was the strongest message to go with the track.
While Einziger played, Blacc sang, “Wake me up when it’s all over,” and the cadence of the line went with the chord progression. The next line Blacc introduced from his notebook was “All this time I was finding myself, I didn’t know I was lost.” Blacc was concerned that these two lines wouldn’t make any sense in the same song, but Einziger told him it was fine, so they went with it.
Aloe Blacc came up with the lyrics on an airplane. “I was thinking to myself, ‘My life is a dream. Wake me up when it’s over,'” he recalled to Billboard magazine. “When I walked into the session with Mike Einziger on guitar and Avicii, Mike was playing his guitar chords and these words… the way I sang them just felt right. We ended up recording it that night and I drove home listening to this acoustic version that Avicii eventually made into a fantastic hit. It’s a wonderful experience.”
Wake Me Up
2013 was a very easy year for me to DJ for school dances, obviously. So many of these songs tie right into those dances. One Direction was a very hot group, so it is no wonder that they show up twice on my list. This time around it is Story of My Life.
From Songfacts:
Niall Horan recalled the first time Jamie Scott played them the song during an interview with UK radio station Capital FM. “We were in Nottingham on tour when we were touring the UK back in February and March,” he recalled, “and we just came into a room one day and he was like, ‘I’ve got this song that I’ve written and I want to play [it for] you.’ And we just fell in love with it the second we heard it.”
The song is more folk-orientated than most of One Direction’s previous offerings, but Scott told MTV News the quintet have the talent to pull it off. “It’s not that hard a thing to do because the boys have really good voices, they’ve all got very different voices. Harry [Styles’] rasp is something that you can always lean towards… All the boys have such a great sound themselves,” he said. “For instance the demo that we played the boys sounds a lot more folky than it does now. That’s what amazing about their voices [when they record it] straight away it sounds like them.”
Story of My Life
Happiness is a theme in many of these songs. It continues with my final selection by Pharrell Williams – Happy. Most hit songs around this time were written by teams of writers, but this one was entirely composed by Pharrell Williams. He wrote and recorded the song for the soundtrack of the 3D computer-animated action comedy film Despicable Me 2. Williams also penned tunes for the first Despicable Me movie.
I loved how Songfacts puts this:
Finding a way to follow a trend and be unique at the same time seems like an impossible task, but that is exactly what Williams was facing with “Happy.” It could have easily drowned in the stream of other songs that blended R&B, funk and soul if not for some clever techniques to help it ride the wave to the top of the charts.
For one, it had to be an earworm, and to do that, repetition is key. Aside from repeating the uplifting title 56 times, over 62% of the song is dedicated to its memorable chorus (about 20% more chorus time than most hits of the era). To make room for that monstrous chorus, there is no pre-chorus, solo, instrumental break or outro.
There is no denying that it is an earworm! All I can say is that as someone who is finally happy, I can understand proclaiming it over and over again!
Happy
That brings us to the end of 2013. What favorite of yours did I miss? Mention it in the comments.
Next week, we move into 2014. The list next week includes a Disney song, a song that dates back to 1934, some great dance songs, and one that I play at least twice when it comes up on my iPod. I hope you’ll join me next week.
Music history was made on this day in 1968. Otis Redding’s Dock of the Bay reached #1 on the charts, making it the first ever posthumous single in the United States. Redding died in a plane crash just 3 months earlier in December of 1967. It was released on January 8, 1968.
The song was written by Otis and guitarist Steve Cropper (of Booker T & The MG’s). Otis started writing the lyrics in August 1967 while staying on a rented houseboat in California. It was there where Redding started writing the lines, “Sittin’ in the morning sun, I’ll be sittin’ when the evening comes” and the song’s first verse, under the abbreviated title “Dock of the Bay.” In November of 1967, he completed the song in Memphis with Cropper and recorded it.
Allmusic states: Redding’s restrained yet emotive delivery is backed by Cropper’s succinct guitar playing. The song is somewhat different in style from most of Redding’s recordings. While discussing it with his wife, Redding said that he wanted it to “be a little different”, to “change his style”.
There were concerns that the song had too much of a pop feel. There were discussions of contracting the Stax gospel group the Staple Singers to do some background vocals. This never did happen. Otis considered the song “unfinished” and planned to finish it, but he died before he could do so.
After Redding’s death, Cropper mixed “Dock of the Bay” at Stax Studios. He added the sound of seagulls and crashing waves. This was was Otis had requested. He did so because those were the sounds he had heard staying on the houseboat.
Happy 67th Birthday to Sharon Stone! She has been in some fantastic films including Basic Instinct, Total Recall, Above The Law, The Quick and the Dead, Action Jackson and, of course, Casino.
In the Blu-ray commentary, Sharon relates the story of how she came to be in the film. She says her first two auditions for Martin Scorsese ended up being cancelled for various mundane reasons (such as that Scorsese was held up by another meeting) and Stone’s paranoia convinced her that he was blowing her off. When the director’s people contacted her to try it a third time, she turned them down and went out to dinner with a friend instead. Scorsese tracked her down and showed up at the restaurant where she was dining to make a personal appeal.
The soundtrack to the film contains some classic songs, and I could have chosen any of them, but since it is Sharon’s birthday, I decided on the song that plays when her character, Ginger, meets the eyes of Robert Deniro’s character, Ace. From across the casino floor, as they eye each other, Mickey and Sylvia’s Love Is Strange plays.
For many, the song will forever be connected with Dirty Dancing, but for me, it is Casino.
If you are looking for something to make you chuckle, laugh or guffaw, may I suggest a book I just finished? The Naked Truth by Leslie Nielsen.
