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Well, it’s one down and two to go. I’m talking about holidays. Thanksgiving is over and Christmas and New Years are fast approaching. I’m not forgetting Hanukkah, but it still makes two more if you observe that religious holiday.
It isn’t that I miss the happy family gatherings with children running about; that’s been long gone. Most of my children are checking out AARP and my grandchildren are of voting age. No, my late wife and I had been having some quiet holidays for a number of years. It’s just so long and lonely for us widowed people. When you get to my age, you kind of like the little routines of daily life. I was glad to have some of my Midwestern children here for a low-key Thanksgiving.
I don’t know about you, but I was not thrilled to have newscasters refer to Thanksgiving as “Black Thursday.” They were really not helping keep my spirits up with that name. What are the merchants going to do next year? Oh sure, I know, it’ll be “Black Wednesday!”
As cold weather sets in, I spend more time inside. I like to take time to catch up on reading, but I also find myself watching more TV. A couple of things fascinate me about the commercial makers. All of the characters in ads are skinny! Even those in the “Before” ads for diet drugs are slimmer than most people I know, and they all have perfect teeth. The woman who wants to sell me toilet cleaner has these beautiful pearly white teeth. Another thing, although I’m not a hypochondriac, I find myself suffering from the side effects of the drugs they are pushing even though I’m not taking the advertised drugs. There’s just something about that quiet voice reading quickly though those symptoms that makes me feel comfortable.
The chillier weather caused me to go looking for sweaters. I found two of my favorite old sweaters in the same drawer as a jar of homemade liniment a friend gave me to cure some ache. So even though they were clean when put away, they smell like Icy-hot! I thought about wearing them anyway; at least people would notice me.
These were super expensive sweaters that my wife got for me to spruce up my farm store wardrobe. When she asked why I wasn’t wearing them, I told her that I was afraid to get them dirty or spill on them. Finally I wore them regularly and they became favorites.
So I looked at the care label: “Dry Clean Only.” I know she didn’t have them dry cleaned, she would have just said, “Ha” and away to the laundry room she’d go. A few days later she would return with the sweaters smelling all nice and clean. So I washed them!
If you see an older gentleman in the store wearing this really nice expensive sweater with sleeves that come up to his elbows, say, “Hi, Al.”
The best advice I can give folks about this is don’t store your liniment in your sweater drawer! Invite a widow(er) to coffee this week.
alnada2407@gmail.com or Al Owne, care of Winona Post, P.O. Box 27, Winona, MN 55987
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