You're only 85 once
It's been an eventful week. Not all of the events were great, but most were, and I'll start with the most recent.
What do my grandparents, the chicken dance, and a bottle of tequila have in common?
My grandfather's 85th birthday!
What can I say, last night was interesting. But it's probably not what you're thinking.
(Unless you've been reading for years, in which case, go ahead and speculate.)
So, yesterday, Friday the 13th and a full moon, was my grandfather's actual birthday. Mom and grandma had been planning something, I figured, and Thursday before band I called home to get more info. Naturally mom wasn't home yet (she was out gallivanting after work, but they were party preparations so understandable), but she and I talked after I made it home; the plan was to go there Friday after she got off work. At one point I'd said something about going there today, but it's easier when mom's already close to the city. Well, I ended up getting off work early and knew that was going to happen, so I decided to join them. Since I hadn't been in the area for a while, and we were meeting at grandma's, I went by my old house just because. The tree that got planted after we moved has grown pretty tall, and honestly reminds me of the tree we had when I was little, so that was nice to see. Also, I got a surprise when I turned the corner to go back to grandma's--my grade school's carnival is this weekend. Heh, I haven't seen that for years.
I think I got to grandma's by 3:30, and mom showed up an hour later; I haven't seen grandma since Easter, so it was good to see her and chat. The plan was that mom was going to pick up the ultimate feast from Red Lobster--my grandfather's dinner--and then meet with us and we'd carpool over there. Apparently my grandfather wasn't up to going out, plus grandma thought Red Lobster was too expensive for us to all eat at. (Have I mentioned Red Lobster? It's sort of an in-joke in my family. Grandma gives my grandfather IOUs to there for his birthday and Christmas.) Hell, when we got to his house, my grandfather wasn't even wearing pants. Okay, so he wasn't expecting me to be there, so I guess he figured he could go casual. That made my card to him even more appropriate, though. *Our* in-joke with my grandfather and Christmas is that for years he'd buy us singing and dancing animals, including this waddling chicken that played the chicken dance. When I found a card that also played the chicken dance, naturally I had to get it. The front of the card has this lenticular chicken holding an according and reads, "It's your birthday." The inside then says, "Don't even try to act dignified." No pants and unkempt hair? Check.
Along with the Red Lobster for my grandfather, grandma had gone to a deli near our old apartment and gotten food for the girls, and mom had gone to Whole Foods (her Thursday evening gallivanting) and picked up a 4-berry pie. My grandfather then mentioned to grandma that he had a bottle of wine in the fridge. Uh, grandma drove, and while she does okay normally I really DON'T want her drinking and driving. She drives a large, truck-like SUV. There's no way I want to deal with that on narrow Chicago streets. Mom and I were both like, NO WINE. And *then* we actually looked at the bottle...and it wasn't wine, it was tequila! Oh, my. NO TEQUILA. Grandma apparently hasn't even ever had tequila; look, now is not the time to start. My grandfather wasn't going to be drinking it (and he'd probably had it for a while, since the friend he'd gotten it from passed away at least a year ago and was ill for a while before that) and gave it to grandma to take home; mom ended up sticking it in my bag so we wouldn't forget it. So, yes, for a while there I was carrying around a bottle of tequila. Only in my family.
We got a further surprise after dinner. Oh, but first I should mention the crab legs. Mom and her dad had talked extensively about what she would order from Red Lobster, settling on the ultimate feast, which came with crab legs. My grandfather insisted that he had a nutcracker/crab leg cracker in a particular drawer. It's his birthday, he's 85, we'll grab it out of the kitchen for you. Except we looked and couldn't find it. I looked in that drawer three times. Grandma looked too, and in other drawers; no dice. Eventually he rolls in--and can't find it either. Finally I find some sort of potato ricer with a handle similar to a nutcracker and I'm able to use that to crack open the crab legs; I managed to save a tiny one for myself. :) He was fine with that, as I guess he's not that into crab legs, but then he was all, I need to order myself a cracker! No, you don't. Clearly you don't eat that many crab legs if you're not even aware you don't have a cracker.
I am just getting around to slicing and serving the pie when the door opens; it's my uncle and his roommate. They had no idea we were going to be there and we didn't know they were coming, so it was a nice surprise for everyone. And, between the six of us, we were able to finish off the pie--good, because we certainly didn't want to leave it for my grandfather. He already had Twinkies in the house. He didn't need pie, even relatively healthy pie. It was nice to get a chance to visit and talk with them, and my uncle brought along cards that were not just for his dad, but also mom and grandma for their birthdays and Mother's Day, since I guess he didn't see grandma then. Mom was surprised; she asked how he knew to bring her card. He didn't, but figured at some point either she would stop by or grandma would get them, something like that. We had a nice time, and left my grandfather's at probably quarter to 8 (and since it was still pretty light out, we couldn't believe it was that late), and I left grandma's at 8:26. Mom and I took different routes home and she beat me, but only by a few minutes; it took roughly an hour. Not bad considering how terrible traffic had been on the way there. All in all, it was a good day and I'm glad I got to do it.
By the way, mom kept saying, you're only 85 once. I told him, if he hit 85 twice, I'd be really impressed. He said, we'll see if I hit 86. Yes, that's the spirit. But I told him if he hits 86, he can get that nutcracker. Knowing him, he was probably on Amazon as soon as we left. Hopefully he'll simply forget the whole thing. Believe me, he doesn't need any more utensils.
