Thursday, October 14, 2010

A Long Day

Yesterday was a long day.  There was work and violin lesson, late meetings and another trip to the grocery store.  We finally got home around 8:30 p.m. I had promised the kids I would make them spaghetti and meat sauce, so I started cooking the pasta.  When the angel hair was delightfully al dente, I proceeded to the sink to drain it.  My daughter, who was helping me cook, was talking to me and somehow as I was bringing the pasta over to the bowl, we bumped.  In slow motion, I watched the noddles squirm out of the colander. I tried to catch them but they only swam to the floor faster.  There on the floor in a steaming pile, sat our dinner.  "Quick, Mom, get them."  I felt a little uneasy serving my kids noodles that had just been all over my not too clean kitchen floor.   So we all stared at them for a moment.  The kids wondered if I might lose it and decide we were all going to eat cereal instead.  But I started laughing and reached for another noodle box. By the time dinner was done, I was exhausted.
 The kids started getting ready for bed and the phone rang.  It was my 89 year old grandpa.  He sounded tired too.  "How ya doing Gramps?"  I asked.
"Well, Tiger, (he has called me Tiger ever since I can remember), I'm awfully tired.  It's terrible I don't seem to have much energy these days",  he said.
"Well, what have you been doing? "  I asked a little concerned.
"You know that pine tree out in the front yard, it got hit by lightening last year, so I chopped it down today and I hauled the wood in the wheelbarrow to the back.  Then I started making a raised planting bed in its place.  You should see it.  I think it will look real nice." He said, excited now about his future planting space.
"Wow Gramps, that sounds like a lot of work. All I did was go to work and make dinner", I said.
"I know but I used to be able to do so much more",  he sighed.  Then I remembered him telling me how he hand dug the foundation for his house with a shovel back in 1946.  He spent 3 weeks digging, every night after work. Finally, he had a large enough area to build a house with his own hands for his young family.  All of a sudden I didn't feel like my day had been all that long.

Kathy

2 comments:

  1. Hi, Kaffer:

    I came upon your website when I was checking out Jessica's at her urging.

    I L-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-V-E that story!!!!! It is so you and your Granpsie.

    One of the greatest joys in my life has been that Jesse found you and that your family came attached to you.

    I look forward to reading everything on your website when I'm done with my book.

    Love,

    Mommer

    ReplyDelete