It Must Be For Love Because You Can't Pay Enough, a Random and Happy Word Counters Post

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It's time once again for a random and happy Tuesday, linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked and Sandee at Comedy Plus.  

Part of today’s post is also a writing challenge. This is how it works: one of the contributing bloggers picked a number between 12 and 50. The submitted number is a challenge to participating bloggers to write at least one piece using that exact number of words. 

This month, the word count number is: 24

It was submitted by:  yours truly

Several years ago, i was caregiver for 3 boys and we went to the park one long evening so the oldest could play baseball.

While the eldest played with his team, the two younger were in the playground right behind the stands and i watched the game, listening.

Eventually i heard what i knew i would hear, the unmelodious sounds of squabbling, followed by yelling, a thud or two, then some crying.

I got up with a sigh to head back there and take care of whatever the two mischief makers were up to this time.

As i did, i noted, "I must be doing this for love because they sure don't pay me enough!"  Other parents erupted with laughter.

Sometimes i'd almost say that about Carl.  Don't misunderstand, they pay well, but it's love for him and his family keeps me coming back.

He was still in bed when i arrived yesterday, and said "I don't know if I'm on the schedule!" while i looked at this.

Back door pile up, including his Bible.  Probably the aftermath of church the day before 

Can you check your schedule? i asked.  He tried, but he kept putting in the wrong password and they wanted to send a code.

Finally i told him to go shower and then try to do it while eating breakfast.  He stays on his tablet while eating anyway.

While he did that, i tried to deal with laundry.  There was almost none in the hampers, why would there be.  Here it is:

While eating, he complained his shirt smelled so i grabbed a fresh one.  Once he changed, i noticed he'd had the other inside out.  

It was dirty, so of course it smelled.  He didn't notice it was dirty because it was on the hanger inside out, his specialty.

His usual way, take clothing off inside out and drop it.  Later, his mother says "get it off the floor, it's a trip hazard!"

He picks it up, and inside out it looks clean to him, so he hangs it back up and he tries to wear it.

It turned out he'd done that with a pair of pants yesterday.  At least, that's what i surmised later on, when the dust settled.

After a shoe debacle, "I can't find any shoes that match!" and a couple of other minor crises, i sent him out the door.

Hearing car doors slam, i figured he was leaving.  Wrong.  No keys.  How'd he get in the car?  He'd left it unlocked all night!

We searched.  We scoured.  Ms. V was called to get the spare key.  The spare key only opens the doors, not start the engine.

Carl kept locking the car doors because he was now mindful of doing so, hampering me and Ms. V as we tried to assist.

We probably looked like a Three Stooges comedy, Ms. V in her robe, running around the car.  It's funny now.  Then i called time.

I climbed in the back seat, crawled to the front, and unlocked all the doors to make sure we didn't get totally locked out.

Then i told Carl to grab everything and meet me at my car, i'd drive him to work.  It was all we could do.

"Did I accidentally vacuum them up yesterday?" he asked plaintively as we rode.  Not with the hand vac, which is the one he'd used.

When i got back, i continued with the laundry and then sure enough, dirty pants, on a hanger inside out, keys in the pocket.

 

Links to the other Word Counters posts:

Baking In A Tornado                    

On the Border                                  

Of course, there's more to the story, but twenty-four sentences of 24 words each is enough.  Through the time we were together he also told me about the fun at the Tim Tebow Foundation "Your Night to Shine" dance he attended.  He goes every year and has a blast.

We talked about consecration, since that was the sermon topic at church the day before.  What's the difference between just saying you love Jesus and being consecrated to service, to loving others, to doing right?

Carl thinks about these things quite deeply.  He also told me, "I may not have anyone for Valentine's Day, but I got to go to a dance and it was so much fun!"

It makes you crazy, but there's love, and that makes it worth going back.

In honor of insanity and Valentine's Day, a few funnies.

Have a blessed and beautiful Valentine's Day, all who celebrate, and a fabulous Tuesday, any who don't.

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Today is:

Bird Mating Season begins -- according to legend, in honor of St. Valentine

Blessing of the Salmon Nets -- Norham, Northumberland, England & North Shields, Northumbria, England (just before midnight, nets are blessed and right after midnight, the first nets of the season are thrown out; anything caught is presented to the officiating vicar)

Day Sacred to Juno Lupa -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Juno of the Wolf)

Extraterrestrial Culture Day -- New Mexico, US ("to celebrate and honor all past, present, and future extraterrestrial visitors in ways to enhance relationships among all citizens of the cosmos, known and unknown.")

Feast of Vali -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan (archer god, an Asatru answer to the Valentine celebration, which is really a thinly disguised Lupercalia)

Ferris Wheel Day -- birth anniversary of G.W.G. Ferris, Jr.

Fjortende Februar -- Denmark (Danish lovers send each other snowdrop flowers.)

International Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day

International Quirkyalone Day -- a day to value your individuality, whether you are partnered or not; for those who prefer to be single and not dating just for the sake of dating 

League of Women Voter's Day -- US

Library Lovers Day -- for those whose favorite companion is a great book

National Call In Single Day -- what a lot of men who feel pressured to be romantic on this day wish they could do, i'm sure!

National Cream-Filled Chocolates Day

National Have-a-Heart Day -- to create awareness of the impact of our food choices on the environment, world hunger, animal welfare and human health—especially heart health

National Nest Box Week -- UK; US (begun in the UK, this is a week to build or put up a nest box in your yard to encourage our avian friends and give them safe places to raise their young)

National Organ Donor Day -- US, but no matter where you live, consider leaving instructions about this to your loved ones

National Sports Day -- Qatar

Pet Theft Awareness Day -- you love them, protect them!

Race Relations Day -- originally on Lincoln's birth anniversary, now on the day promoting love

Rafik Hairi Memorial Day -- Lebanon

Read to Your Child Day -- to start their love of learning early (and do it daily!)

Sts. Cyril & Methodius' Day (Patrons of ecumenism, unity of Eastern and Western Churches; Bohemia; Bulgaria; Czech Republic; Europe; Moravia; the Slavic peoples)

Trifon Zarezan -- Bulgaria (Viticulturists' Day; since Thracian times, a day to celebrate Dionysus and wine)

Valentine's Day (St. Valentine of Rome, Patron of apiarists/beekeepers, betrothed couples, greeting card manufacturers, greetings, happy marriages, love, lovers, travelers, young people; Bussolengo, Italy; against epilepsy, fainting, plague)

Anniversaries Today:

Jerry Garcia weds Deborah Koons, 1994

US League of Women Voters formed, 1920

Arizona becomes the 48th US state, 1912

Oregon becomes the 33rd US state, 1859

Birthdays Today:

Drew Bledsoe, 1972

Jessica Yu, 1966

Zach Galligan, 1964

Enric Colantoni, 1963

Meg Tilly, 1960

Renee Fleming, 1959

Raymond Joseph Teller, 1948

Gregory Hines, 1946

Carl Bernstein, 1944

Michael Bloomberg, 1942

Andrew Prine, 1936

Florence Henderson, 1934

Vic Morrow, 1932

Hugh Downs, 1921

Mel Allen, 1913

Jimmy Hoffa, 1913

Jack Benny, 1894

George Washington Gale Ferris,Jr., 1859

Winfield Scott Hancock, 1824

Frederick Douglass, 1817

Mary Ann "Aunt Mary" Prout, 1801

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Cloud Nine"(Play), 1978

"The Maltese Falcon"(Publication date), 1930

"Sinbad"(Musical), 1918

"Importance of Being Earnest"(Play), 1895

Today in History:

The annals of the monastery of Quedlinburg make the first known mention of Lithuania, 1009

Approximately 2,000 Jews are burned to death by mobs or forcibly removed from the city of Strasbourg, 1349

Roman Catholic emperor Leopold I chases the Jews out of Vienna, 1670

The United States Flag is formally recognized by a foreign naval vessel for the first time, when French Admiral Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte rendered a nine gun salute to USS Ranger, commanded by John Paul Jones, 1778

James Cook is killed by Native Hawaiians near Kealakekua on the Island of Hawaii, 1779

John Jervis and Horatio Nelson lead the British Royal Navy to victory over a Spanish fleet in action near Gibraltar, 1797

The apple parer is patented by Moses Coats of Downington, Pennsylvania, 1803

US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall declares that any act of the US Congress that conflicts with the Constitution is void, 1803

The original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is formed in Kirtland, Ohio, 1835

In New York City, James Knox Polk becomes the first serving President of the United States to have his photograph taken, 1849

Esther Hobart Morris is appointed the first female Justice of the Peace in the US, in South Pass City, Wyoming, 1870

A.G. Bell and Elisha Gray both apply for a patent for a telephone; Bell first by only 2 hours, and is ruled the rightful inventor, 1876

The first trainload of California grown fruit, oranges, leaves L.A. for the east,1889

Voting machines are approved by the U.S. Congress for use in federal elections, 1899

The Soviet Union adopts the Gregorian calendar, 1918

The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago, Illinois, 1920

The Bank of England is nationalized, 1946

ENIAC, the first general-purpose electronic computer, is unveiled, 1946

The Knesset (Israeli parliament) convenes for the first time, 1949

Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized at the University of California, 1961

The first of 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System are placed into orbit, 1989

Space probe Voyager 1 takes photograph of entire solar system , 1990

Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft becomes first vehicle to land on an asteroid (433 Eros), 2001

Love letters written between poets Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning are published online by Wellesley College and Baylor University, 2012

The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, now the world's largest solar energy plant, opens in the Mojave Desert; the $2.2 billion plant, owned by Google, NRG Energy, and BrightSource energy, spans five square miles and can provide power to 140,000 homes, 2014

JP Morgan becomes the first bank to create its own crypo-currency, JPM Coin, 2019