R & R - Review and Respond

• RE: Criminal Intent at the Mortuary -- The best part of the story, which I forgot to relate to you, is that the Marine is 58!!

• RE: Another Goodbye -- Just for the record, I did not kick the Mancub out of the house for drinking (although there was certainly a lecture and punishment in his immediate future). The Mancub himself called his father to come pick him up -- a rash decision which he regretted six hours later, when the realization finally sunk in that he had just moved himself back into hell and his 'difficult' father was once again, hell's gatekeeper.

• Memo To Bob -- Thanks for the support missive. It meant more than you know. :)

Another Goodbye

Wednesday night, the mancub was supposed to be at the bowling alley that is kitty-corner to our house. Instead, he was at the arcade/pool hall behind the house, where a mis-guided female employee chose to provide him with alcohol. So, sixteen years and five days later, the mancub stumbled home so drunk that he couldn't stand up on his own. Thursday morning, due to Veteran's Day, he had a school holiday but I made him go to work with me so that he wouldn't be left to his own devices. He ran away. Thursday afternoon, I traded him his housekey for his clothes, seat-belted him into his father's truck and waved goodbye once again. It's been a long week ... and the storm clouds just keep brewing.

Silence

The mancub has created more trouble for himself. I will spend today fuming in silence. Perhaps tomorrow will be more productive ...

Your Health Or Your Money

When MR. Morticia stopped by the pharmacy to pick up his newly prescribed Acid Reflux medication, his portion of the cost was $130 for a bottle of 30 pills! That's a monthly bill we don't need but it's really not negotiable. He's tried most of the other remedies for AR and this is the one that works. I hate that he feels pressured between being healthy or spending our life savings on meds. Ackkkk ...

Criminal Intent At The Mortuary

Someone actually had the brass to break into one of our company vans on Sunday night. What could he have been thinking? What was he hoping to find in a vehicle used only to haul deceased bodies from Point A to Point B? Was he just a thief or someone with a 'death fetish'? We'll probably never know the answers to those questions, but here is what we do know:

• At 7:30 pm, the Marine received a death call
• At 7:35 pm, he left his apartment above the mortuary and went downstairs to the van
• At 7:36 pm, he opened the driver door and realized someone was in the back of the van
• At 7:36 pm, the person in the back of the van realized that The Marine was in the vehicle and promptly tried to exit said vehicle
• At 7:37 pm, the Marine went into a Vietnam flashback and began beating the crap out of the intruder's face (he later confessed that he was trying to break the intruder's nose or rupture his eyes, an instinctive regression to twenty years of military service)
• At 7:40 pm, the intruder managed to exit the vehicle and took a martial arts stance against the Marine
• At 7:41 pm, when the Marine did not charge him, the intruder grew cocky and performed a roundhouse kick, although the Marine was at least 25 feet away
• At 7:41 pm, the Marine realized that if the idiot intruder was taking up a martial arts defense, he most likely did not have a weapon, so he charged
• At 7:42 pm, the intruder realized he was being charged and tore off down the block, with the Marine hollering after him
• At 7:45 pm, the Marine quit the chase and returned to the office, where his wife had already phone the police
• At 7:46 pm, the police arrived and the Marine gave his story -- most compelling of which was 1) the ballcap the intruder had lost in the van during the struggle and 2) the cell phone he had unknowingly dropped during his roundhouse kick

As soon as I hear the end of this story, I'll fill you in but for now, the stats are: Marine = 1 ... Intruder = 0

Speechless

I live in the mountains where we have plenty of deer, lakes and pine trees. So, tonight, when the girl ahead of me in the line at WalMart put a five pound net of pinecones onto the counter to be scanned, I was stunned. Five minutes scooping up pinecones in her yard would have given her twice as many as she bought and it would have been FREE. Oh, the shame of it ...

R&R Review And Respond

RE: Late Ballot Entry -- Thanks to everyone who voiced their opinion!!

• I didn't want to prove MR. Morticia wrong
• I just wanted to know that my design was correct
• And there IS a difference! :)

The nearly finished product. {Note the toaster cover in matching fabric!}

RE: The Mancub Turns Sixteen -- a bittersweet weekend.

• SWEET: Seeing and hearing from lots of family and friends during the Sixteenth Birthday Open House Weekend.
• BITTER: Not being able to give the mancub the birthday gift we purchased for him: his dream car - a vintage VW BUG.

We had planned the entire birthday around the BUG and sent out a gift list based on VW books, clothing, car parts and accessories, etc.

1. On 10/17, MR. Morticia purchased a 1969 VW BUG from the local VW club.
2. On 10/18, MR. Morticia had the BUG trailered to a buddy's house to store until the birthday.
3. On 10/19, the Mancub was arrested for his stint as a graffiti artist.
4. On 10/20, we called the VW Club and they were gracious enough to take the BUG back.
5. On 10/21, we scaled back the Sixteenth VW BUG Birthday Blowout to a minimalist party in which the child was lucky to have a cake.

That's about as bitter as it gets. This tough love stuff is pretty hard on a mother's heart. Can someone hand me a tissue? I feel a crying jag coming on ...