Tuesday, February 9, 2021

Grandfather, Car Restorer, Husband, Man With A Plan, Car Guy


Today was another one of our drizzly, fish-belly gray days, not very chilly but what I suppose you could call "sodden" with the humidity. Jessie texted to see if she could bring the boys out one day this week and I texted back "Yes please! Today?"
And so she did. 
The joy I feel when those little men burst in the door is as shiny as a brand new helium ballon floating on its string, my heart that light too. And then there is the goodness of hugging Jessie, of hearing the boys' voices, of watching and listening as they show us what they have brought in their backpacks. Today Levon brought his toy drill which has all sorts of attachments and goes in reverse too, to screw and unscrew a recalcitrant nut, a bolt, a screw. August's backpack was stuffed with My Little Pony's, which he adores, as well as his current favorite book that he got from the library and which his mother has told him she will not read to him ONE MORE TIME. It's a My Little Pony book and I did read it to him and Lord, I can understand why she's drawn a line. But it's very sweet and ends with hugging mother and father and baby unicorn ponies and you have to love that. 
They did some playing with toys and then there was lunch and TV watching with Boppy which made them all so happy, especially Boppy, I think. Levon has become enamored with stroking his grandfather's beard which has reached Covid length. I got to chat with Jessie some and we talked about everything from marriage to being a mother to...oh, I don't know. Just talk. Are we not all starved for conversation? 
One of the things we watched on television was an episode of "Shaun the Sheep" which really is a genius show. On this particular episode a mother sheep forgot to keep track of her baby which reminded me of a dream I had last night. It seems that in virtually all of my dreams, there is a baby which I live in fear of losing. This must be a universal worry- I even see it in chickens as the mother hens cluck all day long keeping their chicks informed as to where they are and the babies peep and peep and peep which lets the mama keep track of them. The baby in my dreams changes from dream to dream and I generally do not lose the child. That is not the essence of the dream. Not the main plot line. But the presence of a little one and the concern about them is a constant. I absolutely know that when I am very old, if I do achieve that number of years, I will be one of those old ladies who has a baby doll in her lap at all times. I have a friend who posts pictures of his beloved mother on FB and she is in an assisted living facility and she always has her baby with her. It seemed to me that no one wanted to comment on this as if it were embarrassing but I spoke up and said something about how I loved seeing those pictures. How happy she always looks with her baby. And he commented back that yes, she loves that doll and that it is so important to her. 
I told Jessie today that I should probably just go ahead and pick out my baby now. 
Because I am going to want one. I am going to need one. I have a feeling that I'll even be trying to nurse that baby. I can hear my frustrated aids now, saying, "Miss Mary, if you don't stop nursing that baby of yours, we're going to have to put a bra on you!"
My greatest nightmare- having to wear a bra in the nursing home. 
So okay, that's not my greatest fear but Jesus hear me now- please don't make me wear a bra when I'm ancient. Are you listening, children? 

So here's some news. Mr. Moon bought a car today. A 2015 Camaro. For himself. Which is fine. 
But.
The car is in Houston. 
The car has no motor.
He has three days to pick it up before they start charging him for storage.
Guess what my husband is doing as we speak? 
Did you guess working on his trailer and truck? 
Ding, ding, DING! You win the prize. 
I will be quite honest with you. I do not always understand my husband. This is to be a project car that he already has a plan and a goal for along with a huge desire to work on, to restore, to...do whatever it is that men do with cars without motors. It's all perfectly laid out in his head. 
And of course I'm like, "Uh, honey. What about all those other project cars in the garage?"
Except that I was not quite that sweet about it. I didn't curse. I didn't scream. I just laid out my feelings. He felt terrible. I then apologized and told him that of course he can do whatever he wants to but that I would not be driving to Houston with him. And that makes me feel terrible. But I have no desire to make that drive during covid times even if we are probably pretty darn immune at this point, not to mention that this is a little bit of short notice to recruit someone to house/chicken/cat sit. But mostly, the idea of making a trip like that now slams me so hard into anxiety that I can barely breathe. 

Sigh.

Well. Adventures in marriage. Adventures in empathy. Adventures in understanding. Adventures in life. 

Adventures in love. 

Here's August, standing by a car being slightly intimidated by Miss Annie who was way too close to jumping up and taking a beak full of the apple the boy was trying to eat in peace.


Liberace was showing interest too. 

Time to go make supper. Isn't always about food whether we are humans or chickens? I think so. 

Love...Ms. Moon



24 comments:

  1. Oh Ms. Moon - I feel your "pain". I, too, am married to a car guy. How many project cars does one human being need?? Oh well, it could be worse. I knew of a woman in a nursing home who had a cabbage patch doll. -Jenn

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    1. "How many project cars does one human being need??"
      I fear we will never know the answer to that very good question.

