Memorial Day

May 26th, 2009 |

I had a pretty swell day today.

I actually went to a barbecue. I brought a couple good zinfandels, one was a Pejut.

I contributed in other ways. I grilled some pineapple. Quartered slabs of it. I brushed one slab with teriyaki and another with a with a blackberry preserve based homemade bbq sauce. I sprinkled garlic on both.

I like that both Deanna and Lisa don’t like to smoke in front of the kids.

Me, I don’t care.

I grilled red onions too. I think my pineapple went over pretty well, it was gone fast, but I brought home some onions.

Extraordinarily nice people.

We watched the first half of the laker game and these women were on it. I was the only adult male of ten people. They sort of assumed I’d be some alpha male grill master. We had ribs, hot links, chicken, hot dogs, hamburgers and I grilled pineapple and red onions. The women and children were forced to cook the meat as my emasculation bloomed.

I supervised while I smoked a few of Deanna’s Marlboro Lights because they tasted interesting and I was drinking good zin. They seemed to have a handle on it.

Anyway, shoulda heard the women talking the game. Awesome. Kinda bitchy but not missing a single thing. I’m not a sports guy but I likes me an NBA playoff game. I was sitting with at least three women that had been paying attention all season. One told me the Lakers could for sure stop Cleveland.

There was too an enclosed porch on the second floor with widows on three sides. As it got chillier it was a nice place to watch the sun sink and have a smoke.

Children were the stars of my day. These little girls, sisters, were diamonds in platinum. I tried not to smoke in front of them. They sang to us on the way home. I can’t put my finger on it. Their obvious independence, their overt dependence on mother and whatever innocent sweetness they threw my way. A rosy spotlight on them.

Two sixteen year old boys named Jonathan and a very pretty girl about the same age. The young lady such a wide eyed doe. All three literally teetering between adolescence and early adulthood. I see it in their eyes and read it in their gestures. Charismatic geeks and thank the powers that be. Smart, funny and not thugs or idiots. Good kids.

Then there’s me. Huffing on Marlboros, drinking wine and soliciting the cooperation of any teen I can coerce into my onion and pineapple experiments.

It was an unconscionably pleasant day.

I brought a plate home.

It is Memorial Day, a year and a half after the Thanksgiving I first and last met the Grandma. No sooner did I enter the living room than she was pulling the thin tube for oxygen that ran across her cheek up so that I could kiss her there. Not much can make you feel that welcome.

I hate war and I don’t believe in your God. I am respectful of every single American that has served his or her country in any capacity that includes war. It is a very big deal. I have an uncle that served and he is damaged. I’m an agnostic and a Democrat but I’m also an American. I love this country, but I’m not afraid to express my disappointment, disgust and dismay.

I am a patriot.

I take it very seriously.

Would any of you out there be willing and of a mind to come at me from there, I respectfully invite you to bring it.

My gratitude for every man woman and child who has defended these principles and this country.

Drinks for my friends.