Monday, October 22, 2007

Heart Attack Grass

Game Five of the ALCS found the girls and me sitting on folding chairs with my dad in the garage of my parents' house. The original plan was to watch the game out on the back porch around a fire pit. I envisioned snacks, beer, and lots of family. Instead were were in the garage with my dad, drinking cheap wine and watching the game on a small t.v. that was jury rigged with cable from the kitchen and was perched upon a card table. Oh, well.

In between innings my dad chased Ella out into the front yard where they would wrestle. The horseplay was especially fun for Ella because my parents actually have grass, whereas at my house there are chickens scratching around in the dirt where grass once was. It was late and Addison was already in her pajamas, so the two of us just watched from the driveway where she could crawl around without getting too dirty (at least by my standards). Ella was having so much fun, though, that during one of the commercial breaks she called for her sister to join the pile. My mom had just washed Addison's sleeper, though, and I feared incurring her wrath, so I told Ella her sister couldn't come out on the grass because "Nana Mimi would have a heart attack if she did." This seemed to make sense to Ella, having herself experienced the wrath about which I spoke, and she ran back out to the battle field to fight her Papa Mel on her own.

I had once again assumed incorrectly I knew how the mind of a child worked, though, as during the next commercial break, Ella grabbed my dad's hand and yelled, "Come on Papa Mel, let's go play in the heart attack grass!". And from that day forth the front lawn of 740 Fairway Drive has been known as the heart attack grass.


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