It is the 198th greatest story love story never told which might explain why he played Bookends singing along
“A time it was,
and what a time it was, it was
A time of innocence
A time of confidences”
while staring at the words he said he would never share, “So I kissed you one last time. One final kiss so that we’d never forget. One kiss so that if we ever lost our way we could use it to find our way back.”
Yeah, that is the 198th greatest love story never told and for good reason…It is a secret.
Or maybe it is not really a secret, maybe that is just what you say when you want people to do something. You tell them they can’t touch, can’t look, can’t read, can’t whatever and you guarantee someone will want to do what you said was forbidden.
The Secret In The Picture
You might wonder why the man above thinks using a banana to be his toy gun is cool. Perhaps he thinks he is really scary and doesn’t understand the rest of the world thinks he is a clown.
Or perhaps he was trying to hand his wife/friend/acquaintance a banana to eat instead of pork rinds with Ketchup ‘cuz some people really need that banana-potassium helps prevent leg cramps.
So really what we are learning is the banana giving man is a believer in charity and altruism, a fellow who doles out just rewards as best he can.
****
Should I mention I keep getting odd pains in my leg and that I am craving bananas.
I have always liked them but I learned during my days as a swimmer they were the best tool I had to stave off the cramps I would develop in my calves.
Those cramps still show up as they did some thirty years ago but the frequency isn’t what it once was.
When they do show they do their best to remind me of their presence. The best part was when struck me on the stair case the other night.
That is when you discover whether your arm workouts have been effective because the goofy comments about falling down the stairs come damn close to being made into a reality you’d rather not face.
The answer to the question about arms is a solid yes, if the paws get a solid grip on something they work well with the arms, might not be gorilla strength but they will still embarrass most of the twenty-somethings.
Genetics are cool that way.
What Surprised Me
Three 0r is it four years ago when the ‘rents sold the house we grew up in and moved I did what I could to help them set up the new place.
Dad asked me to go upstairs with him to help set up the office and another room.
“Don’t say anything to mom about this.”
I watched him bend over and gently push a variety of boxes across the room. A few of those were filled with books, but that didn’t stop him from adding just enough to send them.
“I’d ask what it is worth to buy my silence but you’d do this in front of mom. So I’ll give you the proverbial don’t hurt yourself. I can move stuff…especially for my elderly father.”
I won’t tell you what finger he shared with me or the icy glare that came when I turned serious on him.
Look the photo above and know that hand on the right is swollen but normally it looked almost identical to the one on the left.
We’re men of average height but with broad frames, don’t know if you can really tell from the photo but when I shake hands the only time I notice the size of the other guy is if he is at least 6’6 because otherwise it is not big enough to swallow mine.
Yeah, I notice who swallows and who doesn’t. For the longest time dad had the biggest hands and then I finally grew and discovered mine were his size.
****
We’re officially 30 days away from my 50th birthday and I don’t know yet what I am going to do. The plans I had got blown up years ago and now I haven’t figured it out.
A year ago as it became apparent that Dad wasn’t going to kick cancer’s ass with any sort of ease I began to wonder more seriously how much time we would really have.
I selfishly hoped it would be until at least my 50th but as he began moving in and out of the hospital I wondered if maybe it might be the end of 2018.
There were several moments where I wondered if that was too optimistic but time kept passing and I found myself standing in the rehab facility in early July.
His legs seemed to be shot and his motor control was slightly off but I watched the PT guys work with. They told him he was doing well and when he grabbed my arm to steady himself I was pleasantly surprised.
There was still ample strength.
When he spilled water on his shirt mom insisted we help him change.
“Phyllis, it is water. I’ll dry off.”
He saw the look on her face and didn’t argue.
Mom got a dry shirt out of the drawer and dad held onto me while we pulled him forward to pull his shirt over his head.
That’s when I got a real sense of just how strong he still was. If he had wanted to prevent me from breaking free of that bear hug I would have had to work for it.
It gave me more confidence about his ability to keep going, I guess I was wrong.
But the other part that jumps out at me is how he hugged me and for a moment I got a whiff of his scent. No cologne, no soap, dad.
Every child recognizes it.
For the faintest of instances I remember his carrying me.
The Night Sky
Sometimes you meet the person who is your Halley’s comet. They fly through your night sky and set your world on fire and then they disappear.
But sometimes the person you think was a comet turns out to be a different sort of heavenly object in your night sky.
Sometimes they are the moon and sometimes they are the sun.
If you happen to be talking about the 198th greatest love story never told they might be…
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