Song of the day: Go Insane - Lindsey Buckingham

"Two kinds of people in this world
Winners... losers
I lost my power in this world
Cause I did not use it" - Lindsey Buckingham"

Morning came and I found myself "all over the place" mentally. Mom called and gave me The Speech about how I had not called and that she and Dad will not be around on this earth for very long. The guilt finally got to me. After rolling my eyes, I decided that she was indeed right and so I got myself and "The Boy" ready to head out for the day. I decided to first stop at a local grocery store, pick up a few junk food items and then go over to Mom and Dad's. We purchased: Vinegar and salt pork rinds, a six pack of chocolate bars and a box of individually packaged snacks.

When we got to Mom and Dad's, I took a stroll with her out to the backyard to pick cherry tomatoes. We were greeted by hundreds of mosquitos and June bugs, vying for air space. For each tomato I picked, it seemed that at least five mosquitos had chosen to take a bite out of me. I have severe allergic reactions to mosquito bites and so went back into the house to apply repellent and then went back out to complete the tomato gathering.

"So I go insane
Like I always do"

Something weird is happening in the atmosphere Mom says. The June bugs should have been long gone. Mom is a country girl. I believe her. Long before the news reported it, she was the first to tell me about the shortage of honeybees. I also happened to see one lone dragonfly. He apparently did not get the memo telling him he is supposed to be dead by now. Good for him! My Dad also missed that memo.

"And I call your name
Shes a lot like you"

We came back in and Mom gave "The Boy" a Capri Sun drink (he loves those things). She noted that Michael Jackson turned 50 this month and said to me "I didn't know that you and he were the same age". She said it in such a way that the average listener would have been led to believe that he and I both grew up together in the same neighborhood. This made me laugh. I would have told her that Madonna also turned 50 this month, but unless I had been referring to the one associated with Jesus, she has no idea who Madonna is.

She made a cake that was one part cake mix and other parts pancake mix and then topped it off with canned frosting, supplemented with additional chocolate that came from "somewhere". This is not the like the Mom I used to know. This cake was weird. This cake was strange. I start to feel sad. In the meantime, the six chocolate bars I bought earlier have disappeared. I have come to realize that during the course of the afternoon, I had eaten every one myself. This too, is sad.

"Two kinds of trouble in this world
Living... dying"

I take another walk through the backyard and let the late summer sun warm my face. My back is toward the rear porch and no one can see me. There are brief tears and they are mine. I dab my eyes with the bottom corner of my shirt and then turn around and go back inside the house. "The Boy" is inside and sitting on the couch with his Papa in the sunroom. They are watching cartoons together. The world as I remember it, is no longer the same and there is nothing I can do about it. I am still trying to find my place in all of this.

"So I go insane
Like I always do"

Time to go home. It is getting late, and I need to pack for our trip to Washington, D.C. tomorrow. We have a barbecue to go to tomorrow night and another party to go to on Sunday. I kiss Mom goodbye. She tells me to wait and then runs quickly upstairs...returning with a folded twenty dollar bill, which she slips into my hand.

"And I call your name
She's a lot like you..."

Dad has gone outside and is rinsing the cars off in the driveway. "The Boy" and I leave to go home. It is going to be a long night.

"She's a lot like you..."