If you have been a reader of this blog for awhile, you are aware of my silly sense of humor. Airplane!, Top Secret, and the Naked Gun Trilogy are among my favorite laugh out loud movies. Airplane! was the catalyst that threw Leslie Nielsen into many comedic roles.
If you take a look at the top of the book’s cover, it says that the book tells Leslie’s “Incredible Life Story – Uncensored, Uninhibited, and COMPLETELY MADE UP! The book reads just like Leslie is doing a voiceover in the Naked Gun films. It is one crazy line after another. Nielsen “offers a zany account of his life and career, providing outrageous anecdotes about his four decades in show business, famous people, and more.”
One reviewer states: This is two books in one- a parody and honest retelling of one’s life couched in blatant lies.
Sewn into this fabric of fantasy is about 25% truth-telling. The lies ares so obvious that it is not difficult to detect. Yet, within the blatant hyperbole there is much to learn about the underpinnings of an actor’s mind and motivation.
I guess hindsight gives everyone the right to distort the facts. Who cares- as long as it makes for a good story, and this book does.
I had to get the full book at the library, because the audio book was abridged. I wanted to read the whole thing after hearing the shortened version.
All in all, it was a funny way to relax and waste some time without having to think too much. Who doesn’t need that now and then?
One week. That’s all I did. One week and I am exhausted!
As she recovered from surgery, I took on all the responsibilities of my wife for one entire week. I look back in amazement. I just don’t know how she does it. How does she manage the calendar that she keeps while I am at work? I don’t even know!
Before I explain just what a crazy week it was let me share an incident to set the stage for you.
The first night the kids are home, I am getting them ready for bed. I administer the bedtime medications, I get them in pajamas, we brush teeth, etc… From my bedroom, my wife calls from the bed,
“What are you doing?!”
“I’m getting the kids ready for bed, why?” I reply.
“Well, that’s not the way I get them ready!!!” she says.
As she laid in bed, it drove her stir crazy to know that she wasn’t doing the bedtime routine! She likes things done a certain way, and she hates to not to be able to do it THAT WAY.
So just what did my week entail? What rollercoaster ride of craziness was I on for a week? Here’s just a peak…..
Wednesday of last week the kids came home. Without time to even acclimate to this new schedule, I was caught up in it with no time to look back! I guess I never knew just how much she juggled each week.
One night there is dance class, which runs well past dinner time. So then there has to be dinner before bedtime because tomorrow is a school day. Bedtime is later on dance night. It isn’t easy to fit it all in unless you drive through somewhere.
The next day, you drive to school and drop off. You squeeze a few little things in before you are off to the school again to pick up. From school, you have time to grab lunch in time for Occupational and Physical therapy. Then you are finally off to get home by mid afternoon. Bath’s before bed on this night, followed by story time, teeth brushing and bedtime.
Chances are there is a doctor appointment the next day, so you are up early and hurrying around to get yourself ready as well as the kids. If one is staying with Nana, you drop off there and head down to the appointment. Maybe it is the ENT, the sleep doctor, or a visit to the primary care doc. You never know.
The next day you are at the mercy of when the grocery shoppers have finished your order. Hop in the car and go to the designated spot, text them that you are there and wait for them to bring the groceries out. Drive back home and unload the groceries. Clean out the fridge and freezer so you can put what needs to be cold in there. Maybe you get a minute to enjoy half a cup of coffee here while you wait for the dryer to ding. When it does, swap loads and fold the clean stuff.
Make dinner. What’s for dinner? Who knows?! But it needs to be something that they will eat. It’s anyone’s guess if they will eat what is on their plate, even if they loved it a week ago. While eating, be on the look out for the kitten, who seems to think human dinner time is also her dinner time. Shoo her off the table!
Bedtime again. Bath’s first? I don’t know, depends on the day! When the kids fall asleep, sneak out so you can pick up the toys from the front room floor. Maybe you can sweep, vacuum or even mop the floor before a child knows you are not in bed and they come looking for you.
In between the semi-schedule, you have to break up fights. You have to explain why you don’t put forks in electrical outlets, and answer the 18 “why?” questions that will ultimately follow your explanation. You have to switch food from the pink plate to the green plate because today that is the color they want. You have to drink a glass of white milk because they wanted chocolate milk when they asked for “milk.” You have to be the bathroom police and ask “Do you have to go pee?” every now and then because they might forget and have an accident. You call both children by their first and middle names because they are doing something they aren’t supposed to. You have to go get a “snack” for them, even though dinner was over 12 minutes ago. You have to watch the same episode of Blippi for the 87 millionth time and restrain yourself from wanting to punch him through the screen. On and on the list goes…..
… and my wife MASTERS this chaos EVERY NIGHT! My God, she is truly a marvel.
I have walked a week in her shoes and they do not fit! There are not enough kudos to bestow upon her for all that she does to make our house run smoothly. She is a miracle … and I love her so very much.
I found a stack of pictures this week that I had stuck in an envelope. I probably did that so I could scan them for this feature, but I don’t really remember. Anyway, I found this great picture of my brother and me.
I love this picture because I actually look cute in it! I see that smile and I can see each of my kids in it. How weird is that?
I love the little swoop curl on my forehead. I’m staring at this photo trying to make out what is on my shirt. Is it a cartoon character? Is it some generic shirt design? I really can’t tell.
I’m going to guess this was taken in early 1973, based on the fact that my mom is holding up my brother. Look at how cute he is in those footie pajamas! I wish he’d been looking at the camera and that we could see my mom’s face in this picture.
It’s weird to think that if this is 1973, I am probably 3 years old here – my son, Andrew’s, age today. I can really see him most in this picture.
So, not much to really flash back on, other than I just love this picture.
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 