Boys will be boys

The weekend always brings a visit with the kids. Once in awhile they can't all make it out to the house but mostly they never miss coming. It's a free meal and free laundry day. This particular day was my birthday. Scot was on a trip to Pennsylvania and I was so looking forward to the company. Debbie called me early to say Happy Birthday and I was yacking with her until I saw my friend Shirley coming down the road right past the house. It was her first time to come to the house and she looked a little lost. So I hung up the phone and hustled down to the end of the driveway to wave to her to stop. She was coming to say Happy Birthday to me in person, and we visited for awhile. Everyone was concerned about me being home alone. How nice of them all.

Soon after she left the kids started arriving. Jeremy and Jinny showed up with bags of food. I was not cooking today, hooray for me. What a joy that would be. And if the truth were known, I hadn't really eaten anything worth while this past week since Scot left. We were having teriyaki chicken, fried rice, mushroom's boiled in teriyaki sauce, and zucchini and squash on the grill. Hmmm. Jinny was fixing up some strawberry cheesecake for dessert. Shawn and Timmy arrived and Chrissie could not make it. Her brother has a birthday the same day as mine. I am robbed! In comes the laundry and the noise begins. I hadn't realized how quiet it was all week until this moment. And it was nice to hear the sounds of family again.

We were hanging out for about two hours visiting and someone said something about it being my birthday. Timmy said, "I didn't know it was your birthday?" "It is," I said. Poor Timmy, he is so uninformed. Where does his mind linger? It was almost time for Jeremy to start the grill. No charcoal, now doesn't that figure? There was also no milk for the cheesecake. Remember, I used half and half to whip up some macaroni and cheese for dinner one night? I guess it's a run to the store for Jinny and I. I let her drive, I had had enough of that for the time being. We got what we needed and some extras and back to the house we went. The dinner proceeding began and the kitchen was full. Jeremy is a wonderful cook, but very messy. I had the dish rag and wiped up as he went. I wonder, does he realize just how messy he is? But I didn't want to mention it since he was so engrossed in his work. He was stirring rice and simmering mushroom's. Slicing vegetables and wrapping them in tin foil. The chicken was ready to go on the grill and it smelled so wonderful. Cheesecake was being whipped up and placed in the refrigerator. The laundry going and people were in and out of the kitchen. It was all the things that make a home homey. Sigh~~~~~~~.

Dinner was too good for words. My son is a wonderful cook! And all of it got eaten up but a tiny bit. Jinny said, "I can't imagine what your grocery bills must have been like when they all lived at home! This one meal cost us nearly a weeks worth of groceries." I told her that is why we have extra money now. After dinner I offered to clean up since it would be just as easy not to have so many bodies lingering in the kitchen. And all my previous wiping and washing helped a lot. Our bellies were full and later we had strawberry cheesecake. How they fit that much more into their bellies I don't know? I was stuffed! Then it cooled off a little, and we all went out on the deck in back.

"Do you still have a grasshopper problem, Mom?", Jeremy asked.

"Yes, they are still here eating everything in sight. Or, what's left of it."

That is his queue. He searches for his usual stick in the flowerbed and heads for the back yard. What is he going to do you ask? The same thing he does every weekend he comes out to the house. The same thing all of us do in the evening. The grasshopper hunt begins.

It's called grasshopper baseball. Yes, I know it sounds cruel. But if you could see what they have done to my flowers you would understand. Nothing has kept them away. Bug spray hasn't helped. And since the other neighbors have no plants or trees they all end up in our yard. Me, Jinny and Timmy sit and watch as Jeremy tosses the bugs in the air and wacks at them. He is not a good shot this week and misses a lot. Timmy says, "Look at him? Can you believe this guy works at a bank and counts money and deposits checks? Look at him swatting at grasshoppers with a stick and enjoying it." It was funny.

Timmy can be so philosophical at times. Shawn is out in the yard with Jeremy and looking around the barn.

"You still got black widow spiders?", he asks.

"Oh yes, they are still here too."

As he is looking under the eve of the barn wasp start swarming him.

"Oh by the way, we got a wasp nest out there too."

He's ducking and we are laughing. Jeremy gets side tracked from his bug batting and they investigate the wasp nest. Some things never change.

"I hope you don't get stung out there. I got some wasp killer if you want to spray that thing."

I go inside to get the spray and give it to them.

Jeremy starts spraying and said, "This stuff smells flammable." No duh! "Let's see if we can light this thing up. Someone give me a lighter."

Now they are leaning on the ground very close to the barn.

"You better not set that barn on fire or your dad will hang you!"

"Yeah," Jinny said, "and that is where the horseshoe pit is going to go!"

I am not sure if we should laugh or not. They once set the woods on fire at our other house. Oh, wait a minute. That was Timmy and one of his friends and he was sitting here with us. But still?

As they are lighting the wasp nest up and crouching down to look closely at it (I am wondering why this is so interesting?) Timmy comes out of the house with a firecracker. He shows it to Jinny and I and puts his finger over his lips and says, shhh. He goes out to where they are and lights it and places it under Jeremy's butt. Naturally Shawn and Jeremy are so engrossed in looking at the flaming wasp nest they never notice him there. He casually walks away. BOOM! Shawn jerks away and Jeremy stands up very quickly. Didn't think he could move that fast?

"What was that?!"

We of course are laughing really hard and could hardly say anything. Then they spot the firecracker on the ground.

"Timmy, you moron!"

Laughing resumes and we all get a real kick out of it. Jinny says to me, "I can almost imagine what your life must have been like seeing them together like this. Playing with bugs and fire." My eyes felt sort of misty. Yes, it was interesting. Never a dull moment and you can guess who the instigator was all the time? We looked at Timmy and laughed. I do miss those years when there was always so much excitement and someone was always in trouble for tormenting someone else. When someone was always digging around in the cupboard for something to eat and holding the refrigerator door open for so long, just gazing in their looking for nothing in particular. When the kool-aid picture was nearly empty, not enough to fill a glass, but the previous person didn’t empty it for fear of having to wash it out. The same thing with the bag of chips, and left over macaroni and cheese. If there was any that is. No one would own up to making a mess in the bathroom or leaving glasses sit in the living room over night. And it was way too much trouble to put a new roll of toilet paper on the roll when the other one was empty. I sort of miss the days when the bathroom door would open and someone would yell, I need more toilet paper! Modesty goes out the window at a moment like that.

As they all got ready to leave I sort of got sad. It is so good when the weekend comes and they all come for a visit. One day there will be little ones about and it will be even more exciting. I can't wait to share stories with them of when their daddies were young and restless and wild. It seems that it still lingers in their hearts. I can't wait until the kids call me and say you won't believe what your grandchild did today. I will say, oh yes I will. And I will be able to say do you remember when? They won't get away with it that easily.

Scot comes home tomorrow. I am sorry he missed this day and all the laughs we had. Jeremy's car goes home today. And after I got the seats and mirrors adjusted to fit me. I survived a week alone. I really did! I am glad Scot will be home tomorrow. I really miss him. There were hugs all around and I love you's spoken openly, and Happy Birthday mom. I had a great day. My life is so wonderful.