Family ALL

 There is nothing more important to one's life than family.  This includes adopted family and friendships that have become family.  We all become close to friends and their families and eventualy accept those families as extentions of our own families.  We have Brothers from other mothers and their brides and children become our sisters and nephews and nieces we become larger expanded family.  All are one and part of a collective family unit.  With our brides and children, our in laws and their children our sisters and brothers and their children and all who havee come before and will follow with a similar path Welcome We are all one Family.  Happy New Year let's bring the light of the season upon us all.

Peace and Balance,

John 

Chapter 21: The Arrival Of The New Toddling Child

A new pre toddling sibling arrived on January 3rd 1976.  The Mom knew He would come at the beginning of the Holiday season.  According to The Grandma He was supposed to come during the Christmas Holiday, but abruptly changed His mind at the last minute.  The Boy was an adult now and The Little Sister old enough to understand the dynamics of being a teenager.  The Baby would grow with an army of watchers to guide him.

The Mom spent a couple days in the Northern Montana Hospital recuperating from a little longer than normal labor and delivery.  Like The Grandma said, "He's not quite ready for the introduction into this world."  

The Grandma and The Sister worked on a banner that said, "Welcome Home."  The Old Man and The Boy put together a crib, bassinette, and prepared a room for the new Baby.  The Dad called from the Hospital just before leaving so the rest of the family readied themselves for the arrival.  Places taken, the trap was set.  

The Boy spied the car driving down the dirt road towards the driveway and gave the warning signal.  All was ready.  The Dad opened the door of the car for The Mom and the New Little Package and lead them up the steps to the Bel Aire.  He opened the door to the kitchen when the family all said the mystical, "Surprise."  The Mom showed appropriate amounts of stunned looks, and The Baby, slept through it.  The Boy was convinced there was a certain amount of coaching going on from The Dad before arrival.  The Old Man agreed.  The Grandma told them both to stop talking and scooped The Mom up in her arms and cooed at The Baby.  Having been the witness to the  birth, The Dad was sitting on the couch looking rather spent.  The Mom and The Baby decided to take a nap.  The Dad began snoring.  The Old Man and The Boy went out to the garage with The Sister following.  They would be called in when it was time.

Time traveled by and as the saying goes, "If you feed them they grow" The New Toddling One took his proper place in the family unit.  He proved to be an active little fellow and could be found in many of the strangest places about the property.  The Boy, being a service man, was home on a leave and promised The Mom to watch over The New Toddling One while she was in town.  The Boy put the New Toddling One down for a nap and sat on the couch.  The time was not with Him as He woke up about an hour or so later to check on The New Toddling One.  The Child was not in his crib.  There was a minor amount of panic in The Boy that was quickly turning into a major amount of panic until He looked out the picture window and found the Toddling Child diaper less standing in the middle of the horse stall reaching up and petting The Old Man's red unpredictable mare on the nose with His chubby little hand. 

 The horse seemed amused as The Toddling One cooed and petted her.  She softly rubbed her nose on His face causing Him to squeal in laughter.  The Horse then backed away and trotted off to the open gate towards the field.  The Boy was in the stall in the blink of an eye scooping The Toddling One up in his arms.  He took The Child to the Bel Aire, added a clean diaper, fed The Child, and made believe everything was normal.  The Mom had just pulled into the driveway with a load of groceries.  The Boy and The Toddling Child shared their first secret.  

Peace and Balance,

John  

To Pizza or Not

 Living in a small community has it's ups, and has it's downs.  Our choices of Pizza Places for instance is limited.  When one is closed so do the other's tend to close.  Getting a slice or a pie can be a mythical hunt the likes of the Roast Beast that decorates a Who table at Christmas time.  Where do they come from?

In our modern age in order to find out if a business is open and selling it's wares all one need do is question that all seeing eye, that orb of everything, Google. Google can be a lying bitch however.  You ask her the question and get an answer that should be acceptable, for example: Is the pizza place open?  Google spits out it's information and tells you that indeed the business is open and doing the pizza thing. So what does the self respecting hunter of the Roast Beast do, he calls to order that round delight of tastiness.  And what do you suppose happens?  The phone rings, and rings, and rings some more, yet no one answers.  Being the stubborn type that I am, I wait an amount of time and call again, thinking that they must be extremely busy with other like minded hunters of the cheesy gold.  A second, a third, and even a forth call is made to no avail.  What do we do, the hunters of saucy orb?  We go take a drive to look at the building the pizza is created in.  It says Closed.  Google is a lying bitch.

Being a New Englander by contact attrition, I always have a 2nd and 3rd plan.  The plan was to drive by the gas station, fill up the mechanical pony, and get my darling spouse a Red Slushy.  Bringing home some sort of fare keeps my Great Hunter status going.  She was happy, and I began working on plan 3.  A fancy home cooked grilled sandwich meal.  I have a couple go to recipes that are passable.  

A small community is the best place in the world to live.  Small communities, and rural tracks create strong and wholesome people.  On a weekend when the sun shines the greatest worry was to pizza or not.  Time to  correct that Google machine for she knows not...

Peace and Balance,

John