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Christi Diggs
on Jun 20 2013 - 06:00 AM
In lieu of good taste, request people bring money
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Lindsay Metcalf
on Jun 19 2013 - 06:00 AM
My top five most important moments of the summer so far
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mara williams
on Jun 18 2013 - 06:00 AM
Hey, manchild, mama says: clean your room, wash the dishes, don't drink and drive.
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Emily Parnell
on Jun 16 2013 - 06:00 AM
Eating fresh, local produce is good for body and soul
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Jim Cosgrove
on Jun 13 2013 - 06:00 AM
I just want to buy some pants. Please, turn down the music.
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My dad and my brother came to visit this weekend. They've been doing this every summer since my dad's divorce. I love it when they come here. There's just something about being around my dad that makes me feel normal.
Now, I'm not talking about "normal" in the traditional sense. You know, the kind of normal where you're just like everyone else, or at least how everyone else appears? I don't mean the kind of normal you see in episodes of Parenthood or those commercials for bathroom cleaners. That kind of normal doesn't exist. No.
No, I mean the kind of normal that's normal for me. I spent my childhood with this man, my formative years, the years of my life where I was the most sensitive to influence. If I didn't feel safe out in the world, I felt safe at home with my family at least. And that familiar sense of normal comes back every time I go back home to Woodhull, Illinois. And it comes back when my dad comes down here.
Last year, we did a lot of the Kansas City touristy stuff. We went to museums, and we saw landmarks. We ate at Gates, because you have to eat at Gates when you come to Kansas City, apparently. This year, we did other KC specific stuff, but not the touristy things. We ate at Jazz, shopped at Prospero's and It's a Beautiful Day, shopped in the City Market and had breakfast at the City Diner.
And, um, then we ate at Gates.
And Charlotte and Marc love their uncle. My baby brother, Tom, is just about to turn sixteen. But that doesn't mean he doesn't like to play with the kids. He played video games with Marc almost the whole time. Marc got a kick out of that, to be sure. Then Tom asked if we had any Lincoln Logs he could play with. You know. "For Charlotte". (I'm on to you, Tom!)
Of course, their visit wouldn't have been complete without the kids getting to watch Grampa's body parts come off! "Here, Marc," Grampa said. "Wanna hold my teeth?"
And then there was music. Most of us are guitar players, and my husband had his saxophone out at one point. Tom told me he wanted to learn to play the accordion, so I promised to give him mine. Marc played his violin, and Charlotte was the dancer!
I hadn't felt this normal, this at ease, in months. Maybe a year? I don't know. I mean, I love my family. I love my life, really. But there is just something about having Jerry Engholm around that makes me feel more myself than I feel otherwise. Is it like this for other adult children? What will it be like for my children when they're adults? Will they want me around? Will my grandkids want to hold my teeth?
Who knows? But it was a good visit, anyway. Dad promises he'll be back next spring to help me with my garden. That's going to be awesome, because I'm pretty sure he's a vegetable sorcerer we're just never too old to need our parents around!
Sounds like good times. My kids love it when grandpa takes his teeth out and plays his accordion. Funny. Glad you had an awesome time!
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