Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for December 17, 2021

Go check on Gus!

The older you get, the more your kids ARE your lives. And don’t even get me started on grandkids!

Decide quick, Arlo. Is it time for cocoa by the fireplace or the services of the bathroom sommelier?

It’s beautiful how this is sweet and sad at the same time.

As us kids moved way, Mom always wanted us to call when we got safely home. After M&D died, I’d still call their phone number (they lived in the same house for 64 years and had the same phone number all that time) and I would get some message from the phone company about the number being unavailable, but I figured that M&D had arranged for the phone to be forwarded so I still left a message what we were home safe and sound. Later, I read about the Japanese Wind Phone.

I kind like it, when the kids go home. My tongue is a bloody mess, from biting it and not saying I told you so. When my children were young, and in their teens, all I heard was, “Well, I won’t raise my children like you and mom”.

HHmmmmm. Do not miss my folks at all. No grandkids to worry about, ever. See one kid a few times a year as he doesn’t drive and public transit outside Toronto is crap. Other lives closer and we see him for an hour or so each week and that’s fine.

What, they didn’t even stay through Christmas? They sure weren’t there very long.

Ahh too bad they couldn’t be there for Christmas……

Wish my grandkids were closer, but they live on the other side of the US in Hell (CA).

Yep, this is my new reality as well.

Wait, that’s it for the visit? Gene had hardly any speaking parts. We have no clue as to what he’s thinking or planning.

But did you get the life you wanted? If not, create the one you did or at least now do.

Now Janis is gonna get empty nest syndrome all over again.

That road goes both ways, guys. Load up the car and head down there. Meg would be so happy to show them her chickens, etc. Gus may bitch, but he is like my brother who bitches all the time. As Snuffy Smith said, " Google, time’s a wasting!" You will never be any younger.

I’m glad to see the kids, but glad when they leave too. No grandkids, ever.

“At least we got our lives back” is not as much fun as you would think, my dad was the reason we had Christmas together, and now mom and dad are both gone, Christmas is going to be very different from now on, but at least we have Christmas Eve with my wifes family…