That Summer
A lot happened all at once that summer. I met Bear, and FlyRod was right. He was so funny and so easy to talk to and we hit it off right away.
JT came to stay with us for a long visit before school started. So I was going straight home from work. JT was 17 that summer before his Senior year. (6 years older then TK) His Father hadn't allowed him to get his drivers license yet. He wasn't happy about it, but in Toledo it wasn't such a big deal. He and his friends could get around wherever they wanted. But, we lived out in the country and he couldn't join his old local buddies unless Mom took him. He talked me into letting him get the drivers license. The idea tickled me. That I could send him back to G with his drivers license, in pure defiance. I was driving an old Gremlin that I let him use to learn. W wouldn't let him drive our Monte Carlo. He had to take a professional Drivers Training course before he could take his test. I paid for it all and after he got his license, my two boys were off in my Gremlin most days soon after as I got home from work. They'd come back in the evening after W went to work.
So most of my private conversations with Bear were over the phone after W left and before the boys got back. And of course we were still talking on the CB with the CH 34 gang. Have you ever noticed how much easier it is to say things when you aren't face to face with someone. Over the phone, Bear got me to talk about things I probably wouldn't have under any other circumstances. Then one day he rode past the house while the boys and I were in the yard. He stopped and that's how he met them. They talked him into taking them for rides on the motor cycle. Bear never had any kids of his own and he got a kick out of mine.
My marriage was falling apart, but that summer wasn't all bad at all. I was enjoying having both my sons with me. And there was one hilarious evening with FLF and her hubby, BBR. (These are shortened nick names, not their initials.) They wanted to go out for an evening and asked if JT could babysit. We left their two little girls and TK at their house with JT in charge. We started at the Moose Lodge and danced awhile, but our husbands didn't like to dance. They took us to a local bar that was nice and not rowdy. I've always been able to drink without feeling a thing. I just don't get drunk. (Most medications for pain don't work for me either.) But that night FLF got really drunk. She's a funny drunk. FLF had gone to the restroom and we three were at the table when one of my old ride along truck buddies came in looking for us. JT had phoned the Moose after we left and then gotten on the CB trying to reach us. BLD had brought his son to town to stay with a friend and heard my son trying to reach us. FLF and BBR's youngest daughter had a nose bleed and JT couldn't get it to stop. BLD told JT he'd try to find us and he did when he recognized the Monte Carlo outside the bar. BBR said to wait and he'd take care of Karen and come right back. She often got a nose bleed and it would be ok. W handed him our car keys and he left. BLD sat down in BBR's chair and we visited. Then FLF came back from the restroom and sat down next to BLD. He gave her a salute, but just kept talking to us. FLF kept looking from BLD to W and I. It was obvious she was drunkingly confused. Suddenly she said, with quite a slur to the words, "You don't look like BBR." We all laughed so hard. But all BLD said was, "I don't?" and no one told FLF where BBR went. After a while, FLF needed to go to the restroom again and this time she insisted I go with her. I expected her to ask why BLD was sitting in BBR's chair, but she never mentioned it. So neither did I. When we returned to the table, BBR had come back and BLD had left. FLF stopped dead in her tracks at the table, looked at BBR and slurred, "Now you're BBR again and I'm drunk. Take me home."
It took the support of both men to get FLF out to the car. When we got to their house, the men went inside and left me to get FLF in. I finally managed to get her out of the car, but one step and she grabbed the tree at the curb and hugged it. I was laughing so hard I couldn't move her. Trying to pry her loose from that tree had us walking in circles around and around the tree and me laughing out of control. Then JT was at the porch and at first he thought I was drunk too and he was surprised. It had been a family joke for years as friends tried to get me drunk. What's the expression, "I could drink everyone under the table." JT was actually disappointed when he decided it was just FLF that I was in stitches over. It took me and both of my sons, who couldn't stop laughing by then, to get FLF into her house and into a recliner. (Where she spent the whole night.) W, the boys and I went home after one of the funniest evenings of my life.
