Marriage

The A May Zing


I wanted add to my-I am the greatest grandparent in the history of grandparentkind!!

So, this evening we took the 3 musketeers (ages 4, 4, and 2) out for pizza.

Then out for handmade ice cream.

Then home for new coloring books and coloring.

I should have a parade in my honor.

That is as long as the parade organizers ignore anything I say about the coloring incident…

It wasn’t my fault….

Really….

I had it all planned out.

I even bought myself an adult coloring book.

I’m a man….I ain’t coloring no paw patrol.

I went with this…..

Notice the $3 price tax…

THATS A DEAL BABY!!

Got it at the dollar store.

You realize….that I could have bought 3 separate things for a dollar, but, I opted to go big and spend ALL three dollars on 1 item.

Pretty amazing, huh.

Yeah…my wife tells me all the time how amazing I am.

Now you see why….

While I basking in my glory I decided I should by crayons as well….for me.

I’m a man, I ain’t sharing no crayons with a bunch of whiny kids.

Boom.

64 crayons for a buck.

A May Zing.

And that was the start of my downfall without even knowing it.

Apparently…

All crayons are not the same.

And I found that out by losing my collective shit over the fact these crayons break by touching to the page.

My wife says it’s amazing that I’m so comfortable cursing and having a tantrum in front of the boys.

Maybe I’ll hold off on the parade….

The Ever Quest


Is forever really attainable
I place my heart on my sleeve

Will you still remember me
Years after my unchosen
Time to leave

Tears may fall
But they will dry

While the clock continues to tick
Could we still connect after
The last goodbye

Feelings may change
As the seconds quickly
Change to days

They say time heals
I hope it’s just a delay.

The Refresh After 40


My younger than me wife and I like to do things together.

Usually that means we take something that is old and make it new again.

Like when she married me….

But this ain’t about me.

It’s about her over 40 year old dresser and nightstand.

She has had it since childhood….but doesn’t want it to look like it.

So, we went to work by taking it outside, removing the drawers and handles and I showed her how to use the belt sander to take off the finish and get it ready to paint.

Next, it was paint. We headed to the Home Depot and decided one 3 shades of grey.

She took care of the lighter color and I took care of the trim and cut in and also the spray painting of the handles.

After drying, I put everything together.

Then moved it back into the house, where we hope to have it for another 40 years or so.

First time for us refinishing our own furniture.

Further proof that an old dog can learn new tricks.

The 2 Cups 1 Guy


It’s not what you may think…

Get your mind out of the gutter…or not..

You do you, boo boo.

Anyway …

New year….new me…

Which is a statement I have never uttered before.

Yet, here I am.

I’ve always had back pain.

Work, injuries…just general age related stuff on top of that.

I don’t like chiropractors. My experience is they are pain givers. The more cracks the better.

I’ve never had a professional massage.

Why?

I don’t like paying people to touch me.

My younger than me wife suggested something different..

Back Cupping Therapy

New year new me so why not.

It consists of 2 Cups connected to a suction thingie that raises the skin in different places on the back to ease pain, stress and the like.

Here is what my back looked like after the session…

The top of my spine was a bit bruised afterward. Coincidentally, that’s where a lot of my pain resides.

New year new me.

It was also suggested to drink lots of water.

If cut back my sugar and caffeine intake by about 80 percent.

By February I hope to be off all sugar and caffeine drinks.

New year new me.

Quit smoking cigarettes as well. 30 years of it is more than enough.

Change ain’t all that bad.

As always…

It’s good to be gone….that’s why I go.

The Mystery Package


My wife received a package this morning.

It was to the right address.

But,

Labeled with her maiden name, which she changed when we married 1000 years ago.

Inside the box from the company that decides what the color brown can do for you was-

A retail value of $1500 virtual reality headset device thingie.

I told her that I have enough issues with actual reality to be venturing into not reality.

She didn’t order it….

It just virtually showed up.

She’s gonna do some emails and phone calls and try to figure things out.

I don’t want the virtual mail police to come knocking on the headset lenses to take us to virtual jail for an obvious mistake.

I have enough problems with the dream police that live inside of my head…

Live inside of my head!

The Moments


Life is is full of unforgettable moments.

For me, being a grandparent has brought a lot of them.

It’s too cold to go outside this weekend. The kids and I have been cooped up inside.

We played Power Rangers vs. Zombies or them vs. me….I guess zombies is another word for old.

