\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Have you ever had an MRI?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 I asked.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yes.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what this plane reminds me of.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Without the clanging.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n
John was born in Queens, lives north of Boston, attended college in Virginia and married a girl from Jackson, Mississippi, which is where he was headed. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been to Mississippi many times, once to Oxford. I thought, Faulkner.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You met her in college?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Church. You hear about people meeting women in bars but I met my wife in church.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n
That was an alley I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to walk down. It might be innocent or I might be the next pheasant locked in his conversion sights. John looked to be about forty and spoke in a softer, slower voice than mine. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sound like you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re from Queens. Not a hint. My brother-in-law is from the city and we would have had this conversation in half the time and said twice as much.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n
And that was it. No in-depth, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to my grandmother\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s funeral and by the way I work for your wife\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s former beloved boss dialogue that I might turn into a googleable entry while sitting on Jim and Susan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s deck.<\/p>\n
Instead, I listened to the soldier directly behind me talk about Iraq as I looked through my porthole at puffy pink clouds. I unfolded the Boston Globe and worked on the crossword puzzle before finally nodding off. <\/p>\n
Brian said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This was the worst plane ride.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 The cabin was small and the space between the chairs invisible. The chairs tilted back all the way from bolt upright almost bolt upright. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d drift off and my head would then fall forward threatening to crash into the seat back in front of me. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d wake up, jerk my head back, drift off and repeat – over and over again. I knew I looked like a bobbing wooden duck you win in carnival ring toss games, but I was so tired I had no remedy. I tried arms-as-a pillow on my seat back tray but my big head really didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fit. <\/p>\n
We changed planes twice (reboarding the same one with a different flight number in Indianapolis) and landed in Evansville five hours later. Bedraggled, but happy to be back. <\/p>\n
Our routine from the moment we touch ground is as locked in as a shuttle astronauts. We comment on how small and friendly the airport is, we rent a car from Candy (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m now a grandmother\u00e2\u20ac\u2122), we drive to the Marriott and get checked in by, typically, but not this year, Zane, who is much too young to understand the origins of his name, and then we find a restaurant, usually Denny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, to feed Brian\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s voracious, carnivorous appetite. Stomachs full and ready for a nap, we drive to Bellemeade Ave and eat home made soup. <\/p>\n
Last night, Jeff and Karen took us to the Gersthaus, a German restaurant in a converted hardware store. Back in its Heldt & Voelker incarnation, it was the prototypical, wooden floor, tall ceilinged, everything stored in wood cabinets or on wooden shelves, hardware store. All men over forty-five know that store. But now it is a restaurant with character, with the original stained glass windows and the old wooden cabinets displaying glass mugs, not nuts, bolts and ten penny nails.<\/p>\n
Adventurous Diane ate weiner schnitzel, I ordered the catfish basket, Matt and Brian each devoured a blood-red rib eye steak, HO, shrimp, Mack soup and bread, and Jeffrey flapped his arms when I asked from across the table what he was eating. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to leave Karen out, but what I really remember was her dual order of iced tea and pale ale – twice Even Brian, who never drinks, asked for a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153fish bowl.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Near frozen beer served in mugs big enough to dive into.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Have you ever had an MRI?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 I asked. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yes.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what this plane reminds me of.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Without the clanging.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 John was born in Queens, lives north of Boston, attended college in Virginia and married a girl from Jackson, Mississippi, which … Continue reading