::Serendipity::

Feels Real Good... ________________________________________________________________

I haven't mentioned our furnace guy for a while. The one we let park his trailer behind the garage. Remember him? I usually feed him once a week, and I should do more. Poor guy has had a rash of bad luck. So we called him over for dinner. I made this Stuffed Cabbage Soup/Stew concoction and a quick Tiramisu for dessert. Dinners at our house are always crazy. After they fight over who's turn it is to sit next to me, it's all silliness from there. Not so much when there is company, but still fun. Tim always does or says something that has us all cracking up. Furnace Guy always raves over my food, which makes me want to feed him more often.

After dinner and reading to the kids and getting them to bed, Michael took out his stash of cigars and we spent a few hours visiting. The man has had a lot happen in his life. He's got a story about everything. He was telling us about when he was in NA and how he spent a year giving talks. How he started a fire when he was 9 by flicking matches and his step dad beat the tar out of him. But his mom was never home, she was always at the bar, drunk. His step dad was either with her, or working. He and his siblings were on their own. All I could think of was The Herdman's from Barbara Robinson's book The Best Christmas Pageant Ever! What a rough childhood. And then he said, if he could change anything about growing up, it would be that he would want family dinners. Sitting down and eating together. That's all. I started to tear up. What a simple thing that could have made such a difference in his life. I wonder if my kids will grow up and have one simple thing they missed out on that would have made a big difference to them? I sure hope not. But it was very humbling to hear him say that. I have tried to keep in mind what I do now that can affect the kids later, but I guess I lost sight of it because that really hit me right between the eyes.

Somehow, my red and white Christmas lights that I put around the window that so compliment the Christmas tree are no where to be found. My favorite purple coat is no where to be found either. Timmy's gloves are missing too. All things we stored in the basement along with some cases of food. I think we have a gremlin living in the basement wearing my purple coat, Tim's camouflage gloves, wrapped in Christmas lights eating Spaghetti O's.

posted by Terri at 12/12/2008 09:17:00 AM >3 comments

3 Comments:

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