Moving Day finally approached. We – my parents, brother, and I – spent my birthday, a Saturday, packing as much as we could. The movers were set to arrive that Monday. The movers were a one-shot deal, the better to save money. In case you’re wondering – yes. Packing up your childhood home on…
I’m not sure how many “parts” the story of my parents’ move will have. It is, to be sure, my parents’ tale, although I’ll do the telling. Like my parents, this story is not neat and tidy, as I would have it – and them – be. But then they’d tell you that I’m obsessive,…
So my dad had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s, both my parents were aging, and my mom fell down steps constantly even when she was 30. It was time to move. Smaller, safer digs. I therefore spent most of 2019 helping my parents move from their house to an independent living apartment. Let me rephrase…
Indy and Willie’s new apartment is, by design, small. Open floor plan. Kitchen, living room, dining room. Bookend bedrooms, a full bathroom in each. I can cross the whole apartment in thirty steps. Fifty, if I’m being generous. Standing in the entryway hall, I can see the entirety of their space. So I…
To get to the funny, I have to start with the serious. My dad has Parkinson’s disease, something he possibly contracted from exposure to contaminated water at Camp LeJeune. This is heartbreaking on many levels, not the least of which is Camp LeJeune’s role in our family history. Located in North Carolina, Camp…
I promise I’ll get to the electrician story soon. But Indy and Willie visited Indy’s property in Maryland last week and, well, you should know the story. Back in his Marine Corps days, Indy was stationed in Quantico. Sometimes North Carolina. At one point, his parents moved from Delaware County to Rock Hall, Maryland….
I promised you a story. A story of an electrician. An electrician for Willie and Indy. I am that electrician. Recently, I headed to Willie and Indy’s apartment. My intent was to illustrate the capabilities of both a FitBit and an Apple Watch. Although they ultimately chose the Apple Watch, getting them to…
If the battle to control Indy and Willie looked merely like Robert Baratheon wresting the Westeros throne from the Mad King Aerys, rest assured it has erupted into a full-bore Red Wedding. Just to be clear, I am not the Mad King in this analogy. After Indy’s inane hospitalization a few…
Willie has named her Apple Watch “Wendi.” Her Siri is very bossy, she tells me. Siri tells her to get up and walk around because she’s been sitting too long. Siri tells her to breathe at times throughout the day because, as I have long suspected, Willie is superhuman, doesn’t require air, sleep,…
This story, like David Copperfield – or the far better tome Flowers In The Attic – begins with a birth. Rather than the birth of the protagonist like those great works, this story begins with the birth of my parents’ basement. My parents’ basement has a legacy of its own in the annals of my family history. Friends and family…