5.04.2008

LAST CALL



Let’s talk about ipods. They’re great aren’t they! There’s the nano’s , the classic, the shuffle, the touch.….. It seems everywhere you go everyone has one. I see them while people are running, walking, working @ their place of employment (not sure how that one’s allowed), working out @ the gym, laying by the pool, on the beach. I see a great deal of kids w/the ‘buds’ in their ears walking along w/their parents. When I was a child, it was crucial that I hear everything my dad had to say. If I would have been walking around w/’buds’ in my ears listening to the likes of Donny Osmond, The Jackson 5, Chicago, Elton John, Momma’s and the Papa’s, The Beatles, The Monkeys, Bob Dylan (actually that would have been on my sister Lori’s ipod,), Bread, Doobie Brothers,. Etc. I would have missed crucial life motto's that my dad lived by and taught me. To name a few “Always do it right the first time so you don’t have to go and do it over again.” “When at the table say ‘pass the ________ please’.” We were not allowed to just reach and grab, it had to be orderly and polite. I even think when we passed a dish around it had to go to the right of us when it began the rotation. “Be home @ ______, don’t make us worry.” There were endless words of instruction as we had to do chores,…..lots of chores. One of my all time favorites was the day we had to p/up rocks so we could plant grass in our yard. All day long we were bent over looking for and picking up rocks. All sizes, not just the obvious. He was very particular about the diameter of the rock. “Tami, you missed one”. “Dad, that’s the size of a pea?” No words were spoke, just a look and I scurried back and picked it up. To the neighbors I’m sure we looked like a scene right out of “Shaw shank Redemption”. Dad was the guard and we were the inmates picking up rocks in the “yard.” In the end, our yard was beautiful and somehow I felt proud in helping to make it that way. I must share two more of my favorites. “You are not allowed to call a boy, let them call you and they will respect you more.” Those of you who find that archaic listen up., it’s true!! Last but not least, and my sis’ Lori will remember this one fondly because we shared a room together. “Last Call.” Let me explain. We would have a bed time and were given a few minutes to settle in and get quiet. Now, somehow, Lori ‘got’ my humor! Many people don’t. What I deem as humor, escapes them and they believe I’m a bit weird. Some of my favorite people are the ones whom I can make laugh easily and they get me. The first ever was Lori. Any who……dad would yell up “Last Call”, and we knew this was the signal to be quiet and go to sleep. Many times we would giggle and whisper to each other, “last call”, and mimic him. Why we thought that was funny is beyond me, but we did. We would have to bury our faces in our pillows to keep from dad hearing and shouting another “Last Call”. Because then we would laugh even harder and say “you can’t say last call after you already said last call.” Let it be known, there was never more then two Last Calls.” If a third one was shouted it was never from the bottom of the stairway, it was always up close and personal! These days many kids go to sleep w/their ipod ‘buds’ stuck in their ears. I’m glad we were on the front end of the tech. age, I wouldn’t want to have missed one moment of “Last Calls.”

3 comments:

cortny said...

oh papa. he's so funny.

your mom said...

Aw, that was a cute story with my mother as a guest star!

LJ said...

Now, "cute" would not be the word I would use to describe "LAST CALL!" Though these two words barked from the bottom of the stairs often gave way to fits of hysteria from my sister and I. I mean, come on, "LAST CALL", perhaps we said "when was the first call", there has to be a first to be a last, and actually, the first was the last, because the call was "LAST". Now, how can this be?

PS --further instruction from Daddy Bum --"Use your head!"