Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
the usual surreal experience
My parents believe in papering their walls with family photos. I can’t look up from the computer without being transported ten, twenty, forty years ago. Or more. My dad has an old war photo or two hanging about, and . . . sweet Jesus, where’s their old wedding photo, or painting, or whatever it is? I remember it hanging in the living room in the house of my toddlerhood. Oh, there it is in their bedroom.
I feel like Billy Pilgrim.
Some things never change. My mother still uses too much paprika on her roast chicken. My parents still communicate at 70 decibels — it’s worse now, since she won’t wear her hearing aid. They still have a neurotic dog. Every few years they exchange it at the Neurotic Dog Store. At least this one doesn’t get so excited by strangers that he ejaculates (which used to make bringing friends over to the house a real trial).
The rest drifts slowly but perceptibly toward entropy. They’re not quite who they used to be, nor are we. Thank heavens for Jake; if it weren’t for children, older might be a wholly depressing concept.
D.
Excited ejaculations from a dog? Must be a spaniel. Cavalier King Charles are the usual culprits.
I didn’t know there was such a thing as “too much paprika.” 😉
Thanks for giving me the great laugh I needed so desperately this week.