Television and my family

I came from a television family, my dad had the first television on our rural block and then studied, evenings, to become the local repairman. TV has been the background of my life.

 

Mom has a debilitating heart condition now and spends a ton of her day in front of the television. She cannot walk very far on her own and that has, needless to say, slowed her down considerably.  She has an electric buggy but does not use it much unless I am around, because mom never learned to drive. GASP!

 

Yes, children, there are people in the world who have never learned to drive.

 

When she was sixteen, her brother took her out in the farm yard to teach her. He later declared she had sideswiped a cow and was hopeless and never took her out again.

 

My dad acted like he was teaching her to drive, but only actually offered to teach her when she 1. Had a cake in the oven and couldn’t leave or 2. It was Christmas Eve and snowing; thus making sure she never learned. 

 

NO ONE drove my dad’s car (my brother and I were both taught to drive by our mates) and he was not going to make an exception for her. Beside, dad was rather of the belief that women are to be taken care of and not allowed to learn to think for their selves. Yes, a chauvinist extreme.

 

What does all this have to do with TV, you ask? Well, if mom was comfortable driving, she would be tooling all over Martinsville, Indiana in her scooter. She wouldn’t be afraid to enter the elevator with it. Getting in and out of the elevator is kind of scary yet and we work on that every time I am over. It is a tight turn.

 

But, for now, she sits and watches tv. She likes to watch “Little People, Big World” and “Some obnoxious woman and her beaten husband and their twin daughters, one of whom is an obnoxious child and the other who is ignored, and their sextuplets, many of which are brats.”  And, apparently, the whole family likes to hit each other on the head. I do not watch it, so I’m not as up on it as she is.

 

Secretly, I think mom likes it because the children are so out of control, and maybe the families are dysfunctional. The husband on “Little People…” overextends and leaves projects unfinished; thus reminding mom of my father, who measured shelves every year for twenty years and never did get the shelves put in until they were ready to sell the house.

 

I’m not sure why she enjoys bratty children? I plead the fifth.

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Wedding Weekend #1

I am writing this at midnight. Why? 

I have no idea. I will get up in the morning and see what I have posted and go, WHY? I don’t believe I did that. I usually write in WORD, correct spelling, edit, post, re-read, correct spelling, edit —–

Well, you get the picture, but this is random listings of this weekend’s wedding.

The bride, grand-great niece, is an individual and, as such, wanted her own unique wedding.  Her gown was a deep red and her hair was spiked on top of her head and she walked down the absolutely fantastic staircase in their house and, I swear, it took my breath away. She looked that great. 

Her seven attendants each wore their own choice of a black party/formal dress. All of the wedding party was going to go barefoot, but a cold snap headed into Wisconsin.

This was their wedding cake. The bride picked it out and the groom’s mother baked it. She was a professional baker, as I understand it. I ate two slices and Yummm!

The bride looked and looked for a unique top ornament for it but never found the right one. Perhaps a groom and bride sliding on top would have worked, and been in keeping with this funny, great couple.

It was an outdoor wedding with a string quartet, readings on love and marriage by relatives, acknowledgement to all religions, and self-written vows.

With that in mind, the brides uncle brought up the fact that why in the world do we have to have the bridal couple with their back to the crowd during the ceremony? I think it’s a good point. I would much rather see their faces, than their backs.

Both my grand nieces, who are marrying this summer, have found the greatest husband/husband-to-be. The guys each have a good sense of humor and are kind and considerate. 

Now, as far as me- I drove eight to ten hours each way, slept little, ate too much and had a really good fantasy in my head, on the drive home. It involved camping on a hill , comets, Viggo Mortensen, a campfire, stars,  and him singing the song he did at the end of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy; which without reading the words for it sounds more like a love song than any song I have heard. Guess the weddings put me in the mood for romance. What better way to spend an eight hour drive?

All that was missing was cake.

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The wisdom of the powers that be

Mom isn’t real social at her senior’s apartment. She cannot get anyone to play cards (pinochle) or games. They do have an Eurcre table but that is it. They also have a van to take the seniors out to shop. They have occasional events and dinners. But, they just do not socialize; other than to sit in the lobby.

 

In the beginning, they had visiting entertainment. A group of dancers would come and entertain. There was a Girl Scout troop, who would come and plant flowers or bring Easter baskets or Valentines. Then, someone, in their infinite wisdom decided this was a liability.

 

Never mind that the dancers had their own insurance should they break a leg. No one could come, and entertain, because they might get hurt. After all, planting flowers is a dangerous business. So, now the elderly sit in their chairs and watch the traffic go by. They even have to go out front on Halloween, no matter what the weather is, as ‘trick or treaters’ are not allowed on the premises.

 

There was actually an uprising about the trick or treater decision when the building management said, “No.” Those little old ladies and guys fought for the right to sit in front of the building and pass out treats.

 

Oh, they do have one other entertainment. If enough of them sign up, they may take the van out to the pharmacy, grocery shopping and to eat. The driver was —-

 

one of the residents. Yes, folks that’s right; a resident.

 

It is too much of a liability for insured dancers to come and entertain, or Brownies to plant flowers, but it is fine for an eighty-six year old man or woman, to drive a van load of seniors. Yup! Real wisdom there.

 

Currently, one of the resident’s sons has volunteered to drive. Thank goodness!

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