Tuesday, February 21, 2012

22 Years (The Stories - #4 - The Last Day Of My Mini-Vacation)



More from the MY WIFE files. This one is nearly six years old, therefore there may be a few things in it that would have benefited from an update. However, as we are both close to FIFTY years older than the story, and we haven't invested in much upgrading for ourselves, I didn't bother. It should still be an enjoyable read, though. If you don't think so, leave a comment telling me why you didn't enjoy it and maybe I'll do something about it after a few cookies, a cigarette, and a nap (unless something good is on TV.)


THE LAST DAY OF MY MINI-VACATION

6:48am - It is Monday. This is my fourth and final day off. I am feeling refreshed and much less psychotic than I did on Thursday. The funny thing (or maybe the sad thing) is that I've gotten up at about the same time as I would have for work, every day. However, I can take a nap - a glorious uninterrupted totally guilt-free nap - during any portion of the day I wish, so getting up early is almost like investing in a good time later.

I have a cup of coffee heating in the microwave for MY WIFE. I am going to bring it to her in bed and wake her up. She has to go to work. I will offer her a ride to Harvard Station on the Red Line of the T, Boston's public transportation system. Normally, she takes a bus to there.

(It wouldn't do to drive her all the way to work. She works downtown and it will actually be slightly faster for her by taking the T from Harvard. Cutting out the walk to the bus, the waiting for the bus, and the actual ride on the bus to Harvard, is the best I can do.)

OK, I'm going to go get the coffee and bring it to her. When she actually comes out of the bedroom and goes about her getting-ready activities, I'll be writing about her. Let's see how long it takes for her to figure that out.

6:59am - "Thag you," she said, as she took the coffee from me.

I said, "Just bringing you coffee. I'll give you a ride to Harvard."

"Thag you. Whar you doog up?"

"Just bringing you coffee. I'm doing a bit of writing."

"Mmmmmphh", she said, putting the coffee mug on the floor by the bed. She slipped her head back under the covers

7:01am - WROR is now on the radio in the bedroom. She likes to listen to the Loren & Wally Show in the morning. WROR is a classic rock station and Loren & Wally are the morning team. She has almost always listened to Loren & Wally in the morning since the time I first met her. The interesting thing is that the station has gone through a complete metamorphosis twice since that time. The call letters were originally WVBF and the station played middle-of-the-road stuff. Then they switched to a country-western format for about a year. Then they changed the call letters to WROR (which were the call letters of a top 40 station in Boston during the 1970's) and began playing classic rock.

MY WIFE likes Loren & Wally and she adjusts to whatever music they play. They could probably play Tuvan throat singing and it wouldn't matter to her. There was a very brief interlude of Don Imus listening a couple of years ago, but when she tired of hearing him bitch about the same things day after day after day, she went back to Loren & Wally.

7:12am - I just went in the bedroom to give her a second wake-up. She almost never gets up on the first attempt.

I gave her a slight shake and said, "You should be getting up."

"I am gettig ummmhmmh", she said, and then stuck her head back under the covers.

I will repeat the procedure in a few minutes.

7:20am - Third wake-up call.

The radio just finished playing My Best Friend's Girl by The Cars. Ugh.

I can't listen to more than fifteen or twenty minutes of any classic rock station. They play music from the time period I like, but they hardly ever play anything I'd really like to hear. When they play Led Zeppelin, it's almost always something like D'Yer Maker and never Communications Breakdown. Bachman-Turner Overdrive is usually represented by You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet, which is their most annoying song. Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper? Hush, not a damned thing, and School's Out, but only in June. Where is the station that plays Highway Star, Paranoid and Under My Wheels? Nowhere except in my imagination, and what you get instead is an endless parade of The Police, Phil Collins, and Boston. Why don't you just drive roofing nails into my ears and be done with it?

A regular feature on Loren & Wally is Men From Maine. It is playing now. It is a short skit about, yes, men from Maine who are incredibly thick, the general idea being that everybody from Maine is a dumb-ass hick. This morning's entry went as follows:

(organ music fades up and then down to background)

Announcer: Time now for another installment in the exciting adventures of Men From Maine. As we join today'’s action-packed episode, Eephus is walking down the street when he runs into an old friend.

Eephus: Why, Carl Lumford, look at you. The last time I saw you, you had a full head of hair, but now you've shaved it all off. Looks like you've lost about 50 pounds. And you had a mustache, too, but that's gone.

Other Man: Eephus, I'm not Carl Lumford. I'm Ferd Johnson.

Eephus: Why, Carl, you've changed your name, too.

Announcer: Join us tomorrow for another episode in the exciting adventures of Men From Maine! Ay-yup.


MY WIFE gives out with a giggle and sticks her head back under the covers.

7:35am - Fourth wake-up call.

Now they're playing That's The Way I Like It (uh-huh, uh-huh) by K.C. And The Sunshine Band. If I hadn't just bought this radio for MY WIFE's birthday last month, I'd shoot it (if I had a gun.)

"Get up."

"But that's the way uh-huh uh-huh I like it, uh-huh, uh-huh. I like to sleep."

She is actually awake now.

