Miserable took a day off

Miserable took a day off yesterday for what may be one of the best days I’ve had in a very long time.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my brother Fred and his wife Pat flew in from Boston to visit Kate and I. Not only that, my sister Mary Lou and her husband Buddy drove up from South Carolina.

At about 8:30 a.m. my phone rang.

“Bill this is you sister,” Mary Lou said. “I’m coming over for coffee.”

At about the same time my cell phone rang.

“Let’s get some breakfast,” he said.

And with those two calls the day was off to the races.

My family is a whirlwind. They don’t trudge, they don’t ponder – They do!

We decided to have breakfast with an international flavor and er, ah, went to IHOP. It is THE International House Of Pancakes after all.

It is fair to say that my brother and sister have the same volume setting as I do – boisterous shall we call it. Anyway the place was packed and we were seated at one of those extra long booths, that aren’t quite long enough for six Irish behinds to occupy at the same time. It was comfy.

We did the usual shouting and lying to each other – talking about people who weren’t there to defend themselves; we retold stories we all knew the endings to. It was a little slice of timeout heaven.

Eventually came the “I’ll handle the check” pronouncements. Those of you, who know me, know I’ve always been very clear and upfront – If you want the check you can take it.

My wife however is of a different stripe. On her way in the restaurant she surreptitiously had prepaid the check. She’s a good girl. I would’ve freeloaded.

Oh I almost forgot – Fred had bought us all Bosox hats so we could all be on the same team fighting cancer. It was as cool as can be. I just can’t say how delighted it made me.

After breakfast Kate, went to Pathmark; Mary Lou and Buddy went, well who knows; and Fred, Pat and I went to Herman’s Butcher Shop where Fred bought six of the most beautiful inch-thick Porterhouse Steaks you’ve ever seen. Man, oh man.

The day before I had started to put together on of those little black barrel grills together. You know the kind you get at K-mart for 100 bucks and it looks like a 50-gallon drum cut in half. Anyway I ran out of energy putting it together, so Fred and Bud finished it.

At about noon everybody cajoled me into taking a nap. Truth be told, I needed it.

When I get up at about 1:30 I’m famished. I’ve been very careful about what I eat lately, but there was a bowl of Cheetos calling out to me and I dug in. They were delicious. They’ll probably show up on a blood test next week.

Mary Lou, Kate, and Pat were hanging out for a while in the kitchen. Kate was making her potato salad. 

Buddy was kind enough to review the safety instructions from the grill to ensure our safety. Some of the tips included:

1.     Grill is hot

2.     Do not use in house

3.     Don’t play with grill

At about 4 p.m. the steaks were done and they were even better than they looked. I had a couple of glasses of wine and we all just talked for a couple of hours.

Somewhere around 5 p.m. we prayed. It was different. I don’t think as adults we ever prayed together outside of church. It was important.

And with that the day was over. It was beautiful.

I'll post some photos later