Laughter in the Evening

Last week we joined Hardtime Man and Spoiled Rot'n Girl for dinner at one of our mutually favorite restaurants.  Grumpy Man was here helping Ol' Abner with some manual labor and came along to hear the tales from their recent trip.  They usually spend late summer and early autumn down on the gulf coast, fishing, boating, swimming, golfing and riding motorcycles on back roads.  Their routine was changed this year for many reasons.  They left the boat at home and planned to fish from the docks while spending days enjoying balmy weather on dry land.  Posts from the coast on social media were filled with tales of rain and chilly days.  Movie reviews and photos posted of Rot'n eating ice cream with a less than welcome pose were the usual missive.  The rains arrived just as our travelers settled into their temporary digs, and apparently continued throughout most days of the stay.  A backdoor message warning that home would soon be on the horizon  arrived a couple of months earlier than expected.

We talked and laughed over our Italian dinner, then occupied the table long after the wait staff was ready to turn the table. The dairy dessert stop a few blocks up the street was a logical progression for five people unwilling to part.  Despite the luxury of the new "camper", long days of listening to the rain had them both suffering from "cabin fever"  incumbent with boredom and frustration.  As we were regaled with stories of three elderly ladies in the care of our friends, Grumpy Man was ever so grateful for his own mother, still active and self sufficient in her late seventies. Hardtime Man's aunt is bedridden and suffers dementia from her nursing home.  His mother is well served in an assisted living facility, and Rot'n looks in on her mother living just three doors down in the hometown.  Both mothers are on the verge of needing a higher level of care.  Antics of telephone calls never made  amid complaints that she cannot get in touch with family, service providers and even the telephone company make Rot'n throw up her hands and walk away from her mother.  Hardtime's mother always feels the need to make a trip to the emergency room when he is a half day's drive away.  This time was no exception, but she called other family members urging them to keep her "ailment and care" a secret from her son.  The next morning she called to fill him in on all the details.  Their badly needed respite had turned into a soggy series of wet sand in unspeakable places, but the telling of the tales gave us all a light hearted release with the sharing of experiences.

Oh how we missed our frequent outings with these friends.  It's good to have them back in the area!