I had a wonderful day.

Spring was more than a month late but damn I had a wonderful day.

It was 67 F for chrissakes!

Seany notified me by email that he would arrive with the troop on the weekend, like two days before the event.

I did not expect the troop until sometime in May.

We had just experienced a blizzard six days beforehand.

The roads and paths were impassable.

But it was 67F for chrissakes!

His wife drops him off at my place.

And my son and I walk to the store around the pond.

And we talk like we did when he was a little kid.

And we get to the grocers and this time I have a list!

Our sojourns to the grocers (4 times a year) involve many variables.

The last time I forgot the list.

You want hamburgers again?

I make them so well after practice that that is all he expects, so naturally he tells me that he vetoes any other suggestions.

I seemed to be out of Worcestershire and ketchup and mustard and...

So those were all quickly thrown in the cart.

See, Seany smiles every time we go to the store and of course he has gone to the store with me since he was about three. Hahahhahah

I told him we only have steak fries; is that enough.

Oh yes Pop. That is just fine with me.

Then we hit the basics and I get Broccoli and Spinach and spices and the other necessities of life.

So my son just grabs the groceries in the five bags and I have to explain protocols.

I sift through the packaged groceries and throw cans and heavy materials into my satchel and then he grabs the four bags left and we embark upon the journey home.

I love this journey every frickin time. Hahahahahah

I never purchase more than 40 bucks at the grocers and the journey is so much easier when you have a muscle bound son to help you carry it home.

Oh and at the grocers, I have to tell Sean to stop with the cart and keep quiet whilst I run around the store for items I forgot from my list. This usually takes three or four 'stops'.

On my way to access the ground pepper I see this marvelous baby in a cart and two women are filling the container up as they say. I stop to say:

What a marvelous baby! What a remarkable baby. Hahahaha

I cannot help myself. She is beautiful!

Your baby is beautiful.

Grandma is so delighted that someone noted this fact!

Oh I just got back from visiting with my granddaughter!

I ask about the pretty ribbon on the little girl's hair and mom and grandma are so very happy I asked.

I lied of course.

I will not even see my Noela until tomorrow. Haahahah

I was in the mood for babies.

Anyway, Sean and I proceeded home.

I suggest The_Prophecy for our movie tonight.

It is just a standard horror movie until Walken shows up following the first fifteen minutes.

After channel surfing for a short time, Sean says okay!

Turns out that Seany has miscalculated and mixed up The_Dead_Zone_

with the Prophecy series.

He loves it.

We are laughing and having a wonderful time.

I mean when Walken loses one Zombie and then protests to the ex priest who kills him:

DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW HARD IT IS TO PROCURE ONE OF THESE?

And then of course, there are the constant remonstrations against the MONKEYS.

Hahahahahah

Oh, THE TALKING MONKEYS.

Hhahahahaahha

Oh we are having a ball and then we reach the end.

Seany starts channel surfing and after discarding SNL we end up with:

THE QUEST FOR Fire_

One of the single funniest films I have ever witnessed.

Try not to take a date on this viewing. Hahahhaah

We finally end up with Bill Burr again. Hahahahahahah

You see Sean found this wonderful woman who decided to domesticate him. Hahahahahah

Last time his friend called him on his phone (basically the size of a double graham cracker) and Nick along with his beautiful bride are telling him a joke.

Sean puts it on speaker.

How in the hell do you put a graham cracker on speaker?

Anyway old Nick tells the joke (that I cannot repeat here) and then I chime in:

Oh, I have a joke.

Well let us hear it!

Okay, so there once was this little boy who could do anything he ever wished to do and now he has to go to church and go shopping with a woman.

Hahahahahahahahah

Mrs. Nick did not love that joke that much!

Hahahahahah

But they both laughed anyway.

THE NEXT DAY

Mama shows up with the car and the infant and wishes to go inside our castle.

I lead her with my angel to the community room whilst Seany parks the car. (there are all these real weird rules concerning parking around here)

Oh mama loves this room. No one is in it, I mean it is Sunday AM and older folks leave the place alone at this time. I mean there is no Bingo or commiseration of any kind!)

We are speaking to one another and the little bugger throws the nuke onto the floor and I go to wash it off and Seany returns!

That baby takes one look at my son and has the 'startle response'. You can read about this in any psychological tome but you have no idea what it means until you actually see it!

THAT'S MY DADDY!

I mean she is in her mommy's arms and just reaches her arms out to daddy!

It is wonderful to witness.

Mama gives Sean the bottle and he feeds her after taking her from mama.

11 months.

Noela knows who he is, loves who he is and is permanently attacked to what he is.

I do not know how else to describe all this.

Seany feeds the baby and she is in a drugged state; I mean it is difficult to reach this kind of Nirvana but she looks for more solace; she looks around and finally is consoled as she plays with his beard as she sucks on the bottle.

Noela just loves his beard!

Noela has just woken up from the car ride of course and has some red in her eye; but after eating or drinking she perks up.

And we set her on the carpet area and she just takes off.

Talk about a sugar high!

Noela must crawl like crazy in this empty room and find a chair and then stand up.

And after she stands up she looks around and eyes the 'library'.

Well there is this small book case located at the window and she drops down on her haunches and crawls right for it.

And this is when, this is the exact date that Noela discovers the power of gravity.

Amazing to watch really.

Noela goes right for this library and stands up with the help of the wooden supports of the book case and begins examining the readings available.

Then she discovers that when she grabs hold of some tome she can pull and see how gravity works.

Hahahahahahahahah

I am not talking about five little books, I mean she had to tear out twenty five of these literary masterpieces and discover anew, each time, that when she did so the objects would drop to the ground.

At that time I was able to pick up my granddaughter for the first time. I was too afraid when she was so frail at 3 months and 7 months.

Noela was not sure about this situation.

Haahahahahah

But I had noted that she loved her Daddy's goatee, so I put her hand on my beard and she thought that was neat.

Anyway I had the opportunity to kiss the little angel three or four times (rather than thirty or forty times) and it was Nirvana again.

Sean sent me a picture of this and all I replied:

How could something this ugly provide ¼ of the genes for such a lovely creature? Hahahahah

Whenever you are really down.

Whenever you really feel that all is lost!

Whenever you feel that you cannot handle all the evil in this world.

Whenever Congress has got you to the point where you think there is no point.

Find a little niece or a little grandkid or a baby in a cart at the grocer's.

There are good people in this country raising a new generation with love and respect and with the hope that things will be better!

No kidding.

There are good people out there really working to provide for their children in so many ways.

Sometimes, we must skip the bad news!

The end