Tears for Sears

A few weeks ago, I found myself daydreaming while I sat on rock hard bleachers at a wrestling tournament on a very rainy day.  I could not take the whistles or the smell anymore (FAB= feet, ass and butt) so I walked out into the lobby.

I sat down at a table, alone.  Heaven.

Seconds later, she joined me.  Not sure who she was or her name but her birthday is March 12.  I remembered because it was my Great Grandmother's birthday too.

Anyway, she had her mom's IPhone with her.  And, she was ordering away on Amazon.  LOL's, those were her passion.  Don't worry, I didn't know what LOL's were either.  She told me.

So I asked her, "are you allowed to just order things on Amazon?"

"No, this is what I want for Christmas.  I just put them in the cart and then my mom tells Santa."

"Don't you tell Santa when you sit on his lap or send him a letter?"

"Yep, but mom says this makes it easier.  This way I get exactly what I want and there are not any problems and my mom doesn't have to shop."

Omg! "It makes it easier to give you four year old an I Phone and let her walk around with it and put things in a cart and so she gets exactly what she wants"

Then she asks, "do you want to see my North Pole app my mom got for $1.99?"

Of course I wanted to see.  

There is was, a cinematic North Pole with Santa, elves, Mrs. Claus and reindeer.  Not at all they way I imagined the North Pole but she seemed fine with it.

I asked my new friend if she bakes cookies for Santa and leaves them for him and she told me "we don't bake much but sometimes I leave granola bars.  Or I forget."

And then she told me that she already saw Santa and got her picture taken with him and they wore matching outfits.  

I know I just sat there shaking my head.  

I am really just sad.  

When you are a kid, the best days of your life should be (in this order)
1. Christmas
2. Birthday
3. Easter
4. Last day of school
5.  First day of school
6.  Any snow day
7.  Two hour delays
8.  The day the Sears Wish Book arrives
9.  losing your first teeth/Rudolph and Frosty on TV (ok, add Wizard of Oz)
10. Being tall enough to drive the car on the turnpike at Kennywood or ride the rollo-coaster at Idewild.

When we got home from school, my mom would have it sitting in the kitchen on the table.  Proudly.  I swear there was a special light that seemed like it was shining down on it.  

Here were the rules, you had to share and you needed to pick three things.  Three things.

So, you would flip that baby to the toy section and start bending down the pages.  Oh it was torture if my brother got it first.  He would spend hours looking at Hot Wheels, Matchboxes and Tonka Trucks.  Killed me, they all looked alike but he spent hours looking at them.  

I would get my turn and throw myself into a Barbie coma.  Heaven.  The Sears Wish Book was Heaven.

We would fold, unfold, refold and then finally settle on "our final three."

Somewhere, during this time of toy porn, the big night would come. 

Mothers across America said these things to children around 7:10pm, "go upstairs, get your bath, brush your teeth and get you Jammie's on.  Be down here at 7:55pm.  Rudolph is on and I will have Hot Chocolate ready but only if you get your bath in time."

We would sit so still waiting for Santa to come down the snow covered hill on the razor.  Christmas.  Magical.  Rudolph was magical.  And it was the only night of the year we were allowed to stay up past our bedtime.

It was all a magical time.

When I would lay in bed and think about the North Pole, it was my vision.  I had my own idea of what the North Pole looked like and what it was like.  And I loved it.  I loved thinking about it.  

As a parent, I now know how my mom knew what to get us.  She paid attention all year.  She listened.  She watched.  She listened to us when commercials came on Saturday morning and she watched what our passions were becoming.  She had conversations with us too and she didn't have an IPhone.

When Santa visited our home, Franklin and I would get a sitter, go for appetizers and a cocktail, go to usually three stores, go back to where we started, have another cocktail and appetizer and laugh at the ridiculous amount of money we had just spent.  It was so much fun.

Nightly, we read Christmas books and finally, close to Christmas, we made the trip to the Jacksonville Mall to sit on Santa's lap followed by a slice of Tony's Pizza.  We didn't wear matching outfits, I was lucky Addie kept her clothes on.  

I am not judging the mom.  I am not.  I have no idea what is going on in her life. 

I would just like to tell her, when it is over, it is so very sad and certainly not the same.  