Movies were watched.

Naps were taken.

Eventually….

Ideas were running thin.

To avoid meltdowns….I had to think of something.

Luckily, they like button pushing…. figuratively and literally..

So, with that in mind. My lightbulb went on.

Here’s a short snippet of the result-

I love those boys.

The Pursuit Of Happy


R U 😊?

Not just at this moment…but generally speaking….or writing as it may be…

How does one get there?

I believe it’s an individual journey.

I also believe that until I was happy with myself….as in who I am, that I couldn’t be happy WITH anyone or anything else.

That occured well into my late 30’s.

I’m in my early 50’s now.

Does that mean I was miserable my first 30+ years of existence?

No.

But,

That was a happiness of the growing up variety.

I was a people pleaser, fad follower, just…like me please, kind of person.

A portrayer of a goofball without a care while the home life was the shadow of pain I couldn’t get away from. Always right at my feet casting a darkness that hid behind the smile.

My first “real” taste of happiness was my discovery of the euphoria of cocaine.

It was instantaneous.

I was…..HAPPY

What I didn’t know at the time was that level of happiness would NEVER be attained again.

That didn’t stop me from chasing it.

I NEEDED that happy to make me feel anything.

The chase took over a decade and I gave away EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE to pursue it.

I pursued it into psychosis and faced the real possibility of a lengthy prison sentence.

Chemical happiness is not happiness.

It was a lie.

I had to begin the pursuit again from

ZERO

By zero….I mean..

No family

No friends

No money

No possessions

No….me

I GAVE all that away to pursue my so called happy

I had to find a way to be comfortable with myself….

By myself…

To truly find happiness.

During that pursuit I realized that distractions had to be eliminated.

For me, that was TV, movies anything that took time away from….me.

Those were escapes. I was tired of escapes.

If I could sit alone by myself, with my own thoughts, without going nuts I had a chance to find the elusive happiness.

That didn’t happen overnight.

It took time.

It’s been over 15 years since then.

The elusive true happy of me was found and nurtured throughout that time.

It has allowed me to find happy with another.

My younger than me wife and the ever expanding family that goes with it.

But without my personal happy, none of that would be possible.

There are still ups and downs,naturally, and the pursuit continues, but it’s a sustaining pursuit more than a seeking pursuit.

Thought this lifetime pursuit, there has been one constant-

Music

It’s has been part of me for as long as I can remember.

Through the hardships of then to the life of now it’s always been my companion.

So I ask again…

R U 😊?

Whatever the answer, keep up the pursuit.

The Never Empty


Once upon a time there lived a couple named the good2begone’s. They were a happy couple who together raised 2 children.

Those 2 children got into relationships and had children of their own.

A total of 5 children….all under 5 (age and height)

And they all moved out over time, and started lives of their own and began to live out their dreams as independent young adults! Leaving the happy couple, know as their parents, to live out their dream of having an empty nest.

THE END…..

Until a month and a half later

When the end wasn’t the end after all…..

Well it was the end….

Of our empty nest dream.

Through the course of 3 days, our home went from 2 adults 2 dogs

To

4 adults and 1 infant

And

5 dogs…..

All under the age of 5 (age and height)

So for all you empty nesters out there….enjoy it while it lasts….

They may leave….but they multiply….and come back…

I do get to see this face every day, though

Happily ever after is still in progress

The Hands On


We got to unexpectedly spend time with the grandkids today.

It was so unexpected that we had nothing planned to do.

So what did we do when we had nothing to do?

We found something to do.

That’s what grandparents do.

I found a discarded table by the dumpster this morning. I figured I could make something out of it. A little beat up but whatever.

The boys wanted to paint.

So….

We decided to allow them to paint the table.

However they wanted with any and all colors that we had available.

We stripped them down to underwear….

Because…

Paint…DUH

And went to work-

They are 4 and 2 and not surprising like to get into paint.

Of course I got involved. I couldn’t let them have all the fun.

After we finished with the fifty eleven different colors that went on and all mixed together, we let it dry.

I then put some leg braces about a foot down from the top and painted those.

Then brought out the black to personalize our creation with our handprints.

The hands of the boys and Nona And Papi

Three some polyurethane to protect our artwork and brought it in to display in our main room.

Total cost….nothing

But priceless memories and something we can talk about for years to come.

Being a grandparent sure is…..

Grand.