stardate 12.12.2020

 

It’s a wonderful life.

Merry Christmas Webbers Falls! Merry Christmas Davey and Sloan!  

The Frank Kafka classic holiday movie tells the story of a man who contemplates the true meaning of christmas while slowly changing into a cockroach. Apparently he is from a small town in Oklahoma. 

And ZuZu’s petals!

Yeah I don’t even know what that means, maybe a nod to little shop of horrors?

As I am led to believe many people are fans of the genre bending holiday classic about Wonderful Living.  It is in black and white, so it is extra creepy at the holidays.  I think that movie is the first one where someone gives a lady in white a ride home and she disappears so they go knock on the front door and are told, “she’s been dead 20 years!”

No? Have I pulled a Javi and mashed up every movie I have ever seen? Quite possibly.  It happens.  I may have been sampling eggnog in preparation for the party we are not having next weekend.

I did want to talk about the real George Bailey in my life.  Someone who continually puts other people first, who is kind, considerate and thoughtful.  Someone whose love language is giving people gifts, and also helping people.  My son Paul is certainly the George Bailey in my circle.  2020 has been, well it has been 2020 for everyone.  Yet, somehow, in the midst of everything, my oldest son has been in the process of growing up. As is typical of Paul, he has done it quietly, without too much fuss or drama.  He works hard at his job.  I joke that when he started at Lowe’s they asked him what department he wanted to work in, and he said he had been working at ace hardware for 2 years and knew a great deal about hardware and tools.  They told him that was great, and they assigned him to electrical.  I joke, but it is true.  His first week in electrical someone told him if he makes a mistake, someone will probably get electrocuted and die.  So he has been learning about all things electrical, via youtube videos, and books, and asking questions.  I am really proud of him.

When he isn’t at work, he’s assumed a great deal of responsibility at home, after the recent ice storm took down the tree that hangs over our driveway, he and his buddy Chris used a chainsaw and a tree saw and took down all the branches and piled them up in the yard.  He did this voluntarily, without anyone asking or even saying anything about it.  He said, “I live here, I don’t mind helping out. Besides what would it look like if my Mama and Papa were out there with a chainsaw?”

In addition to being responsible at home, he looks out for his grandparents.  He replaces their air filters regularly, and changes light bulbs for them, and a few months ago he replaced their dishwasher, because the one they had was 15 years old.  He got a great deal on a display model and then he and a buddy installed it.  When they thanked him, he said it wasn’t that big of a deal.  He paid for a dishwasher out of his own money and then said “It was no big deal.”

A friend posted on facebook this weekend that there is nothing better than when someone brings you a warm blanket when you are drifting off to sleep.  It reminded me of the years that as a father I would check the boys and make sure they were covered up and resting peacefully before they went to bed.  I don’t get that chance much anymore because the boys are usually not asleep when I am ready for bed, if they are even home.  Paul is a restless sleeper, he always has been, when he was a little guy we would often find that he had moved to a different bed, or a different room in the night while others slept.  Paul still wakes up in the night and roams the house, and more than once I have caught him taking Matthew’s glasses off his sleeping face, adding a blanket to a sleeping Markese, refreshing the cat’s water bowl, generally quietly going through the house checking on the people he cares about.

I had asked him about this in the past, and he swears he learned it from my Dad.  He says whenever we go and visit, in the night grandpa Jerry walks through the house and checks on everyone before he goes to bed.  I have to admit it is true, and that it is not a bad example for him to follow. I mean you could do worse if you're looking for a role model. 

My other boys are growing up too.  Sometimes it is a loud, uncomfortable process, or one that generates lots of attention. Tonight I want to celebrate the boy who is growing up quietly, in the background, without lots of attention, and doing it in a way that makes me so very proud.