Morning Chad! Monday (June 30, 2014) morning has arrived and as promised a funny story is coming up! I have no idea why this story popped into my mind while I was driving down to pick up gramps and as always happens I started laughing all by myself while driving! So...off to the races! This story is about my dad and one of the few times we did something as a family which did not turn out well! It was summer time and I remember so distinctly my mother saving these funny tin pails with handles on them. I cant remember what came in them but they were very common in those days. The pails were used for berry picking which was either raspberries or blackberries. It was a nice sunny day and my dad was home and he had a car. Now most of my life he did not own a car and I dont believe that he owned this one either. Maybe he borrowed it but we were quite excited to see a car! He decided we were all going blackberry picking so my mom packed a lunch and we each got our tin pail and we set off for the woods. It was a very rare occasion when he actually took us anywhere because he was rarely home but on that day he was in a really good mood and of course had his beer for the occasion. We went down an old logging road into the middle of nowhere and got out for the big adventure of picking berries. The four of us were so excited and my dad pointed out where the berries were and we were told to fill our pails before we came back to the car. Then he said keep a watch for black bears because there are lots of them here. Wrong thing to say to little kids for sure! We started picking berries, huge blackberries, but the pail never seemed to fill up, maybe because we were eating more than we were putting in the pail. It was hot, we were sweating, swatting flies and watching for bears when we realized we were not having fun anymore! We all started whining and my dad was getting mad at us so finally he put us all back in the car and we left with maybe enough berries for a pie but that was about it. We thought we were going home and we were glad of it! Enough of that family togetherness for sure! WRONG! We went to the bar instead. My dad was quite tipsy from drinking in the woods already so into the bar the two of them went. Eventually Jeanne and Bunny were allowed to come in because Jeanne was wheezing and Bunny was crying. My brother and I were managing to keep ourselves entertained like we always did so we were left in the car. We kept busy fooling around with knobs on the dashboard etc. Pretty soon we saw a pick-up truck pull into the parking lot next to our car and three guys were in the front seat. We had the car doors open because it was hot in there and we decided that we would try giving the three guys the middle finger because we had just learned in school that it was the in thing to do. We had no clue what it stood for we just knew that everyone was doing it. The three guys got out, obviously they were what we called three sheets to the wind and we gave them the old middle finger laughing like crazy while we did it. They were not amused! They jumped out of the truck and came running over and climbing into the open door on the car, I yelled to my brother to run and the two of us flew out the other door. We ran like crazy into the bar to my dad and said there were 3 guys after us. He was drunk and went running out to as called it beat the hell out of the three of them. Big mistake dad, they beat the hell out of him instead! He had a couple of black eyes, some bleeding here and there, my mother and the rest of us were crying so mother threw us in the car, loaded my dad into the passenger side (he was too drunk to drive) and off we went for home. All the while my dad was raving that he was going to get his shotgun and shoot the three of them. We got home and he is heading for his gun, my mom is screaming at him and all 4 of us were crying, she picked up a butcher knife and she is chasing him all over the house, he is laughing at her, he fell down and started laughing and couldnt get back up and that was the end of that little day in the sun with the family. We were sent to bed, (only to happy to oblige that order). We never told my dad what we had done in the parking lot to set those guys off, it remained our little secret. We didnt have too many of those family outings but every time we did it ended basically the same way. The parents getting drunk and the 4 of us fending for ourselves while plotting and planning ways to get even. We came up with some real elaborate schemes over the years and just thinking about ways to carry them out kept us amused and laughing hysterically! I often wonder if any of us would have survived without the wonderful gift of laughter! Just goes to show no matter what you are going through if you find one little thing to make you smile or laugh you can get through the worst of times. I can still see those little pails with the handles, those huge blackberries, fried egg sandwiches, drunken parents and I have to think there were a lot worse things in life than that. (I just cant think of any) So Soldier Boy, that is my story for this week. I know you heard it before but you dont get tired of hearing them over and over and I dont get tired of telling them again! Gram loves you sweetie........
Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 12:50:53 +0000