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  2. I trust you are not going to Houston, but I also know you support Mr Moon and allow him his *hobbies*. I guess you will have a few days of alone time. It is what we do. Glad you got the see the sweet grands..and Jessie. that *does* help.
    Susan M

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    1. Nope. Did not go to Houston but I am being supportive.
      And oh, how it helps to see those boys and their mama!

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  3. WOW the boys look so big! Even compared to the tall man! All of those pancakes!Shaun the Sheep is brilliant! So much work! here is a little factoid- it takes 10 days to make just one Shaun model, when shooting is taking place, around 15 identical models are being filmed at the same time. Stop go animation is labor intensive! We love it. It's what Erik does when he can.

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    1. Those boys are growing for sure.
      I totally believe you on how long it takes to make an episode of that show. And there's so much going on in it! Like I said- genius.

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  4. They did so want that Apple of his! *LOL*

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    1. They would have grabbed it in a heartbeat. August made a quick retreat into the car.

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  5. Ah. Car guys. Another one here, too. Only just sold off his 1968 Chevy Impala convertible...the car he was going to overhaul for the past 25 years. He finally admitted it would never happen. He does have three other vehicles (T-bird, Mustang, F250...all in good order). And this does not include my car. We only have four garage bays and I won't give up mine. Did I mention that when we went house hunting (decades ago now) his first priority was finding the right garage(s)? Didn't care about the house. It was all about the garages. Yep, that's a car guy.

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    1. My husband will NEVER admit that he'll not finish a project car. It will not happen. And Mr. Moon had his garage built in a trade for some property. It's so huge we call it the Garage Mahal. I got my house. He got his garage. And it is jam packed.

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  6. that August is certainly an eclectic dresser. and btw, I'm only an hour away from Houston. you know, if you decided to take the trip with Mr. Moon. though I don't blame you for not wanting that car ride here and back. at least he's got his project cars in a garage. my son-in-laws project trucks are scattered all over their property.

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    1. maybe the baby in your dreams that you worry about and need to take care of is you, your innocent self before the abuse.

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    2. August loves those socks so much that he wants them to be on the outside of his britches.
      I sent Mr. Moon off without me. If I ever get close, I'm going to ask if I can come visit you, though.
      And about the cars in the garage? Honey, I don't even KNOW how many cars/vans there are in this yard. No way all his cars fit in there despite the fact that it's huge.

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    3. Also- I honestly think that the baby represents one of my own or a grandchild. I will never not feel responsible on some level for their safety.

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  7. How does a car that's only six years old not have an engine?! I see Ellen already spoke up, but I thought the same thing -- if you DID go to Houston you could visit her! But I understand not wanting to undertake that ordeal. Dave occasionally buys weird things too (although nothing as big as a car, admittedly) and I try to remind myself to let him do his thing. Marriage!

    Glad you got to visit with the boys and catch up with Jessie. You're so fortunate to have family so close by and more or less in your "bubble."

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    1. PS -- I love the phrase "fish-belly gray." So descriptive!

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    2. Don't ask me, Steve. I didn't ask and he didn't tell me. Marriage is constant compromise, isn't it?
      No kidding about my good fortune.

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  8. My 5 kids (4 boys and 1 girl) loved the My Little Ponies and we still have a bin of them in my basement. I just recently threw away the VCR tape of the My Little Pony show we loved to watch ("Do the moonwalk, Pony") which I kept for all of these years even tho their Dad accidentally taped over parts of it. Hey, I just checked and some of the videos are on YouTube! I will have to share those with my grandkids! I may need to wash the old Ponies in the basement!

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    1. Yep. Might as well get those Little Pony's out and let them serve another generation.

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  9. It's just lovely that you get to have those boys for the day - and I'm sure mom appreciates having some time to herself too. One of my biggest regrets is that we did not have family nearby when my kids were growing up, but you can't have everything can you. I also get the "protecting a child" dream quite often - more often when I was still married but even so, they pop up now and then. It's always my youngest that I'm protecting and he's always a toddler, despite the fact that he's now 28 and about to be a dad himself! I also wonder if I always thought he was the more fragile of the two kids because now living with son no. 1 (the hypochondriac) I have my doubts. And you had me roaring about the threat of having to wear a bra in your nursing home!

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    1. Oh, Jessie stayed with the boys for the visit. We'll have the boys over for a spend-the-night soon. And I'm babysitting next week when she has an appointment.
      We never entirely get over worrying about our kids, do we?
      I want it on my medical orders: NO BRA!

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  10. I enjoy your grandchildren's sense of style. August's socks!

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