What do my grandparents, the chicken dance, and a bottle of tequila have in common?
My grandfather's 85th birthday!
What can I say, last night was interesting. But it's probably not what you're thinking.
(Unless you've been reading for years, in which case, go ahead and speculate.)
So, yesterday, Friday the 13th and a full moon, was my grandfather's actual birthday. Mom and grandma had been planning something, I figured, and Thursday before band I called home to get more info. Naturally mom wasn't home yet (she was out gallivanting after work, but they were party preparations so understandable), but she and I talked after I made it home; the plan was to go there Friday after she got off work. At one point I'd said something about going there today, but it's easier when mom's already close to the city. Well, I ended up getting off work early and knew that was going to happen, so I decided to join them. Since I hadn't been in the area for a while, and we were meeting at grandma's, I went by my old house just because. The tree that got planted after we moved has grown pretty tall, and honestly reminds me of the tree we had when I was little, so that was nice to see. Also, I got a surprise when I turned the corner to go back to grandma's--my grade school's carnival is this weekend. Heh, I haven't seen that for years.
I think I got to grandma's by 3:30, and mom showed up an hour later; I haven't seen grandma since Easter, so it was good to see her and chat. The plan was that mom was going to pick up the ultimate feast from Red Lobster--my grandfather's dinner--and then meet with us and we'd carpool over there. Apparently my grandfather wasn't up to going out, plus grandma thought Red Lobster was too expensive for us to all eat at. (Have I mentioned Red Lobster? It's sort of an in-joke in my family. Grandma gives my grandfather IOUs to there for his birthday and Christmas.) Hell, when we got to his house, my grandfather wasn't even wearing pants. Okay, so he wasn't expecting me to be there, so I guess he figured he could go casual. That made my card to him even more appropriate, though. *Our* in-joke with my grandfather and Christmas is that for years he'd buy us singing and dancing animals, including this waddling chicken that played the chicken dance. When I found a card that also played the chicken dance, naturally I had to get it. The front of the card has this lenticular chicken holding an according and reads, "It's your birthday." The inside then says, "Don't even try to act dignified." No pants and unkempt hair? Check.
Along with the Red Lobster for my grandfather, grandma had gone to a deli near our old apartment and gotten food for the girls, and mom had gone to Whole Foods (her Thursday evening gallivanting) and picked up a 4-berry pie. My grandfather then mentioned to grandma that he had a bottle of wine in the fridge. Uh, grandma drove, and while she does okay normally I really DON'T want her drinking and driving. She drives a large, truck-like SUV. There's no way I want to deal with that on narrow Chicago streets. Mom and I were both like, NO WINE. And *then* we actually looked at the bottle...and it wasn't wine, it was tequila! Oh, my. NO TEQUILA. Grandma apparently hasn't even ever had tequila; look, now is not the time to start. My grandfather wasn't going to be drinking it (and he'd probably had it for a while, since the friend he'd gotten it from passed away at least a year ago and was ill for a while before that) and gave it to grandma to take home; mom ended up sticking it in my bag so we wouldn't forget it. So, yes, for a while there I was carrying around a bottle of tequila. Only in my family.
We got a further surprise after dinner. Oh, but first I should mention the crab legs. Mom and her dad had talked extensively about what she would order from Red Lobster, settling on the ultimate feast, which came with crab legs. My grandfather insisted that he had a nutcracker/crab leg cracker in a particular drawer. It's his birthday, he's 85, we'll grab it out of the kitchen for you. Except we looked and couldn't find it. I looked in that drawer three times. Grandma looked too, and in other drawers; no dice. Eventually he rolls in--and can't find it either. Finally I find some sort of potato ricer with a handle similar to a nutcracker and I'm able to use that to crack open the crab legs; I managed to save a tiny one for myself. :) He was fine with that, as I guess he's not that into crab legs, but then he was all, I need to order myself a cracker! No, you don't. Clearly you don't eat that many crab legs if you're not even aware you don't have a cracker.
I am just getting around to slicing and serving the pie when the door opens; it's my uncle and his roommate. They had no idea we were going to be there and we didn't know they were coming, so it was a nice surprise for everyone. And, between the six of us, we were able to finish off the pie--good, because we certainly didn't want to leave it for my grandfather. He already had Twinkies in the house. He didn't need pie, even relatively healthy pie. It was nice to get a chance to visit and talk with them, and my uncle brought along cards that were not just for his dad, but also mom and grandma for their birthdays and Mother's Day, since I guess he didn't see grandma then. Mom was surprised; she asked how he knew to bring her card. He didn't, but figured at some point either she would stop by or grandma would get them, something like that. We had a nice time, and left my grandfather's at probably quarter to 8 (and since it was still pretty light out, we couldn't believe it was that late), and I left grandma's at 8:26. Mom and I took different routes home and she beat me, but only by a few minutes; it took roughly an hour. Not bad considering how terrible traffic had been on the way there. All in all, it was a good day and I'm glad I got to do it.
By the way, mom kept saying, you're only 85 once. I told him, if he hit 85 twice, I'd be really impressed. He said, we'll see if I hit 86. Yes, that's the spirit. But I told him if he hits 86, he can get that nutcracker. Knowing him, he was probably on Amazon as soon as we left. Hopefully he'll simply forget the whole thing. Believe me, he doesn't need any more utensils.