Any other day, we would have perused the second-hand shops, the bookstores, and Goodwill — but we were coming to the close of a long day of driving and funeral and entombment (and finally lunch), and a stroll around the Oregon District was not in the cards.
Perhaps another time.
Even though I played with the Litchfield Town Band briefly during the mid-90’s, I was still surprised to witness the pride of this little town in their concert band. All summer, on Friday evenings, the town band assembles in the gazebo to play marches and polkas and other traditional crowd favorites.
When my son and I went to visit my Mom at the end of July, a good number of her friends were looking forward to pulling out some chairs and listening to the music. Having been a music major in a former life, I could tell that it wasn’t exactly professional-sounding, but it wasn’t totally cringey, either. It was enjoyable in that live-music-outside sort of way.
Except to one nine-year-old boy who’d already had a long day. To him, it was “boring,” and he just wanted to go back to Grammy’s house and relax.
Connor and I took a long weekend at the end of July to go visit my mom in Medina County, Ohio. Of course, I had to get a photo of my son in front of the iconic gazebo in Medina Square.
His Dad and I had collaborated to make him a mixtape (yes, an actual cassette tape that he played in an actual Sony Walkman) that included his favorite techno/electronic and video game music, and he listened to it nonstop. Hence the headphones.
I just got the film developed (yes, actual 35mm film) and was struck by how much my son looks like my mother.
It’s been a long day.
Today was my grandfather’s funeral.
He died in his sleep at the age of 93, and outlived all of his siblings and two of his children.
I’m sure I’ll have more to say in the coming days, but for now, I just feel drained.
August 2021 will be remembered in our home as the month that Dad moved to a different shift at work.
Spoiler: It didn’t agree with him, and he’s now back on his regular evening/night shift.
It was fun and different, though, and if there had been less workplace shenanigans involved, it might have been a good fit… eventually.
Things that were definitely on the positive side of the equation (from my point of view):
There were an abundance of downsides, though, not the least of which being that Dad was basically jet-lagged for a few weeks in a row.
I think everyone involved will be glad for our routine to return to normal… including the next guy in line for the job.