The Gift was in the Mail?

Sure looks new for a
 55 year old smoker !)

Having dealt with repair people that tell me that "the part is in the mail" I do know how that works. Only last week we were waiting on that mysterious part for our refrigerator.

I suppose that is where I got the idea for my husbands Father's Day gift. See, almost 55 years ago I promised him a smoker...a real honest to goodness, big smoker for meat and other stuff. Then life happened and I forgot about the smoker...sorta. Honestly, my conscience has bothered me a little ever since.

So when our grandson turned up with one, I knew the game was on. I could not have our grandson with a smoker and my disappointed husband without. My husband agreed.

As soon as we arrived home from our dinner with that child, my husband was on the internet shopping. Next thing we both knew, the smoker was ordered, delivered and in  the garage...in 100 pieces.

There were no complaints about the assembly required and just 10 days later, we are putting salmon in the smoker along with some potatoes. (Have you ever tasted smoked potato salad? Yum)

The gift has finally arrive! I feel better now.

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What is an essential father?

My Mother and Father
on my wedding day.

In today's world we have found a million way to replace almost every human endeavor. Robots, daycare, machines and even driverless cars are all around us. It is hard to imagine that any person in our life would essential to our survival.

But there was a time when the people around us were there for the purpose of keeping us alive and well. Today I am thinking about my beautiful father.

I could use all those superlative that people use when they describe their parent both bad and good. But that is not what this about. This about the reality of life during a time when humans were essential to us...remember?

My dad loved ice cream in the middle of a half cantaloupe and he shook the sand out of his shoes in the middle of the living room floor. He made kites and wrestled with grandchildren but never hurt them. His smile was full of mischief and his heart was full of love. And, without him in my young life my mother and I would not have survived in any tolerable way.

He worked in a mining operation that made cement in a far corner of eastern Oregon. He was the lead electrician. His job involved riding in a tram bucket to a quarry across a canyon or taking a very long hike and ending in the same place. He was on top of a huge kiln that exploded breaking his ankle. He spent his overtime hours working on a conveyor belt in the dark with a flashlight and no help.

When he did not come home, I remember the knot in my stomach and standing with my mother watching for his car headlights.

He was, in the truest words, an essential father.

He lived to be about 75 years old and still had drawings of project in his pocket when he died
. I admired and loved him then and I still do. How could anyone not treasure a person like him?

Happy Father's Day.

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Greeting Card Lessons...bad things happen because LIFE SUCKS!

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I don't know about you but the glamor of creating my own greeting cards has lost it's luster. I like to go to the store and buy something, sign it and mail it. I had forgotten how simple it really was. And, everytime I go down that card aisle, I learn something new about aging or being a teen or what a woman wants or life in general.

We are in that graduation season now and our little grandson broke his arm. We also have a few birthdays in June/July, all of which we will never remember until it is over with. Needless to say we are on the hunt for the perfect cards. As a result I know stuff about greeting cards.

1. You can learn about misfortune from greeting cards. I saw the card today that explains why bad things happen...it's because life sucks. It must be true because I saw it in the greeting card section of a big box store. 
2. There are very few belated birthday cards and if you do find them they are on the bottom of the rack. I am a little older, have bad eyes and cannot get down on the floor to see the bottom row of cards. Besides who mails birthday cards on time? If you are doing that please quit. That may be why there are so few cards for people like me. You are messing with my world.
3. Cards can be the gift. They talk, smell, come apart so you can reassemble them and try to be funny. The normal cards are not nearly as much fun even when you are old. I like those smelly puzzles with a Yoyo and Hoops celebrating in the background. All I want for my birthday is a smile anyway.
4. If you break your arm and you are five, don't count on a card. Hallmark does not make a card for you.
5. Greeting cards are expensive...or at least it seem like it to me. You can pay the price or read #6 to find a solution.
6. You can use those cards over and over. Think of the savings. My friends and I do it all the time. The signatures mount up over the years and eventually they become a collectors item. I do laugh a lot when I get an old card with new writing. It is fun to get a card back that I sent originally...kind of like regifting to the wrong person but in a nice way.

So as Father's Day approaches I urge you to find the perfect card, sign it in pencil so the recipient can erase your signature and message if they want and they can send it back to you on your birthday with a little editing. 

Have a wonderful day!

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