09-20-2014, 06:49 AM
It’s right here, I think.
My first task was to have McCoffees, A Sausage McGriddle, and an Sausage McMuffin at my parents room in the Motel 6 by 10am. I only got lost once on the way to the McDonald’s. Note to Massachusetts Transportation Authority: How about a few left turns so people don’t have to drive miles and make 3 right turns to finally go in the direction they need to go?
I delivered the bagged grease to my bleary eyed father at the appropriate time. I was told that we would meet again at 11.
My mother still was doing her morning ablutions when I returned. Why don’t I come back in another fifteen minutes? I went back to my prison cell, I mean room to finish my scribbling.
The complaints are mounting about the mini-van I picked up at the Alamo rental car agency. My mother is having a terrible time mounting the eight inch step to get into the car. She’s been doing lots of wheezing and sighing about entry. I’m informed I should request a plastic step stool from the rental car agency next time I rent such a horrendous car.
My father complains about his seat, too. It is the most uncomfortable seat he has ever been in. Only later does he realize that the head rest has been folded down into the seat and he has been sitting against that. Turns out the seat is much more comfortable with the head rest in it’s proper position.
We pit stop into my cousin Natalie’s house in Reading, MA. They aren’t home but they’ve left the key in the box. I take a few minutes to tote the bags upstairs to the bedrooms. Steve and Natalie are giving up their big bedroom for the duration while Helen is giving up her bedroom for me.
Thankfully Helen is growing up and wanted a new bed. Last time I slept in her room it was a single size bed with very nice pink sheets and comforter. Thankfully, my manliness is now embraced in a very nice full size bed done in blacks and grays.
The person making the most sacrifices on this visit to the Wadzinki’s is Helen. This poor 12 year old girl had to give up her room to her ancient man cousin for the duration. I mean, he is sleeping in her bed. Blech
The beauty of traveling with my father through his old stomping grounds is the deadly phrase “I know exactly where it is, I think” He wanted to find a men’s clothing store in Saugus that he remembered from year’s past. We only hunted a little before realizing it had been torn down.
A quick call to my cousin Jay verified this and got us a new Big and Tall store to hunt for in Burlington, former Lynch family town. Again my father knew right where we were going. Except until he didn’t. Well, we were only off by one street.
The nice man in the store gave us a hard time in a kidding way, but eventually my father got his new pants. I was told to throw the old pants away.
Next stop my mother’s old High school called Mary Cliff academy. We got to pass the hospital where I was born. We did not stop to see if a plaque had been erected in my honor. My mother’s school had been torn and down and replaced by a newer one, but the old admin building/mansion was still on the grounds.
We talked with man running the historic home and my video services were offered. Gee, thanks.
For lunch, finally, we went to Big A subs in Malden next to my father’s old High School. The man who used to own the sub shop also used to supply food to my father’s school, Malden Catholic.
During lunch my father decided to bait two armed under cover officers about the Red Sox. They ignored my father’s jibes.
During the drive my mother was talking about one of her friends who she was meeting for lunch on Saturday. This friend was in a terrible accident as a teenager and because of that never learned to drive a car. My mother wanted me to agree with her that such behavior was crazy.
Agreeing, with mother is still not on the menu.
I pointed out to her I knew a women who would not have surgery because she had a bad experience as a child. It took her a few minutes to realizes I was talking about her.
I dropped the parents at Natalie’s house and then took a long walk around the local lake to add some calm to my thoughts. It would have helped more if there weren’t cars streaming by the path the whole time. I don’t remember Massachusetts being this noisy. But now that I notice it, I hear the local traffic all the time.
We went to Sam’s Bistro for dinner with my Aunt Eileen and my cousin’s Jay and David. These are cousins from the Lynch side of the family where the Wadzinskis are from the McKenna side. The other three couldn’t make it. It was quite nice reconnecting with the cousin’s I am most closely related.
But the miracle of the evening was when Jay produced some of my grandfather, James A. Lynch’s pictures from World War 2. We’d been told all of my grandfather’s pictures had been lost. But here was a pile of them along with the original diaries he kept during the war.
I leafed through them briefly. All I can is my grandfather has horrible penmanship, really tight and cramped. Thank god, he typed out the book. There is no way anyone could turn his notes into a book.
