Tales from the Shoebox.

Back in high school, nearly every weekend that I was here instead of at my dad’s, I’d go out to Bob’s house and spend time with our friends on his parents’ boat.  His mom would make us set & clear the table, sweep the floors, clean the bathroom, etc. in exchange for putting up with our loud, obnoxious selves.  Bob’s parents have divorced, but his dad still lives in the house across the street from the boat launch, and as I understand it the boat is now, essentially, Bob’s.  Llamaface & Boogermonkey were up in Portland moving Llama’s stuff into his new apartment, where he’ll be living to save us money in rent since he’s not moving down here with me (he hates this area), so Gurglebutt & I loaded up a bag and went out to Cottage Grove Reservoir, after getting him a lifejacket and snacks at Bi-Mart.

Bob

Gurglebutt eats frozen blueberries from Saginaw Vineyards, picked when Cousin Awesome was here

Bob lets Gurglebutt drive the boat

Driving with Reilly, Bob’s girlfriend, one of my oldest, dearest, bestest friends

Gurglebutt slept like this for nearly 2 hours

Keith (one of the original crew), Bob, and Keith’s wife Elisa

Trinity, Keith & Elisa’s daughter.  She’s 2.5 & ADORABLE!  Great manners and we had fun in the water!

It was an amazing day.  Sunshine, good friends, good memories, no one drowned, and Gurglebutt took a long enough nap that I was able to swim by myself for a while.  The anchor got stuck under some mud & Bob will have to rescue it later, but he’s not worried about that so I’m not, either.  Near the end of the day, I got word that a close friend lost someone very close to her, so that put a small damper on it.  Then, Nana called and said something about Little Brother getting kicked out of the work program he’s in (Little Brother called later and clarified that Nana is on some sweet crack because no he has not been).  And then I locked myself out of the house because I’d forgotten to put the new keys on my ring, so I had to send Austin the 10-year-old neighbor boy through Little Brother’s window to open the door for me.  No day without a little bump or three, I suppose, but for the most part it was nice.  No sunburn, despite being on medication that can make one photosensitive, no barfing from the kid who’d never been on a boat before, not too hot, water not too cold, just the right amount of snacks & water & companionship.

Thanks for a great day, guys!