Always Drive A Truck

　Series: How do you like me now?
　

You know, after becoming an adult and having your own home and two kids, it brings a woman's self esteem down to an unaccountable measure of humbleness to move back in at home. Oh sure, that measure of "safeness" is there to act a as net, while you tell your brain that everything will be o k. Your brain just laughs at you and you cower in your car, as your mother yells out the door for you to pick up extra groceries on your way home from work. Ya think?

Since when do you need to be told to buy groceries. You are doing all you can to make it easy on everyone. Rush home from work to cook dinner, do homework with the kids and laundry. Laundry. Amazing how, now there is more laundry than you ever had when you weren't working. Never mind, it has to get done. There always seems to be a load in the washer, and a load in the dryer when you get there, with a load in your arms. Hmmm...who's could it be? Yes, mom liked the way I do laundry, because she didn't have to do it anymore, leaving it for me was her way of telling me, how much she loved the way I folded her clothes, and put them away for her.

Being appreciative for allowing us a place to land for awhile, I tried to do all that I could to make things work for everybody, but sometimes it just became overwhelming. Well, you got the groceries and dinner got made, and the dishes are done. What else has to be done before the end of the day? Oh yea, the kids need poster board for a school project,due the next morning. Gotta run out to the drug store and pick that up right after dinner, in time for them to get it done before bedtime. Guess who gets to help with the project? Yes, I'm artistic you know, so my help is always counted on for such things, usually way into the night, after they have gone to bed.
Okay, you got it all done and now you can just sit and watch T.V. for awhile, before bath time for the kids. You walk over and cut the T.V. on. There is no such thing at this time, as a remote. You cut the thing on and it stays blank, nothing happens at all. The black screen stares back at you with your own reflection. You check the plug and it's in. Laying your hand on the top of the T.V. to see the buttons better, you feel something wet and almost sticky. Slowly you move your hand further behind it and find something else, wet and ugly feeling. It feels like a worm, and you jerk your hand back and wipe it on your pants. So help me, true! I always go to the pants when there is a foreign object on my hands, I guess feeling that it's safer there, than on my hand.

Leaning over the top, you peer at the back of the T.V. It seems to have been used as a bucket for someone to throw up in!! Being a mother, you sniff it, not too close though. Hmm..no smell...
KIDS!!!!! You call to your two beloved children, who for some unknown reason have stayed in their room tonight, instead of flopping in front of the T.V., as soon as they can get there. No wonder you got first dibs on the channel of choice. But, where is your mom? She is usually right in here after dinner too, dozing and watchingT.V. Hmm..this picture is off too..I wait, arms folded across my body, and my face as stern as it can get.

All three of them came down the steps, s l o w l y, holding onto the wall, as if for protection. They really didn't want to come all the way in the room, as that would put them within my reach. Hearing the tone of my call, they knew they were in deep trouble, and stopped just beyond me, as if planning a quick get away.
All of them. And there was no question they all knew why I had called them. The youngest of the three fessed up right away. He had put his bowl of chicken noodle soup on top of the T.V. to change the channel and it had fallen over and directly into the back of it. He was hoping it would dry up before I got home and he would never have to fess up. But, so goes the folly of hope, by children that have made a goof. The soup had run into all the tiny cracks that work as vents. Now, I know that he never intended to pour soup into the T.V., but nevertheless, it was too late now to change where you placed the soup.

Now, upset would be the nicest description I can put in print, but suffice it to say, I was not a happy camper. They were quiet, with their heads down, the fear still with them.
There was no way to get the soup out of there, the T.V. was done, time to bury it. I didn't mind so much, I was an avid reader, and I thought it might teach the boys to get interested in other things, you know, use their time wisely, like studying, uh huh. They were outdoor boys, and for some time they played outside most of the time. But on rainy days, they missed the T.V. So sad, but the lesson was quite well learned.
After a period of time, I decided that they did deserve to have a T.V. back again. My mom missed it too. I was trying to find my own way of doing things, without any help. I have to admit, I was pretty darn good at it too, most of the time. Being careful with money was not a new way of life for me, so I had a little put away. There was an ad in the paper for a T.V. that was reasonable.
I grabbed mom and the kids and headed to the store. The sales people were so nice and managed to get it in the trunk of my car. It was in a box, so it wouldn't get damaged on the way home. How nice!  Yes, I was doing ok on my own, taking care of the boys and mom and myself. I got a T.V. in the trunk of my Mazda.
We got home and moved the furniture around to fit the new T.V. Everything was ready and we went outside to the car. Now, I say car, and it was, a very small car. A very small car. When I tried to get my hands around the box, I couldn't get it to budge. It was squished into the sides, tighter that if it had been manufactured as part of the vehicle. I struggled and pushed and tried everything I could think of. It was stuck tight! I began to sweat, and my arms hurt from pulling on that cumbersome box, which was now beginning to look ragged.
I had to get it out! Not so that we could enjoy it, I was beyond any notion of ever enjoying anything again, but so it wouldn't get stolen. I had to go to work the next morning, and park in a deck, this giant box could not stay sticking out of the back of my car, and I would never watch T.V. again if it got stolen.
I sat on the bench in the dark, and contemplated what I could do. I tried again, to no avail. I just didn't have the umph to move it. Oh, did I forget to say, that this was an old fashioned console type. You know, all the wood surrounding it, and it created a piece of furniture? Yes, that's it, the big one, I was so proud.
It was getting later and later and I had made no progress with it. Finally, I called my brother, I hated making that call. It was late and he didn't live close by. I almost hung up the phone before he answered. I was so embarrassed, that I couldn't take care of this by myself. I was truly humbled and at his mercy. I had started it, and couldn't finish it. I hated being in that position.
Now, I'm not saying he was happy at the thought of getting dressed and coming back out into the night to lift a stuck T.V., but he did. Together we managed to get it in the house. Actually, he pulled it once, and it was out. His 6 foot height helped I think. I of course thanked him, but it sounded so lame, even to me. I just had to think of something I could do to repay him. He asked for nothing, except, to never do that again! Oh, not a problem, I never intend to buy anything else for the rest of my life!
To this day, I still regret not being able to take care of things all by my self that night. I have fought a few more battles along the way, won some, lost some. But I learned the best lesson of all, always drive a truck!