Breaking the Log Jam of Life

The boy stood on the burning deck

Eating peanuts by the peck;

His father called, he would not go

Because he loved those peanuts so.

Poem told by Wreggie Sr. to Wreggie Jr. 

 

I am able now to make long hauls by land and not go completely nuts. Credit my satellite radio and satellite based GPS.

I drove 700 miles in the last 24 hours and was head banging on some vintage rock, juking with reggae, all the while monitoring trip speed, estimated time of arrival, summonsing up nearby diesel stops and chatting on the phone with my bride.  

I have found myself speeding a bit with this new Garmin device. You see it monitors current speed more accurately that my speedometer.   So I figure, “Will I get busted going 7 MPH over the limit of 70?”   I set the cruise to 77 and cruise on.

Now you may be asking, “Why dear Wreggie would you be burning our fossil fuels at such an alarming rate?”  

Anyway to the point; I had venture down to Brunswick Georgia Friday night so I could poke loose the log jam of clearing out my father in laws apartment.

It seemed that the actual blood related members of the family were in denial that this had to be done to move on in life.

I got down in south Georgia around 6 PM and visited with Peach Pod and Peach Pit and broke bread with them on a lovely cob salad and seasonal pumpkin ale. The stayed over with my brother-in-law and his lovely significant other.   

Then early Saturday morning I headed to the inner sanctum of what has been Larry’s apartment for the last 10 years.

There was dental floss draped over the handle bars of his stationary bike stationed squarely in front of the TV along with a half drunk bottle of water. Papers and books were stacked everywhere. It is a custom of this family to buy and collect books but never actually read them.    

I started in the bathroom with a big trash bag and began tossing empty pill bottles, used toiletries and quickly moved into the bedroom. I then took a stab at the living area and moved to the kitchen.    By the time the BIL showed up I had the floor covered in bags ready to go to the garbage.

What seemed cut and dry now slowed to a crawl while the BIL filtered each bag searching for items in his opinion had some value. “You can’t just throw these cassette tapes away. Someone will buy them”, he said. I just rolled my eyes and smiled at his lovely significant other.

We knew that it was a process that he has to deal with; his father is old and can’t live by himself any more.

Mission accomplished. The log jam is broken and we are shutting down Larry’s apartment. 

Oh and by the way. One is always cautious when opening drawers of a single fellow’s apartment. The only thing strange I found was a collection of chicken bones in the door compartment of the freezer all wrapped in paper towels.

When I got home I asked Larry about the chicken bones. At first he couldn’t remember then he offered the answer. It seems he stored the bones in the freezer since tossing them in the garbage would initiate a trip to the dumpster. He would toss the bones in the garbage when he was ready to take the garbage out.  

3 comments:

terri said...

You remind me of my hubby in the way you willingly take care of your FIL's needs. Mark is often more attentive to my parents' needs than my own brothers.

And it occurred to me today that I always feel hungry after reading about the foods you've eaten. You always describe them so well! I'm hungry for a cobb salad now!

Ken said...

Good for you, to go in there and just trash bag the place. No doubt you saved the family a lot of time mulling over what to keep and what not to keep.
Sorry, it's going to take me a long....time to get used to GPS in a car. My brother has been fixated for a couple of years now, he'll never be the same.
I recomend you get a bigger boat and use it on the sea.

I've been unplugged all week, did I miss anything good?

TerryC said...

Wow! What an awesome task! I guess it's easier to let someone else do a job like that.

People too close would have to filter through each group of items and it would take millenia to complete the project. (Like when your barreling through everything slowed to a crawl when BIL entered the scene).

Kudos to you for taking that on and not getting all sentimental about it.