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May I Have More Fruit Please?

May I Have More Fruit Please?

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“May I have more fruit please?

That question, those six words, will be forever burned into my brain.

Whenever I see a blueberry or a strawberry, I will imagine hearing that question playing in my head.

“May I have more fruit please?”

It’s Friday July 10 and the end of a week of returning to my normal retirement routine.

The month of June is always one of celebration in my house.

And this year’s festivities started early, as I previously mentioned in “Souvenirs” with that visit from my brother Gary the last weeks of May and our trip to Jersey the last weekend of May.

The Northern Virginia fam got together early in June for Hayley’s birthday.

I spent the anniversary of my dad’s passing with my mom on the 15th.

But then the two weeks leading up to the Fourth of July were maybe the most memorable.

Because that’s when the fruit hit the fan.

Alexa, Namaan, Hayley, and Malcolm had been planning a trip to Norway for the last year.

As a result Kim and I were tasked with taking care of Ethan and Christian while they were away.

So, on June 20th the kids arrived from Florida. That evening we celebrated Father’s Day with the whole clan at Hayley and Malcolm’s. The next day I dropped the four of them off at the airport.

And that was the beginning of Camp Mimi and Pop Pop.

Though Kim worked Monday and Tuesday, on Monday I took the boys to the movies to see Toy Story 5 that started, of course, with a trip to the snack bar.
It featured Sheriff Jessie with the message that too much technology in children’s hands has replaced real toys and real play.
A good message in my opinion.

On Tuesday I was forced to face my Metro riding anxiety with a train ride into D.C. to tour the Museum of American History.
Boy, the Museum of American History has sure changed since the last time I visited forty- five years ago.
It was a great time, with of course, the visit ending at the Gift Shop.

This was my text feed with Kim:

Me: On the train
Me: I’m nauseous
Her: Why nauseous
Me: Motion
Me: Lunch was $81
Her: Dig Deep

On Wednesday, now with Cameron too, we packed up the car and headed to the Eastern Shore.

Cameron, Christian, Ethan, Kim, and me.

And for the next week we fished, crabbed, kayaked, rode bikes and scooters and golf carts, had Nerf gun wars, hung out with neighbors, and in our down time, used our technology.

We ate fish and crabs and lots of fruit.

And for what might turn out to be a once in a lifetime event, I got to spend my 70th birthday with all three of my grandsons.

And since all five of us had birthdays in June or July, we made a cake and had a birthday party for all of us.

Though Cameron had to dip out on us early unfortunately, we continued to have fun.

We experienced a “Strawberry Moon” which was something I probably won’t experience again in my lifetime.

We visited the Harriet Tubman Museum, which ended with a visit to the Gift Shop.

We visited the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge and the Welcome Center, which also ended with a visit to the Gift Shop.

And we fished and crabbed and kayaked some more until we had to go home on Tuesday.

Once back home, I endured another ride on the Metro into D.C. and the National Mall to visit the Great American State Fair.
I hadn’t planned on that one, but I got a “Pop Pop, this is a once in a lifetime experience!” from Christian.
Okay I couldn’t argue with that. And it was fun, hot, but fun, and that also ended with a visit to the Gift Shop.

On Thursday we went back to the movies, but first to the snack bar, to see Minions & Monsters that had just been released.
I was never a big fan of the Minions movies, but I liked this one.

On Thursday evening the kids returned from Norway and on Saturday they returned to Florida.

Saturday evening Kim and I, tired but content with our Camp Mimi and Pop Pop, went out to dinner to celebrate our 26th wedding anniversary, an activity that didn’t fit into the camp schedule on July 1st.

It was an awesome two weeks, time spent and memories that I will always cherish.

Fruit?

Oh yeah, fruit.

Christian is a fruit eating machine. He consumes mass quantities of blueberries and strawberries.

MASS QUANTITIES.

And each serving began with,

“May I have some more fruit please?

So what was the moral of the story?

• Sometimes, as a Pop Pop, you got to “dig deep” and just enjoy the moment.

• Sometimes you need to listen to Sheriff Jessie and put down the technology to play with Nerf guns (toys), fish, crab, kayak, etc. and be a kid.

• You can’t pass up those once in a lifetime opportunities, or those that don’t happen but every thirty years.

• Sometimes even riding the Metro is not so bad.

• And even Minion movies can leave an impact on you.

• And most important, even though I have been having a little fun with Christian’s fruit jones, he is right, and in fact, Kim and I have this week filled the refrigerator with fruit and are changing our eating habits. From now on if one of asks the question, “do you need anything from the store?” The answer will be “may I have more fruit please?”

Postscript:

One very cool thing for me that happened while the kids were in Norway, was that they got to share some time with my cousin Bjorg and her son Geir and family, and spend a dinner and evening at Geir’s home outside of Oslo.

And to my wife of now 26 years…God Only Knows…

And finally, root for Norway!

