On This Date in 1998

Eddie and I are going to spend the evening at home since he isn’t in the mood to attend the high school football game. I’m content to stay in myself. I worked an abbreviated schedule today – from 8:30 to 2:00, no lunch – as I had a series of errands to run and rides to provide that would take up most of the latter half of the afternoon. Cash my check. Refill Eddie’s Ritalin prescription. Pick up Andy and drive us to Best Buy to pick up a birthday present for his friend Tim. (I allowed myself the indulgence of buying 2 CDs for myself, the first time this year I bought any new – or old music. Dale and Lar might also enjoy and music on Urban Hymns by the Verve and Great Divide by Semisonic. ) Return home so Andy can change into his football uniform. Drop him off at the high school football field, where the orange and white Oriole teams will be playing against each other in a short scrimmage during the halftime of the sophomore game. (The high school also has a freshman team, so there is no junior varsity, per se.) Buy stamps and mail a stack of bills at the post office and drop off the water bill at city hall. Pick up three pirs of slacks at the cleaners. Pick up Eddie at After School and then return to the high school football field where the scrimmage in already in progress. I decided not to buy $3 tickets for a series of plays that will be over in a few minutes. From a distance of 70 yards, it’s hard to tell what is going on. After Andy’s teams poses for pictures (for what purpose, never did learn), the boys and I return home via McDonald’s drive-through. Before Andy can chow down his McNuggets and French fries, I have to drive him back to the high school where the 5th through 8th grade band members will be practicing for their pregame show. (It’s a homecoming weekend.)

JoAnna just left for the game a few minutes ago. She and some other people will be distributing candy while Jon Erpenbach, our state senate candidate and hometown boy, greets the crowd. (Jon is a 1980 graduate of MHS.) 
Tomorrow, as you’ll learn in a later report, is going to be an even more hectic day. Right now I’m a paragraph or two away from sacking out on the couch and starting a new book.

I spent Wednesday night in Two Rivers with Larry and Alice since I was conducting a workshop at the Manitowoc Public Library Thursday morning. Larry talked about his latest health problems. For most of this year, ever since an afternoon of bowling during a visit in Florida with Bud (Alice’s brother) and Shirley (Larry’s sister) in February as he pinpoints it, he has been bothered by arthritis. During his worst attacks, he is practically immobilized; he can barely move around with crutches. He’s taking medication, which seems to make his face puffy. Either that or he’s put on some weight this year. Alice seems to be doing well. She hasn’t smoked a cigarette since New Year’s Eve and here I thought she wouldn’t last in a smokeless environment through the spring.

The two main topics of my workshop were conducting a reference interview and integrating electronic reference sources into the library reference services program. The library system, headquartered in Manitowoc, is the smallest one in the state, but 20 people attended. The visit also provided me with an opportunity to see Wisconsin’s newest public library, a 52,000-square-foot facility in a downtown redevelopment area just a stone’s throw from Lake Michigan.

When I picked up Andy at school yesterday, after he completed his duties as a school crossing guard, I almost didn’t recognize him. I watched a strapping young lad emerge from the school and walk toward the car. He wore a red polo shirt with a school band logo, the style of shirt having a lot to do with his more mature look, with shiny black knee-length gym shorts. His calves have the well-developed shape of an athlete’s. His short, dirty-blond hair stuck out of his head like nubby sunbleached quills. He carried his trumpet case in his right hand, and his walk exuded a sense of confidence. Of course, I knew it was Andy all along, but he seemed to have climbed a few rungs up the ladder to maturity all of a sudden.

I feel the same sense of pride and wonder observing Eddie. I accompanied him to his Cub Scout meeting last night. He looked so assured in his navy shirt and orange scarf. When I look at pictures of the boys from three or four years ago, I never fail to be amazed at the changes that have taken place. If it weren’t for all the pictures we have, I’d probably have trouble remembering the boys when they were toddlers. When I do the math for 11 times 2, that is, Andy when he’s twice as old as he is now, I want to slam on the brakes and let the engine idle in neutral for awhile. I wish our lives weren’t on the fast track so often.

May 8, 1992

We're Two Rivers bound today.  JoAnna's dad is retiring.  We have a few errands to run before hitting the road.  Andy left his jacket at Little Red Preschool yesterday.  I drop off an armload of clothes at the cleaners, where some backslapping bozo with toxic face discoloration makes a disparaging remark about my white legs.  It seems like some movement or gesture of Andy's elicited this strange comment.  I try to paste a sportin' grin across my face, but I'm sure it registered surprise and bewilderment.  Not having processed what the guy said, my brain can't prepare a comeback.

