Going home

I was very fortunate and was able to get some time off and see my family in Yhanundasis, NY for Thanksgiving. I was going to see the Stanton clan, or what’s left of it. Fortunately mom and dad is still with us even though mom has issues. My one sister came up with her boyfriend we call “Kissyface.” This dude makes Michael Scott look like James Bond! I get there at 2:30 and dinner is not ready! Around the start of the Redskins game was when we ate. And I may have ate too much! We stayed home to digest our food!

Friday we were home and I was bored! The Christmas decorations were put on display. For decades the Stanton family has hang a Grinch and displayed a Homer Simpson Santa Claus. It looks like the windows of Sak’s Fifth Avenue! People come from miles around. 10 minutes later there was nothing to do! Dad had to run some errands and I ran out as if I was the photographer for a Boudoir shoot with our own Danila Rodrigues! The store, post office, gas station, a neighbors house! I was out and about town at a blistering 25 degrees!  Then we went out to meet up with Pops Stanton and a friend of the family, then then to a barbecue joint. Then out with the siblings for a couple of pops!  But; I knew me. I left the phone home! When I got back to the compound, I got my phone and checked for messages. Nothing. So Mr. Responsible maintained “radio silence.”

Saturday, was Christmas on Main Street in Old Forge, NY. The Stanton men are all members of the Knights of Columbus so we were voluntold by Pops Stanton to ring the bell for the Salvation Army! Even women were roped in for a good cause. The Incident Command Center for the Knights of Columbus was at the Tow Bar Inn across the street from . I had one of the kettles at noon, one of my sisters at one and one of my brothers at 3pm! The Tow Bar opened at noon. My brother was outside the bar at 11:57 looking inside! I rang the bell outside Souvenir Village. As I looked around, Old Forge looked like something from a Hallmark Channel movie! Families moving on the street, drinking hot chocolate, the Grinch moving about, a lit Christmas tree, Christmas music (which I hate), people putting money in the kettles thanking me! What I did not see was people pushing one another, people “fronting,” bums in intersections begging for change, people protesting, bums sleeping in stoops, people doing drugs in the open, bad driving, EMS racing to give junkies Narcan, and people running in the stores looting! Again; Hallmark Channel movie! My shift was finished and a cousin took over. I went to the “Command Center” saw Pops inside and my brother who was “pregaming” before he had to ring the bell. Pops went home after talking to another one of our cousins. My brother finally went to man the kettle. And a new friend of his brought him a beer for his hard work ringing the bell! I was watching the Michigan game hoping they would beat Ohio State senseless! I was texting Charlie LeDuff! He was happy too. My brother came in to celebrate his hard work. Pops returned to get the kettles and the money to the right people and he was also with the rest of the Stanton’s and Knights. We were having a few pops and it was a Hallmark moment. Me having a few pops with my pops.

We went home and the Stanton Brothers were holding court at the Roadkill Grill. I’m only up there 3-4 times a year and the family and barflies all know me! The bar was packed and I couldn’t grease the Karaoke DJ to play some long ass tunes such as “Starship Trooper” and “Achilles Last Stand.” My brother was flirting with a lady who was about 64 years old! And couldn’t score. I had my phone this time. And “Mr. Responsibility” posted pictures on Facebook and maintained “radio silence.” Your welcome!

Overall it was a great time with the family and not in the DC Swamp! As DC turns into Mogadishu, Mayor Muriel Bowser is in the Middle East talking about climate change! The average Washingtonian is saying to themselves: “Ya know, I’ve been carjacked, the roads are falling apart, there are tent cities all over our parks, bums harassing motorists begging for change, people doing drugs in the open,  and the public schools still suck. But at least Mayor Bowser is fighting Climate Change!