True Green Miracle

Spent the morning talking to my mom on the phone and listening to the Beatles show. (WOGL covered "The Beatles in 1966" today.) Every Sunday I've called my mom and stepdad, I've gotten my stepdad, because Mom and my brother Keefe would be working on their new house. Today is their 24th anniversary, but it's unlikely they'll be doing much, since they're moving next month. It's not that I mind talking to my stepdad Bill, who is a nice guy, but I hadn't heard from Mom in a while and was wondering about a few things.

Mom was really happy. Her car was fixed, and except for one weird noise, seems to be fine. My brother's great! He's busy with band at school (he plays drums in Lower Cape May Regional's marching and concert bands), with helping his parents with their new house, with his girlfriend, and with his many friends (whom he's apparently recruited to help Mom - she says he's actually getting good at working with window fixtures). My stepfather's driving her nuts, but that's nothing unusual. Mom's health-crazy, and he spends most of his days when he's not at his stressful commercial fishing job laying on the couch, eating huge bowls of ice cream and watching endless Law and Order reruns.

My sister Anny's had more trouble. Her diet's as bad as her father's. She either won't eat at all, or eats nothing but fast food...and it finally caught up with her. She got so sick, she needed a potassium injection. Her son Skylar, unfortunately, tends to take after his mommy and pop pop too much. He's a cute kid when he wants to be, but as I discovered last summer at his birthday party, he's also bratty, spoiled, noisy, and aggressive. He'll hit and kick when he doesn't get his own way, and when he's punished, he ignores it.

I hate to be an "I told you so," but...Anny was almost as bad as a kid. I had to bear the brunt of it whenever I babysat her. She made fun of me, kicked me, bit me (once right in the middle of the stomach!), and never listened to a word I said. We got along much better as she got older, but when she was little, she was a literal and figurative pain in the rear.

Work was steady today, not nearly as busy as it usually is on a Sunday before a major Eagles game. I'm assuming everyone thought we'd get snow and did their shopping yesterday. We didn't get snow, not here, anyway. Lauren got at least ten inches or more. She and her dad had trouble shoveling themselves out, which means no role play again today. We should be able to finish it by Tuesday, and it'll be up by the end of this week, certainly before Christmas.

Speaking of the Eagles game, THAT rocked. The Eagles' "Big Green Wall" defense held off the playoff-bound Cowboys, 10-6. You should have heard all the screaming my uncle, my older cousin Mark, and all their friends did in the den! The Eagles were supposed to be the underdogs, and they ended up having their best game in weeks. (And knocked at least four, maybe five Cowboys out of the game. As I joked during the third quarter, when the Eagles want to win, they don't take prisoners!)

Mark was right; it WAS a crazy football week. In addition to the Eagles' victory, the luckless Miami Dolphins got their first win of the season over the Baltimore Ravens, and Brett Farve of the Green Bay Packers set a record in most passing yards - during a blizzard. (Which made Mark happy - they're his second-favorite team.) Oh, and at press time, the Washington Redskins were beating the New York Giants 16-3, which ought to make Mom even happier - they're HER second favorite team after the Eagles!