ROW!

Father’s Day celebration
Kayaking
Ethan was’t too happy with the Sheriff Jessie talking toy, so I kept it
Watching soccer
Our Birthday cake
Kids decorating the cake
Bjorg meeting the kids at the train station in Oslo
Norway family
The Birds and the Bees, Finally

The Birds and the Bees, Finally

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Would You Like A Lime With That Week Eight

 

Another week.

I got the sense this week that people are starting to get tired of this new lifestyle.

Normally on this upcoming weekend, the first Saturday in May, I would have the homemade meatballs cooking, the Derby decorations up, and the TV’s all on for the Kentucky Derby festivities.  This year that will be the first Saturday in September.  At least I hope.

I was busy since my last post.

I successfully “painted the roots” and made my wife even more beautiful.

On Sunday afternoon the remaining large potted plants that made the trip to “Plant Camp” back in October returned home again for the summer.

But I also must admit, since that last post, I broke the rules and made a quick twenty four hour visit to see my parents.

The last couple of weeks I had been more concerned that I hadn’t seen them and the phone calls were getting a little more weird and stressful each time.

 

My parents live in a small town called Woolford on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, west of Cambridge.  Their house is on the water, on a tributary of the Little Choptank River that empties into the Chesapeake Bay in the area of Taylor’s Island.

At the time I wrote this Dorchester County Maryland had the fourth lowest number of Coronavirus cases in Maryland with 51.  In fact with the exception of Wicomico County with the city of Salisbury, the Eastern Shore counties are all at the lower end of the list.

Never the less, without any traffic on the roads, I made good time and didn’t stop until I got in their driveway.

The last time I had been out there was the weekend of the 9th Annual Crawfish Boil and Muskrat Stew Festival on March 1st, so it had been about eight weeks.  That’s a long time when you are used to making that trip every two or three weeks.

 

The sun porch where we tend to spend most of our time faces the river, their pier and bulkhead.  In the yard there are a couple of trees, a flag pole, and two large purple martin houses high up on poles.  Purple martins like open areas which makes the waterfront yard perfectly accommodating.  By this time of the year, the purple martin houses were full of activity with birds swooping back and forth from their perches on their houses to the yard, and back again.

At one point, my mother and I were sitting at the table looking out the window and there were two birds rolling around in the grass.

So I said to my mother, “look at those two birds out there… they are really fighting!”

If you know my New Jersey mother you know she is awesome.  You also know she has never been shy about saying whatever is on her mind whenever she feels like it. She has no filter.  You always know where you stand with my mother.

In this case, her rather loud response was:

“THEY’RE HAVING SEX!”

“THEY’RE NOT FIGHTING!”

“THEY’RE HAVING SEX!

“Oh” I said rather sheepishly.  “I thought they were fighting.”

“THEY’RE HAVING SEX!”

“THEY’RE NOT FIGHTING!”

 

 

“Gee,” I thought to myself.

For the first time in my now almost sixty four years, I think my mother just had the “SEX” conversation with me.

In her own way, we just had “the talk.”

For me I wanted it to be like “C’mon Ma, yuck, is that what they are doing?  No, please tell me they’re fighting…!”

But no, they weren’t fighting.

THEY WERE HAVING SEX!

This is awkward…

But how was I to know?

I am naive about these sorts of things.

 

While I was there I was able to check and clean the gutters, a chore that included my dad insisting that he climb the ladder to check my check of the gutters.  Thankfully the quality control part of the gutter cleaning process included only one gutter section.

I also changed a couple of light bulbs, replaced a shower head, and fixed a smoke alarm.

We talked about memories of their growing up in our hometown of Oceanport and memories of me and my siblings growing up there too.

We stayed up late.

In the morning, we assembled and raised on a pole, a third purple martin house in the yard.  It was a birthday present from my mother to my father.

Probably a good thing because with all that sex going on, the purple martins were sure to need another boarding house pretty soon.

My father and mother then brought down the American flag, now frayed from the winter winds and needing to be replaced.

After all that was done, I packed up the truck, and headed back home.

I felt good about the time I spent and what I was able to accomplish.  My parents were grateful for the visit.  I was a lot less worried.

And best of all, I now understood:

“THEY’RE NOT FIGHTING!”

“THEY ARE HAVING SEX!”

 

Needless to say, I couldn’t wait to get home to tell my wife what I had learned!

 

Post Script:

As of today in Virginia, medical and dental offices are starting to open up, and elective surgeries will begin again.  A good sign.

Don’t forget to continue to keep those healthcare workers and their families in your prayers. Remember “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matthew 5:8)

As well as all those sick or compromised from the virus and all other health issues.

Also those non healthcare caregivers working to take care of a loved one while isolated at home.

And those families who have lost loved ones.

And those who have lost jobs and businesses.

And keep reaching out to those who may need some attention.

 

Coming home from Plant Camp
Week Eight