She says, "I had a very busy dream."

"A very busy dream?"

"Yes, it took all night. Lived in a shanty on Tremont Street and was watching parades."

"We lived in a shanty on Tremont Street?"

"Not us. You weren't there. Just me and (unintelligible)."

"Just you and who?"

"The Greeleys. The people who lived next door in Duxbury."

There is no further elucidation as she goes out to the kitchen to re-heat her coffee.

7:41am - The coffee is re-heated and she is now sitting on the couch with a blanket wrapped around her, drinking the coffee. Loren & Wally are still on in the background, now talking about the Red Sox.

"So, what's this blog about?"

"This morning", I say.

"This morning? About how I didn't get up?"

She has caught on quickly.

"Mostly", I say.

She says, "But you're not supposed to write about me. Tell me what it says."

"Just a minute", I say, as I type this last bit of conversation.

And now I am going to read it back to her. I may not survive. If I do, I'll see you tomorrow.

******************************************************************

8:02am - Actually, she laughs like hell as I read it back to her. And that's why I love this woman.

Soon, with more better stuff (but I don't know that it gets better, really.)



19 comments:

Sandi McBride said...

Had to actually look over to see if Mac was on the computer a couple of times, sounds so like our household...especially the part about Don Imus...how old is he anyway, must be at least 100, right? Hope you can keep that holiday feeling going!
Sandi

Michelle H. said...

Another great post. Perhaps this was the type of music you would have preferred?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJv5qLsLYoo

Anonymous said...

Loved this post. Sounds a lot like our mornings, except we both Mmmmmphh a lot.

lime said...

i feel YOUR WIFE's pain and humor with regard to getting up early and having it written about.

Craig said...

You hit a nerve with this, Sully. See, 'cuz my marriage is definitely an asymmetric thing. I worship at the shrine of my wife. But she likes her sleep WAAAAYYYY more than she likes me. If you know what I mean. And I think you do. . .

But years of therapy have mostly taught me how to cope. . .

So, you know, thanks for picking that scab on my psyche. . .

stephen Hayes said...

Fun post. Mrs. Chatterbox and i are morning people and rise fairly early, even on weekends. We zonk out early though. Much too early.

(not necessarily your) Uncle Skip said...

Grandma Skip has a great reverence for sleep, particularly hers, and she does the utmost to keep from disturbing others. We seem to take turns being the first ones up in our household.

We don't use a radio in the mornings any longer, but when we did, it was turned to an all news station (of which we no longer have in our region. Now it's so-called talk radio)

Ami said...

I don't awaken, I rise from the dead. I HATE waking up. Hate it hate it hate it.

We don't talk in the mornings. We grunt. Avoid each other. By the time we're both ready to head for our respective jobs, we're awake enough to hug and say I love you.

What else is there?

If I were God... said...

Reminds me of an old SNL where they were spoofing Tracy Chapman's writing style. (She won 3 Grammys in 1989 for 'Fast Car', a stream of consciousness ghetto story) In the skit she's playing her guitar in a run-down apartment and just walking from window to window singing what she sees. It was very cleverly done, if you remember it.

IT (aka Ivan Toblog) said...

I've been accused of being half asleep most of the time. I prefer to look at it as being visibly introspective...


...though it is probably neither


I try to avoid waking anyone except under certain circumstances
- they want to be awakened
- I want to really irritate them
- they are in danger if they aren't awakened

I try to be gentle in the first instance

Shrinky said...

Aww,what a great double-act you two make! Why in the hell don't you start your OWN radio station up? Empty out that broom cupboard, and you could have the whole city rockin'!

IT (aka Ivan Toblog) said...

My main news source reports the following

A new study shows that teenagers might need less sleep than we thought. We tried to reach a teenager for comment but were told that none of them would be available before noon.

Jackie said...

"Soon, with more better stuff (but I don't know that it gets better, really.)" ~ I don't know that it gets better, either. You have a jewel of a wife.
Hugs,
J.

Anonymous said...

Mrs. Suldog: she's a good ole' gal.

However, she was willing to listen to country music to stay true to Loren & Wally?

Ay, yi, yi!

And why is a classic rock station playing KC and the Sunshine Band?

Ugh.

Where's Gedde Lee when you need him?

heh heh

Shammickite said...

I'll read the rest of your blog when I get up.... right now I'm just going to stick my head back under the covers.... and that's the way I like it (uh uh, uh uh).

silly rabbit said...

Haha! I feel the same way about stations like that. I swear they think the only song that L.S. ever played was Sweet Home Alabama... and its been played so much that I can't even enjoy it anymore. Grumble.

The man only makes strange sounds upon waking. There are no real words until he leaves for work. Even then he sort of recites his good-bye, love you thing in a mumble. But I love it.

Char said...

She is definitely a keeper! Loved the series stories.

Clare Dunn said...

LOVE Loren and Wally!

Remember the "Bourne Bridge" song? A TRUE Classic! (I may have a video of it somewhere...)

And a hug from me for YOUR WIFE. I like her better and better every day!

xoxoxo, cd

messymimi said...

Good for you, marrying a person with a sense of humor. Her, too.