MOTHRA!

I remember watching all of those old Godzilla movies on Saturday afternoons as a kid. Do you remember Tarzan, Francis the Talking Mule and a host of other "oldies" that filled many a "boring" Saturday when you were young? My own children have missed out on those and trying to explain it to them is well, just not the same.

On my computer desktop is a beautiful autumn scene (provided courtesy of Windows XP) and nestled there on my monitor is a moth. He wanders about now and again then sits, right in the middle with his wings outstretched. I don't have the heart to kill him, and every time I try to "shoo" him away, he returns. Is he drawn to the brightness of the monitor, can he, like bees, detect color mass? Or has he been sent to irritate the snot out of me?

Yesterday marked the 90th birthday of my husband's grandfather. Another "oldie", I guess you could say. The family (ie. his sons) put together a birthday party for him at a small club house nearby. It was the usual thing, family came out to wish him well, birthday cake and "memories shared" of how he "touched peoples lives" and humorous stories too. Everyone had a good time and there were plenty of eats, but like any other celebration there is a lot of behind the scenes stuff that preceeded.

First, was the fact that only one of his 3 sons really planned the party as well as dished out some major bank for the birthday party. When the one brother called the youngest to ask for help with the costs, the youngest replied with a stutter, "Well, well, couldn't you just ask everyone to bring a covered dish like pot luck?" LOL! This guy is so tight with his money you can hear him squeak when he walks, "OIL CAN! OIL CAN!" The oldest brother lives out of state and said he could help with the money but couldn't help set up or decorate. So, guess who was called in as a back up to help clean and decorate? Times up...if you guessed a short brunette with glasses and a southern lilt to her voice, you would be correct.

Thursday after lunch I got the phone call. "We're over here at the club house and we really need your help." I was reluctant to go, it had been a busy week and I just wanted to be able to chill out at home and not have to be obliged to anyone or anything, but that was just not going to happen.

I spent the next 3 hours, pressure washing folding chairs that date back to 1935 and the gum underneath was probably just about that old. They had dead spiders, webs, egg sacks and dirt daubber nests on the under sides of them. My husband's uncle was shocked and distressed at the state of things.

Excuse me while I shoo MOTHRA here from the middle of my screen again....

Now, to give a little insight. This club house is the one at the neighborhood association I work for. We have monthly meetings here and my husband's uncle is ON THE BOARD of DIRECTORS! I guess he just never paid attention to the club house itself. Needless to say, he is now a bit more aware of the needs of the clubhouse and why no one wants to rent the place.

Anyway, I helped with the chairs, vacuumed and pretty much did whatever was asked of me, but in the end I felt like I had not really done much. It just took a big ole chunk of my day. I heard a lot of griping while I was there and a lot of whining. His wife was not pleased but like any woman would (and this is no slam to men) she just did what she could with what we had and went on with business as usual. At one point during one of uncle's whining sessions, I turned to his wife and asked, "Wow, should I have brought some cheese to go with his wine?" She agreed with a, "I'm telling ya!" LOL He gave us that look and went outside.

Ok, MOTHRA needs to move again....go on....

Then there are those relatives that want to gripe because they were NOT invited. I mean come on, you are expecting 35 people to show up as it is, how many more do they expect? Yes, one cousin even called up from out of state, all put out and asking, "AND WHY wasn't I invited?" Heck, she had a broken hip! She could not have come if she wanted! She wasn't going to come anyway, she just wanted to be invited!

Saturday afternoon came around and I got another phone call. "Would you help us decorate?" I made a second trip over and helped with that, again, I felt like I didn't really do much. Anyway, the next day came and at 2:00 in the afternoon, the festivities began. No one even had a clue as to how ugly or dirty things had been only a few short days before. Nor, did they realize the dollar amount that was spent on the food, drinks and professionally printed invitations. All they noticed was the deaf old man sitting at the table asking, "Are they talking about me? Are they saying something about me? What?! Speak up!"

So, maybe I am trying to make a point here. If you turn 90, you well deserve all the accalades and attention you can get. Face it, you're only 10 years away from being celebrated by Willard Scott for making it to 100!) Who could have known you would live this long? So, if your children want to spend $500 and make a big "shin dig" for you? Let them. It's the least they can do for you. Just make sure you wear and turn your hearing aids up!

katcha~