Elderly White Knuckles…2010

Atlanta is home to a party we used to frequent, held on the first Friday Night of each month, but we had not been in months and months.  So we chose to attend this past Friday Night and, of course, it’s an eating meeting.  So we opted to take turnip greens, Mexican cornbread, green onions and green peppers.  A few weeks ago John attended a chicken sale and purchased quantities of chicken for both our daughters and this was perhaps the main reason for our trip to the big city – to make more freezer space for ourselves.  By the time we got all this ready, got ourselves ready and the truck loaded, I was exhausted and could hear my chair calling my name; however, that would have to wait.  We planned this trip as a surprise to the host and hostess and we wanted to arrive at party time – 7:00 p.m. eastern time – meaning we had to leave here around 3:00 to arrive at the proper hour.  Needless to say, traffic was something else – and we expected it to be just that way.  Even though there was lots of traffic, our southbound lanes were moving (that is up to a point), you should have seen the northbound lanes – four, five and/or six lanes and at a complete stand still.  Oh me.  On these trips John does the driving, but I’m the navigator – directing the driver to get in such and such  lane for the next exit – or something like that.  Another job I have is to make comments of reassurance along the way – such as “Yes, this is the right lane.”  Many times that, too, is confusing – as I shouldn’t have said “right lane” – now I try to remember to say “We are in the correct lane.”  So much of the time the right lane is exit only and we would not want to exit at that point.  As you know, we recently made a trip to Detroit and we agree that it’s easier to drive through Cincinnati, Toledo and Detroit than it is to drive through Atlanta.

If you don’t believe in prayer, try riding down I75 in rush hour traffic and then exit in the east bound lanes onto I285 with a country gentlemen of age doing the driving. Wow!!  Talk about white knuckles – gripping that steering wheel – and in the case of the navigator, I grip whatever I can get hold of.  We did fine most of the way, but when we got to Roswell Road everything stopped and from there on we crawled, but we did barely made to the party on time.  It goes without saying that with this crowd the fresh garden veggies were a big hit.  I overheard one man say “everything is so good, but the turnip greens are the best.”  Maybe he knew I would hear that, but nevertheless it was pleasing to my ears.  One lady asked what kind of seasoning I used and my reply was, “You don’t want to know.”  It definitely was not oil.

We stayed over night, but were on the road again before daylight.  We did stop at a McDonalds for coffee and a sausage and biscuit.  We are not shoppers and we had absolutely no business in the big city, so early morning is a good time to get through the traffic, thus our decision to travel early.  Oh well, honest confession is good for the soul, so I’ll admit it – we could hear our chairs calling our names and we enjoyed a nap therein before lunch.

And now for another story and I’ll call it The Search for a Bobbie Pin.  John has recently had some problems with ear wax impaction and a doctor has convinced him to stop using a Q-Tip in his ears.  Okay with that done, John then decided he would use the old-timey way of cleaning ears and that was to use a Bobbie Pin.  We could not find such in this house and if we could have found one no doubt it would have been rusty and corroded.

So he bought a card of such pins, removed one to use and “put the card up.”  You know the rest of the story – “I’ll put it right here so it will be easy to find and I’ll know right where it is.”  Well, as one might expect something happened to the using pin.  We know “they” didn’t move it because there are only two  here and neither of us know what went with the pin.  Now the search was on for the card.  John opened every drawer in this house – over and over – it nearly drove his spouse crazy – but he couldn’t find the pins.  He said he knew he stuck them in a drawer standing the card up on edge.  Well, of course, this makes it harder to see when we are searching.  Day after day we went over this routine and I even looked where I thought it might be – and looked in some places where I thought it wasn’t.  It seemed that he enjoyed the search even better when I was on the telephone — making it more nerve wrecking for me.  John loves to shop at the Dollar Store and I suggested that he buy another card of pins – “No, I have a card – I’m not buying another.”  So much for that!!  Yes, last night when I was on the telephone – long distance no less – he found the pins and brought them and stuck them in my face.  I interrupted the conversation just long enough to ask where they were.  As you might expect, he found them in a drawer in the mud room – just off the sun porch – but in the very back of the drawer and, yes, standing on edge.  Now they have been stored in yet another location and I’ve been informed where they are and will be expected to remember that when the time arises again.

As I’ve said so many times before, I’ll bet it’s bad to get old.  However, I’m told that younger people, too, put things up and forget where they are.  I’ve had one lady tell me she doesn’t do this – this is a fine Christian lady, but even so I have trouble believing everything I hear. And so it is with this style of country living.