Horrified the shocked waitress stepped back and stared as we responded to our son’s asking pointedly, “What’s that?” Not so our son. He attacked the “blood” with gusto while our young daughter had that typically resigned look that said,”Oh brother, dad’s at it again”. She was less than impressed.

Eagerly pouring the bright red “blood” over the pancakes our son finally ate his breakfast while patrons at neighboring tables looked either amused or perhaps disgusted at our humor. Through force of will our waitress persevered until we left. Sigh, not everyone appreciates us.

Over the years our children have become blasé concerning our attitudes on life but it wasn’t always that way. Grandma Oddball is the calmest, easiest going person I know but at times she can get fed up as the infamous blowup incident illustrates.

All day long both children were constantly picking at each other. Pick, pick, pick they were driving Grandma crazy. They wouldn’t stop no matter what grandma tried until she finally blew her top. Uncharacteristically she balled them out at the top of her lungs, marched them to their rooms and ordered them not to move indefinitely. Shocked at her reaction they meekly complied.

Some hours later they meekly emerged and quietly made their way down the hallway. Tentatively they peeked around the corner where they spied grandma doing dishes. Quietly they asked, “Are you okay now mom?”

How do you remain stern when that happens? They looked so sincere and concerned grandma had a hard time not smiling.

As the children got older we found new ways to embarrass them. Grandma knows a song for just about every occasion and she would regale them with an appropriate tune. Walking down the mall with their friends they hurried to some twenty paces ahead remarking “pretend we don’t know them!”

Finally the day came when they would just tell their friends,”Ignore them, they’re crazy.”

Well, we tried. I guess we didn’t do that bad a job. They both turned out well and I have to say I am very proud that they both think for themselves and don’t just follow the crowd or unquestionably accept the current dogma.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 9th, 2010 at 1:14 pm and is filed under Humor, family. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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