Dear 123Greetings subscriber,

I write to you, so we stay in touch and that I do coz I believe I’m like a raindrop. Yes, though the raindrop maybe small, somewhere a thirsty flower awaits it to drop. Here I am to quench your thirst. Join me, let’s go shower the world with our love. Hop on for an eventful ride.

Losing a loved one is not easy for sure. Uncle Frank had lost his wife and was grieving. Rachel (my niece), Debbie (my sis), and I went to his place for the weekend to stay with him through this time. When we were around, uncle Frank was pleasantly sober, but when left alone, he started brooding. When he was in one of those spells we went to check on him. He was seated by the fire place on his arm chair and softly sobbing. We just stood by, silent. There are no words for this occasion. We didn’t want to talk about the aunt or loss as it would only trigger a strong response. We just stood. Rachel slipped and sneaked out. Hmmm….good to be kids. They just can switch on and off and never need to go through all this. Sure enough, in a few minutes she was back with her favorite teddy toy. She has gone all the way to her room and dug into her backpack to find her toy. She took long baby steps to reach the arm chair. Climbed using the arms for balance and made room for herself in uncle Frank’s lap. The old man stopped sobbing and stared at Rachel. She said in a soft voice, “Uncle Frank, please keep my teddy toy with you.”

Uncle, “But my little one, what’s that for?”

Rachel, “Whenever I cry, mom gives me the teddy and says that she is my best friend and I wouldn’t feel alone in the night after mom has tucked me up for the night. I never cry when I have the teddy around.” And she added with a toothy grin, “See, what did I say, look at you, you’ve stopped crying.”

Sure enough! Uncle Frank had stopped crying.

Some sight, after a few minutes, the chair was bobbing up and down while uncle Frank was sleeping with around Rachel with the teddy resting on her lap.

And I thought angels were creatures who wore white-wedding dress and carry a wand.

You know, sometimes they carry teddies!

Techies! The one name that pops up is Ron’s. He is a tech guy and he has stories to tell. Here’s one straight from the horse’s mouth.

Ring. Ring.

Ron: “Hello, MSM Tech Customer Care and I’m Ron, how can I help you?”

Customer: “Hey, this is Will, I’ve bought a new computer, you know, the desktop one, but got a problem.”

Ron: “Sure, Will. Tell me, what’s the problem?”

Customer: Well, for starters, the computer wouldn’t start.”

Ron: “Have you plugged in right and switched on the CPU?”

Customer: “Of course, I plugged in, but by Gawd, they never told me about the CPU. Is that a remote one?”

Ron (painfully patient): “No, Will. It’s the almost rectangular bulky one that has a few knobs or switches on it. You got to switch it on there.”

Pause.

Customer: “Gee, I never knew. Thanks it’s open now.” “I can hear the sound and now the screen is on. Great.”

Ron: “Okay. Please open a window and you can use the internet and browse.”

Customer: Sure.

A big pause.

Customer: Yes I did.

Ron: What do you see?

Customer: Lawn and my garage.

Click.

It was reported later, that colleagues found Ron banging on his monitor head-first for exactly 15 minutes. Non-stop.

It all started when we raced up the flight of stairs instead of taking the elevator. The genius who came up with this pearl of wisdom is, yes, you guessed it right, yours truly, me myself. Meggy took off first just like a deer on the highway and Steve like a patrol cop huffing and puffing behind her while I took three steps at a time to keep pace. Of course, Kong was nowhere near in sight as he was already there up in the third storey floor barking a welcome.

Meggy was the one who first felt it. She slowed down gradually and came to a complete halt after a few steps. Steve had to be helped by me to reach her. And then the three of us collapsed. We were panting, sighing, and heaving and then we spoke. “Doc” we screamed together.

Dr. Martin was at his usual ebullient-self cracking jokes at us nervous creatures. After a routine physical he approached us, “Hmmm….seems like someone is gorging on the MickeyD’s and KFC goodies a bit too much than necessary eh?! Listen up people, food is medicine and you gulp it to taste, but never let it waste your body….” I would’ve said he acts a wise-guy if only what he said wasn’t true. He was right. We nodded our understanding and moved out. Kong was anxiously waiting….Meggy had to say this, “I should’ve had four legs and a tail, this guy even tastes the Quizno’s and still made it first to the top.” Sigh.

All said and done, this is the Moment of Zen from Meggy, “Heart doesn’t just nourish from love and affection, but by an hour of cardio, some treadmill stamping, and a healthy diet.” Beat that!

I got a few Eagles discs and hit my folks’ place last Sunday. They were home and they were bored. I could see. Of course, they were happy to see me. We chatted up through the breakfast and mom gave her usual Weight Watchers opinion: “You know Bob; you should lose a few stones of that flab.”

“Yeah, right.”Old man and his music. A stale beer in hand, he was rocking on his chair, listening to the music. On hindsight, when I think about it, I never knew my father to be a music lover – he called music “noise.” Mom says now-a-days he just sits and sips on his beer, listening to music and seems like he’s enjoying it.

I just pulled a chair beside him and started crunching on some crackers, washing it down with some ice tea. I don’t know if he was humming, but there surely was a tune on his lips. I never knew that my dad could lip-sync. He’s doing a Britney Spears!

When the Eagles belted out their rock base with Hotel California, he opened his eyes for a second and I bet, I saw a glint of youth and smile in his eyes. Hey! My old man is on a time machine. He isn’t sad or whatever, he’s slogged for years and now with a beer in hand and son in front and wife by his side, he is listening to something he wanted to hear, but never had the time. And he’s content and happy.

Who said you need the money? Here’s how it works and my dad said that without even opening his mouth.

For an hour or so, there was silence punctuated with music and my dad’s steady breathing. Magical!

Peace,

Bob
Editor, 123Greetings
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