Christmas went by at a dizzying pace as I am sure it did for most of you. We had a great day with our youngest son and his family, plus our daughter, my sister and her son, and a couple of other friends. One tradition was carried on – that is, The Blonde in the house’s famous biscuits. She baked them here and we took them down. Now half way across the country in Colorado our oldest son made them for his family. To top that our youngest grandson can make them too (although he didn’t need to since Grandma brought them). Thus the tradition is now into a third generation (actually fourth as my mother also made them). It is somewhat different now as it is the male side of the family who are carrying on.
One of the aspects of the Christmas Season is that it involves travel. There is a significant amount which involves the glorious airplane. Flying would be great if there weren’t airports and you could be picked up at your house. I would have to guess that is unfortunately sometime down the road. I thought of this several times when I went to pick up our daughter and found all the lanes south of I-4 on the Turnpike closed. On top of that I had just found a September 1997 issue of Time that we had been saving for some unknown reason. What intrigued me was that the issue contained a large four page ad from one of the biggest airlines in the U.S.
In reading this ad, I was informed that they were taking all kinds of steps to make flights more enjoyable. For example, they had hired a renowned chef who was creating a new menu in coach. In addition, in every class new seats were being redesigned for optimal comfort. Finally, their employees were being trained to help minimize the hassles of travel. Perhaps, someone out there can explain to me what has happened between 1997 and now. I suppose that it is possible that they are trying to work out the bugs and that someday in the future we will see the results of their fine work. On the other hand they may be blaming the problems on this administration or the one before – or both!
Now all is not problem ridden in this world. For example, Husbands United (a secret society) just had an exemplary year. We had a year-end social (still secret of course) wherein we discussed and applauded our many successes. It is a difficult and sometime dangerous operation that has been guided by Husbands United. However, the benefit to mankind makes it all worthwhile. As is tradition we do not practice business at the year-end social with one exception. We hold a lottery and the winner can bring in one sorely besot husband and we will solve his problem for him. This year husband’s problem was an easily solvable one. When we removed the applicant’s blindfold (it’s a secret meeting), he explained in a halting voice that his member of the opposite sex was displeased with him because he had bought her an Instant Pot as a Christmas gift. She said that not only did she expect something more, but it was also an insult to her cooking powers.
Normally, the problem and the solution cannot be made public until the statute of limitations expire. This can have varying expiration dates depending mostly on how long the opposite sex person decides to recall the offense even after the solution. In this case, everything meshed completely and all is happy and loving in the threatened household mention above. What we simply told him was that he should head straight to a jewelry store, pick out something very nice, head home and bury it in the bottom of the Instant Pot. Then he should tell her that he was just “funning” and that she should look in the bottom of the Instant Pot. All is now well!
Ah, if all the problems of the world could be so easily corrected. But then there is only one Husbands United (a secret society)!
Barry Evans writes about Life in The Villages for Villages-News.com
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