After a stop at the credit union, I suggest breakfast at Bev's Cafe on E. Washington.  Good choice, even though no tables are available.  We sit four across at the counter, and both boys handle this new eating experience very well.  I enjoy a "home-cooked" meal of two eggs over easy, American fries, and a grilled slab of ham, although the sausage patty that Andy ordered looks like the better choice.

JoAnna volunteers to drive, so I'm free to read the paper for awhile.  I note with interest the ongoing construction along 151 just east of the Interstate, a massive infrastructure project to accompany American Family's huge new development.  Between Madison and Fond du Lac, I read aloud a few chapters from Molly Ivins' latest book for JoAnna's benefit.  We also do the Times crossword puzzle together.  Andy calls Grandma and Grandpa Nelson on the car phone as we detour through Fond du Lac, where commercial establishments are mushrooming along highway 41.  As we leave the city, Andy gets a bit rambunctious, sticks his head out the window and loses his baseball cap.  At first we say, no, we're not turning around, but his pitiable crying forces a mutual change of mind.

We gather at Cindy's house in Manitowoc -- I'm surprised she bought a place on such a busy street -- where a stretch limo picks up Alice, Albert, Cindy, JoAnna, and me.  We are chuffed to Two Rivers to pick up Larry on his last day of work.  From 3 to 6, we barhop and have a great time.  I lose track of how many stops we make.  We gather for dinner at the place where JoAnna and I had our wedding reception.  I order the double haddock and what I'm served -- four deep-fried breaded fish squares -- is nowhere near what I imagined.  I have little opportunity to engage in conversation with the others at the table.  I need to keep an eye on an almost hyperactive Andy.  After an interesting stand-off, as well as some playful pushing and shoving, Andy and his new pal enjoy some over-exuberant fun together.  It's fascinating to watch two youngster become "friends" so quickly.

The four of us -- JoAnna, Andy, Eddie, and me -- walk to Grandma and Grandpa's with a stop at Dairy Queen along the way.  I order a peanut buster parfait and enjoy every sweet mouthful.  Back at the house, I weigh myself on the bathroom scale.  My eyes bug out when I see the red line bisect 210.  No wonder I'm struggling to get into some of my pants.

September 27, 1991

LINK

Payday.  I debate with my Evil Twin how to do errands.  When to cash my check.  Where to go to lunch.  How many side trips to make.  I'm on my way to the City Station credit union office when I decide to find out where the Hill Farms branch is located.  Then I pick up my tux.

After buying a newspaper, I decide that, yeah, I will have lunch at the food court at the Mall.  I pass on a search for tunes from 1963 and then return to the library after a 2-hour absence.  My Evil Twin would have settled for nothing less than the entire afternoon off.

JoAnna is at Lake Geneva and not expected back until 8.

July 28, 1991

An antsy kinda day, but the weather won't cooperate.  It rains most of the day, a gentle, steady sprinkling that is much appreciated.  After pissing away most of the day myself, I take Andy with me to run a few errands.  The hardware store has only one of my frames left.  We also stop at Sentry to pick up a couple of items for dinner, which I start preparing once I return home.  After supper, JoAnna gives the boys baths and I watch baseball on TV.

March 1, 1991

I remember the visit on this day SO clearly.

Andy [3 1/2 years old at this time] and I take the day off.  We spend the morning jumping in and out of the car to avoid the raindrops.  Our itinerary includes Walgreen's drugstore on the Square (more white ringbound notebooks), the credit union, GEF 3 (to drop off LSCA grants), Pic a Book, Lane's Bakery for a coffee break, and the Walgreen's store at the Westgate Mall (I reluctantly leave Andy in the car to look for more notebooks; he's in the driver's seat when I return), and Apollo Liquors.  After 2 1/2 hours of errands, Andy's on the verge of sleep once I pull the car into the driveway, but as soon as we're inside the house, he revives.  Take a nap?  Not today.  During the afternoon, I sack out, do the laundry.

February 13, 1991

The work pace at the library has slowed down considerably.  Today I think I must be forgetting some important task.  But when I ask myself, "What am I overlooking?", nothing comes to mind.  I certainly don't need to develop my ETN notes anymore.  I have more than enough information to impart to my students.

I take an extended lunch to run errands.  I buy circus tickets, Valentine cards, picture frames, another notebook for my reorganization project, then browse the jewelry stores in the mall for gift ideas.  JoAnna will have to do without another bracelet or pendant.  Fearing I'd pick something outrageously expensive, I didn't even ask to look at anything.  I return home before JoAnna, which means I get to prepare supper:  chuck roast, potatoes, carrots & onions, oven-baked.  Great results.  The evening is spent with the boys, reading them books and giving them baths.