The biggest adventure today was trying to get my son his afternoon bottle, dropping him off at my wife's school, and still making it to my dentist appointment on time. 2 out of 3 might ain't bad, and thankfully the other 1 didn't result in any extra charges.
-----
Earlier in the week, I made plans with my father-in-law, PopPop G(erry), to give my truck a tuneup today. In order to pull that off, I needed someone to watch my son. Not shockingly, Gram jumped at the opportunity. She emailed me the night before to confirm and told me she would be over at 8. I'm not sure (read: I'm pretty sure) if it was her eagerness to hang out with him or a miscommunication between us, but he is rarely up that early. I let her know that she didn't need to be over until 9, and she was there right on time.
After giving her the lowdown on lunch and other important daily routine details, I departed for PopPop G's place. The tuneup, my first, was going great until Gerry realized that the first part that needed to be replaced wasn't going to fit. When I bought it, the employee who grabbed most of the supplies for me didn't explain that one of the options he gave me wasn't for my truck's model. This was kind of a big deal. Long story short- we had to drive back to the store (which is three blocks from my house) to get the correct part. Before anything actually got done. Oh well.
The rest of the tuneup went well, despite the efforts of 20-year old rust and corrosion. We closed the hood and started it up, and everything seemed great. Not content with just a little positivity, we rolled the dice and decided to take another trip to the junkyard in an attempt to find a replacement tail light for the neglected side of the truck. I crossed my fingers, gritted my teeth, and called Gram to see if she would mind sticking around a little longer. Much to my surprise (read: not at all to my surprise), she was happy to stay as long as was needed.
Thankfully and thoughtfully, PopPop G took a shot at a different junkyard: one much closer than either of the two we visited before. It was my first time actually going inside, and I think it's one of my new favorite places. I don't know how much I would ever actually need to go there, but I am just fascinated by the idea of it. Are there any othe products that have locations where one can walk right in, pull/ pry/ break off whatever piece he needs, and pay one low price for it, no matter what condition it's in? So cool. I wish I had a reason to go more often. Amazingly, we found exactly what we needed, so we headed back to the garage and Gerry installed it in no time. I thanked him and then returned home to a napping son and smiling Gram.
At some point between the ages of 18 and 30, every person realizes he or she doesn't know everything, and his or her parents might actually be good for something other than car keys and meals. I saw every one of my parents/ in-laws this week, and it's comforting to know that we have such great support from all of them. They've all given so much to help my wife and I get to where we are today, and I'm sure that we can count on them to do the same in their relatively new roles as grandparents. Today was a perfect example of that. Thanks to all of you for all you do! My son might not yet know how lucky he is, but we'll make sure he won't forget.
No comments:
Post a Comment