Story Time...

My sister says I need to blog again, and quick! (work is slow where she is, and being familiar with long workless days at a desk, I must do my best to comply!) Having no pressing matters of importance on my plate (for once)...and being awakened from my sleep by a nagging headache, I guess it's time for a story...

Many moons ago, my husband worked for a company (7-11) as an auditor. His day to day work consisted of visiting all of the stores in the region in random order, and basically doing a complete inventory. (Can't imagine the insane boredom of doing inventory every day - but he seemed to enjoy it.) His region being the entire state of Utah, and some of the stores being hours away, this meant that he would be away from home for two full weeks out of each month. I was a young mom at the time, (I'm still a mom, but the "young" has fled...)...and being a shy person with multiple hang-ups and insecurities, this was a very difficult time for me.
I was not accustomed to being alone, and the stress of taking care of a household full of rowdy children was very wearing, plus the fact that we were pretty economically challenged at the time. There were times that the kids and I would litterally have mac & cheese for dinner three nights in a row, while the company paid for hubby's meals, so he would dine on whatever suited his fancy! He would call home each evening before he retired to check up on us. On Mondays those calls would be tender and sweet, but by the end of the week, having no sleep, uncontrollable children, and an unhealthy diet, as you might guess (dainty ladies please skip over this part...) the phone calls pretty much went - "I don't want to hear about your stupid steak dinner, and your evening in the hot tub - just get your pampered butt home - NOW! - these kids are driving me nuts!!!"
(Single mom's - I don't know how you do it!!!)

After dealing with this problem for months on end, I realized that something had to be done - I couldn't do anything to control the cash flow, (or the children) so, I just had to find a way to get some sleep so I could at least cope with life better.
One night, I was crashed on the couch, flipping through channels to take my mind off my day, when I happend across "A Prairie Home Companion" on the Disney channel. There being nothing else of interest on at this time of night, I left it there and started to watch. It was a delightful program, in the format of an old-time radio show, with stories, music, and entertaining skits. I was very pleasantly sucked in.
Anyone out there who is familiar with Garrison Keilor will be aware of that deep rich voice of his, and his sort of "monotone" sing-song manner of storytelling. I found this to be very soothing and comforting. Before long, I was completely relaxed and fell asleep (for the first time in days!) as cozy as a cat on your lap.
As you can well understand, from that time on - I was hooked! Every night I would tune in and be lulled to sleep by this gentle (and often hilarious) performance. This show litterally saved my life (and my sanity) during those years!

Since the show went off the air, I have purchased several tapes of it to have on hand (just in case.) Thankfully, hubby doesn't do that anymore, but I still enjoy hearing those stories from time to time.

One of the tapes in my collection tells the story of a man who had a lovely daughter who had just become homecoming queen. She was off preparing for her ride in the homecoming parade, and as tradition had it (for reasons that escape my memory at the moment - sorry) riding on a tank. (yes, you heard me right - a military tank!)
Meanwhile, the dad was answering a call from his parents to check on a serious problem with their plumbing. It seems their sceptic tank was full to capacity and seeping through the grass on their lawn. So he secured a backhoe, and began to dig up the yard in search of the offending sceptic tank, only to discover that what their sewage had been being stored in all those years, was not a sceptic tank at all, but an old vehicle - which was now full to capacity! So, not having any other way to take care of this problem, he loads the vehicle full of.....stuff....onto the bucket of the backhoe, and proceeds to drive it to a place where it can be disposed of (downwind).
The homecoming festivities in town have caused some of the roads to be closed, and traffic re-routed, so he finds himself wandering the streets in search of a way to get out of town - and in the process finds himself...(yup, you guessed it) on the main street, smack dab in front of the "tank" carrying his daughter, the Homecoming Queen!
As you can see, my storytelling skills are lacking - but I do have a point for mentioning this particular story...this summer, during our small town's annual celebration ("Onion Days" - I'll explain that in a later post...) This was one of the entries in the parade:






...imagine my delight and glee!!! I simply had to have a photo, because this was an actual living illustration of this story!
...I later learned that this particular "Beauty Queen" was escorted on a tank because she is currently serving in the military, and it was a show of mutual pride - but it was a "moment" for me, and one that I wanted to share.

*There Debbie - that should "kill" some time for you - or at least give you an excuse for a nap!!! ...Love ya!