My first task was to have McCoffees, A Sausage McGriddle, and an Sausage McMuffin at my parents room in the Motel 6 by 10am. I only got lost once on the way to the McDonald’s. Note to Massachusetts Transportation Authority: How about a few left turns so people don’t have to drive miles and make 3 right turns to finally go in the direction they need to go?
I delivered the bagged grease to my bleary eyed father at the appropriate time. I was told that we would meet again at 11.
My mother still was doing her morning ablutions when I returned. Why don’t I come back in another fifteen minutes? I went back to my prison cell, I mean room to finish my scribbling.
The complaints are mounting about the mini-van I picked up at the Alamo rental car agency. My mother is having a terrible time mounting the eight inch step to get into the car. She’s been doing lots of wheezing and sighing about entry. I’m informed I should request a plastic step stool from the rental car agency next time I rent such a horrendous car.
My father complains about his seat, too. It is the most uncomfortable seat he has ever been in. Only later does he realize that the head rest has been folded down into the seat and he has been sitting against that. Turns out the seat is much more comfortable with the head rest in it’s proper position.
We pit stop into my cousin Natalie’s house in Reading, MA. They aren’t home but they’ve left the key in the box. I take a few minutes to tote the bags upstairs to the bedrooms. Steve and Natalie are giving up their big bedroom for the duration while Helen is giving up her bedroom for me.
Thankfully Helen is growing up and wanted a new bed. Last time I slept in her room it was a single size bed with very nice pink sheets and comforter. Thankfully, my manliness is now embraced in a very nice full size bed done in blacks and grays.
The person making the most sacrifices on this visit to the Wadzinki’s is Helen. This poor 12 year old girl had to give up her room to her ancient man cousin for the duration. I mean, he is sleeping in her bed. Blech
The beauty of traveling with my father through his old stomping grounds is the deadly phrase “I know exactly where it is, I think” He wanted to find a men’s clothing store in Saugus that he remembered from year’s past. We only hunted a little before realizing it had been torn down.
A quick call to my cousin Jay verified this and got us a new Big and Tall store to hunt for in Burlington, former Lynch family town. Again my father knew right where we were going. Except until he didn’t. Well, we were only off by one street.
The nice man in the store gave us a hard time in a kidding way, but eventually my father got his new pants. I was told to throw the old pants away.
Next stop my mother’s old High school called Mary Cliff academy. We got to pass the hospital where I was born. We did not stop to see if a plaque had been erected in my honor. My mother’s school had been torn and down and replaced by a newer one, but the old admin building/mansion was still on the grounds.
We talked with man running the historic home and my video services were offered. Gee, thanks.
For lunch, finally, we went to Big A subs in Malden next to my father’s old High School. The man who used to own the sub shop also used to supply food to my father’s school, Malden Catholic.
During lunch my father decided to bait two armed under cover officers about the Red Sox. They ignored my father’s jibes.
During the drive my mother was talking about one of her friends who she was meeting for lunch on Saturday. This friend was in a terrible accident as a teenager and because of that never learned to drive a car. My mother wanted me to agree with her that such behavior was crazy.
Agreeing, with mother is still not on the menu.
I pointed out to her I knew a women who would not have surgery because she had a bad experience as a child. It took her a few minutes to realizes I was talking about her.
I dropped the parents at Natalie’s house and then took a long walk around the local lake to add some calm to my thoughts. It would have helped more if there weren’t cars streaming by the path the whole time. I don’t remember Massachusetts being this noisy. But now that I notice it, I hear the local traffic all the time.
We went to Sam’s Bistro for dinner with my Aunt Eileen and my cousin’s Jay and David. These are cousins from the Lynch side of the family where the Wadzinskis are from the McKenna side. The other three couldn’t make it. It was quite nice reconnecting with the cousin’s I am most closely related.
But the miracle of the evening was when Jay produced some of my grandfather, James A. Lynch’s pictures from World War 2. We’d been told all of my grandfather’s pictures had been lost. But here was a pile of them along with the original diaries he kept during the war.
I leafed through them briefly. All I can is my grandfather has horrible penmanship, really tight and cramped. Thank god, he typed out the book. There is no way anyone could turn his notes into a book.
So much for the flickr badge idea. Dammit