UPDATE: dad comes to our house

Well, We decided that since our last meeting with my dad went so well, we would have him over to our house.

About 3 weeks ago, we met him and Marilyn (his wife) at IHOP for breakfast....everything went rather nicely and there wasn't anything negative at all about our meeting.

We called back and forth a couple of times, and decided to have him over.

Well, as I remember, my dad has been notoriously LATE for everything you can think of, including his own wedding to Marilyn.

Marilyn says he is running on "Mexico" time. Tito and I were very used to this as kids. When we would decide to go on vacation, all we would hear for days in advance was: "you guys better be up, ready and have the car packed up by 5 am, because we are hauling outta here EARLY!"

Well, Tito and I would be up, dressed, have breakfast, have all our stuff ready and get and just sit on the couch before 5 am because we knew better.
Something would ALWAYS come up...someone would call from a job he was working on, or he would have to stop at a store for something.

The hours would pass, and we would just sit there waiting to leave....my dad would be running around, telling us we better be ready to go when he got back.

My brother and I would make a little bet on when we thought we would REALLY pull out of the driveway...would it be 8 am, or closer to noon? we never really knew for sure, but my dad would be all stressed out because he never seemed to get things started at his proposed time.

So, anyhow, we had planned for him to come over around 3pm....I set out my usual "guests are coming over" spread on the table..fruit, dip, chips, veggies, etc.

I told Jeff I was wondering what time he would REALLY show up....either 15 minutes early or 2 hours late.

Well, 3 came and passed, 5 rolled around, and at this point, I was getting a little hungry, and so were the kids.

I called his cell phone,and what ensued was a hilarious version of my dad not getting somewhere at the right time.

"oh, I got al little delayed, and then Marilyn told me it was Sunday, and not Saturday, and I told her, "no", it's Saturday. She went to the church, and now I can't leave without her or she will get upset! I feel so bad, oh geez! I TOLD her it was today, and now these people from Peru won't leave the house, they stopped over, and I didn't know they were coming! Can we still come over, are the kids okay, are they getting to hungry, oh, geez, I told her it was today, how am I gonna get these people to leave my house, they are from Peru, and, ah, ah, ah, oh shit!"

At this point I am laughing my butt off because nearly 10 years have passed and it seems something have not changed a bit.

Jeff is constantly making fun of me for not getting from point A to point B without making 3 stops in between. I'll tell him I get off of work at 5 and I will be home at 530, and sure enough, I'll decide to stop at target to pick up some diapers and parer towels. Next thing you know, I am rolling into the driveway at 645 pm.

I guess it runs in the genes?

Well, back to the story.....
It is nearly 545 pm and my dad is calling from his cell phone because, of course my rod is closed for construction about 1 mile from my house. another delay, and he is all worked up...now by this time, I am sure he has taken his big truck off road to get through the closed road and is speeding down the road. He gets here about 10 minutes later an is all apologies...I am not upset, I am just laughing to myself because it is just another funny thing about my dad. NO matter how hard he tries, he is ALWAYS, always, ALWAYS going to be late.

They came in at sat down, we had a really good time. Jeff was practically on the floor laughing form all the strange similarities and wacky stories we were telling. all the fruit and cheese got eaten, the beers were gone, and we had a little wine too. I thought for sure, they would just stay for an hour, but they did not leave until about 10 pm.

It was nice to hear all the updates on everyone. I had not even talked to my brother for over 3 years...last I knew he had one kid, now he has 3, just like we do. A couple people have gotten married and divorced, this neighbor moved away, another person did this, and so on.

I really enjoyed my time with them, and the best part was that neither one of them ever said anything judgemental or asked "why" I had decided not to talk to them for all these years..they just wanted to hang out with us.

So, they left and jeff laughed at me...

"So THAT'S where you get your strange quirks from!"

Yep, that old guy is pretty funny, and all the old garbage seems to have found it's place....not in the present.