The magic of the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny and Santa is very short lived, don't do anything to speed it up, any adult with kids over fourteen will tell you this.  

I recently heard that Sears is bankrupt and filing for re-organization.  I would like to suggest they bring the Wish Book back.  It would be different and just might save us all. 

The Merry Maytag Men

I use my dryer a minimum of two times per day, 365 days per year.  That is 730 per year.  Minimum.

During football and wrestling season, you can easily add an extra 100 loads for a total of 830 loads per year.

I work my dryer out.  And the washer.  I love them.  I wipe them down.  I speak to them.  I speak with affection when talking to them.  I love them.

Saturday is "sheet day" and I never miss a Saturday. I have taught all my children to appreciate fresh sheets.  

I love my washer and dryer.

Years ago, when Franklin and I moved in together, he bought me a dryer at used appliance store for $25.  It was the best dryer ever.  It died on the same Sunday the Carolina Panthers were in their Superbowl and I had two in diapers.  Part of me died too that day when my dryer stopped working.    

Saturday morning, Walker and Zack (my son from another mother who is busy taking care of her elderly parents in another state) had to leave early am for a wrestling tournament.  I sprinted up those stairs to grab the sheets and towels (it was Saturday after all) and started load before 6am.  As the morning continued, I washed and dried.  

 

Franklin and I left for the tournament with two loads to go in the dryer and one in the washer. 

When we bolted in door late Saturday night, I hit the start button to my old friend but he never warmed up. 

Ugh.   "all I want for Christmas is a new dryer" said no one ever.  

I went to bed and decided to tackle it in the am.

Sunday morning, I sprang from my bed to give my dryer another chance.  Again, he didn't heat up.

I threw on some jeans and went to the Laundry mat before 8am.  I waited in line to get to a Laundry mat on a Sunday.  (possible adulthood fail)

I threw the wet clothes in and then went to the store.  Shopped, went back to the Laundry mat and was home by 930 am.

I went to church and came home for Family Day.

Family Day (according to Franklin and me) is the day where we are a family.  No friends coming and no going to any friend's houses.  We eat as a family, we do nothing as a family, or we do something as a family.  Our kids HATE it but we don't care.

So for Family Day, (and let me just add I let them sleep in because the tournament day was so long) I had made plans for us to go get the Christmas tree and then go to church for the Advent Wreath making/Spaghetti Dinner.  You can imagine how this was going over.

I decided to give them each an early Christmas gift to start their day.

In the process, I asked Zack to take more wet laundry to his house to dry until we could get the new heating element in the dryer.

After all, I he had now moved his box turtles in as well (until his mom gets back).  I had a plan.  

While we were attending the Wreath making, I noticed the boys on their phones (a no no) and all of the sudden "they needed to use the bathroom".  

Shortly afterward, the boys asked, "can we go please?"  They could not eat dinner (wrestling season) and they were going to go check on the dry clothes.  

Ok, I am a sap.  Franklin and I stayed at the dinner and then returned home.  As we pulled down the road, we noticed that Walker's truck was gone.  But as we pulled in the driveway, we saw Walker's truck backed up to the front stairs and Walker and Zack were unloading a dryer.  

Our first thought was "OMG, they took the dryer from Zack's house and brought it to ours" and what kind of a move is this?  

We walked into the house and there they were, moving the new dryer into the laundry room with the old one already in the garage.

WTH?  

As it turns out, my little Maytag Repair men, found a used dryer on Craig's list and went and purchased it.  

My first Christmas gift was a $37 used Maytag that "even came with straps to strap in the truck."

Years ago, Addie came home with this picture of Rudolph.  Obviously, she had not mastered staying within the lines.  She was proud of this picture.  "It is your Christmas gift, frame it."

I did frame it.  And every year I display it proudly. She was so excited to bring this home and share it with us.  She said, "I never knew I could make something this good."

When I think about these young men calling somebody from Craig's List and then "making the deal" and loading it all to surprise me, my heart swells.  And they were proud of themselves.  They "never knew they could do something this good."

"You gave us an early present, we gave you one."

I love my new dryer.  I love the smell of the fabric softener blowing out of the vent onto my porch when I drink my coffee in the still of the morning.

If I live to be 100, I will never forget watching those young boys carrying that dryer out of the back of the truck and into the house.  It warms my heart.  Merry Early Christmas to me.