JT came to stay with us for a long visit before school started. So I was going straight home from work. JT was 17 that summer before his Senior year. (6 years older then TK) His Father hadn't allowed him to get his drivers license yet. He wasn't happy about it, but in Toledo it wasn't such a big deal. He and his friends could get around wherever they wanted. But, we lived out in the country and he couldn't join his old local buddies unless Mom took him. He talked me into letting him get the drivers license. The idea tickled me. That I could send him back to G with his drivers license, in pure defiance. I was driving an old Gremlin that I let him use to learn. W wouldn't let him drive our Monte Carlo. He had to take a professional Drivers Training course before he could take his test. I paid for it all and after he got his license, my two boys were off in my Gremlin most days soon after as I got home from work. They'd come back in the evening after W went to work.
So most of my private conversations with Bear were over the phone after W left and before the boys got back. And of course we were still talking on the CB with the CH 34 gang. Have you ever noticed how much easier it is to say things when you aren't face to face with someone. Over the phone, Bear got me to talk about things I probably wouldn't have under any other circumstances. Then one day he rode past the house while the boys and I were in the yard. He stopped and that's how he met them. They talked him into taking them for rides on the motor cycle. Bear never had any kids of his own and he got a kick out of mine.
My marriage was falling apart, but that summer wasn't all bad at all. I was enjoying having both my sons with me. And there was one hilarious evening with FLF and her hubby, BBR. (These are shortened nick names, not their initials.) They wanted to go out for an evening and asked if JT could babysit. We left their two little girls and TK at their house with JT in charge. We started at the Moose Lodge and danced awhile, but our husbands didn't like to dance. They took us to a local bar that was nice and not rowdy. I've always been able to drink without feeling a thing. I just don't get drunk. (Most medications for pain don't work for me either.) But that night FLF got really drunk. She's a funny drunk. FLF had gone to the restroom and we three were at the table when one of my old ride along truck buddies came in looking for us. JT had phoned the Moose after we left and then gotten on the CB trying to reach us. BLD had brought his son to town to stay with a friend and heard my son trying to reach us. FLF and BBR's youngest daughter had a nose bleed and JT couldn't get it to stop. BLD told JT he'd try to find us and he did when he recognized the Monte Carlo outside the bar. BBR said to wait and he'd take care of Karen and come right back. She often got a nose bleed and it would be ok. W handed him our car keys and he left. BLD sat down in BBR's chair and we visited. Then FLF came back from the restroom and sat down next to BLD. He gave her a salute, but just kept talking to us. FLF kept looking from BLD to W and I. It was obvious she was drunkingly confused. Suddenly she said, with quite a slur to the words, "You don't look like BBR." We all laughed so hard. But all BLD said was, "I don't?" and no one told FLF where BBR went. After a while, FLF needed to go to the restroom again and this time she insisted I go with her. I expected her to ask why BLD was sitting in BBR's chair, but she never mentioned it. So neither did I. When we returned to the table, BBR had come back and BLD had left. FLF stopped dead in her tracks at the table, looked at BBR and slurred, "Now you're BBR again and I'm drunk. Take me home."
It took the support of both men to get FLF out to the car. When we got to their house, the men went inside and left me to get FLF in. I finally managed to get her out of the car, but one step and she grabbed the tree at the curb and hugged it. I was laughing so hard I couldn't move her. Trying to pry her loose from that tree had us walking in circles around and around the tree and me laughing out of control. Then JT was at the porch and at first he thought I was drunk too and he was surprised. It had been a family joke for years as friends tried to get me drunk. What's the expression, "I could drink everyone under the table." JT was actually disappointed when he decided it was just FLF that I was in stitches over. It took me and both of my sons, who couldn't stop laughing by then, to get FLF into her house and into a recliner. (Where she spent the whole night.) W, the boys and I went home after one of the funniest evenings of my life.
posted by LeeAnn | 2:29 PM
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