Cell Phones and New Friends

Sometimes in the course of a regular day I encounter situations that make me think, "Hey, I should blog about that..." but by the time the day ends I've either forgotten or, more often than not, realized that the event wasn't quite as interesting as I had first thought.  But then there are those situations that stick with me until I wake up the next morning.  Here are a couple of things that happened yesterday.. Let me know what you think.

Because we can't live in the house yet, we live in an apartment not too far from our house.  Ours is one of a few apartment "complexes" (4 units) here in town.  The building has two units upstairs and two down.  Also, it happens to be located, according to Verizon, right between two cell towers.  If you drive a few blocks in any direction you get a good cell signal but our building happens to be located in a cellular "black hole."  When we moved here and discovered this I promised Ann that I would somehow overcome this issue and began my investigation on how to honor my promise.  (Note to guys:  have a basic understanding what you have to do to make something happen before you promise your wife a solution.)  Long story short, after many phone calls, some bickering and some threatening I was able to secure a network extender for our cell phones.  This piece of equipment uses your internet connection to boost the signal (for everyone) within a 5000 square foot area and it works well.  Ok, now I need to back up....

One day shortly after arriving here I was going out to get in my pickup.  I was going to Newlon's grocery store to get some butter.  How do I remember that obscure detail you ask?  Well, it's like when you remember everything about what you were doing when President Reagan was shot or when 911 happened.  When I walked downstairs I was right in the middle of a CRAZY!!! obscenity laced rant... No, rant is too mild...  a RAGE by another tenant regarding his poor Verizon cell phone signal.  I want to say here that I consider myself a pretty good "cusser."  I drove truck for many years, worked in a plywood mill and spent time with some... curious individuals in my past not to mention, most recently, having studied under some masters at Univar.  But this guy used the "F" word in ways that I would have never dreamed of... It was poetry... I'm still in awe.  Anyway... bad cell phone signal.  So, I had talked to this guy and the person he was sharing with in the past and I felt comfortable offer the solution I had found so I did.  They both listened and he thanked me, lit a cigarette and started talking about how hot it was.  Now, back to the present...

So yesterday I was walking out to get into Ann's car.  The person who was on the receiving end of the profane poetry I mentioned earlier was outside and walked up to me as I was getting in the car.  I said "good morning" as did the other person.  Then, completely out of the blue this person said, "you did get you one uh them cell phone boosters didn't ya?"  I said yes, and added that I was happy with it.  Then this person said (and I'm not kidding) "I know it does cuz I can make calls while sittin' on my toilet now and I ain't never been able to do that before..."  Sitting here now, I can think of at least 8 things I should have said and/or asked.  This was one of those rare moments where all bets are off and I should have jumped all over it.  But, in the moment all I could come up with was... "that's convenient."  I know, I know... I should have had fun with it but I blew it.  However, I will be on the lookout for other similar situations and won't let you down next time... I promise!!

One of the things that Bonnie likes best about living here is meeting new people.  Many times when we say we are going somewhere she will ask, "to meet new people?"  It is so cute and she truly seems to enjoy it.  She has made a couple of new friends here and we couldn't be happier.  But, yesterday she stretched this new skill to it's limits while shopping in Wal-Mart.  I know, how can this be a bad story if it happened in Wal-Mart right?  Here's what happened:

We had gone down to Clarksville to Sears to pick up a chainsaw (I'm sure that will be a blog subject soon...) but while we were down there I decided to pick up some stuff at the Wal-Mart Super Center.  For those who don't know, a Wal-Mart Super Center has EVERYTHING you might need (sans a chainsaw) for your daily life,  milk, bread, butter... liquid nitrogen wart remover... EVERYTHING!!!  As Bonnie and I were shopping she told me to "go over there Daddy, go over there."  When she says this she says it SO fast that it sounds like one word.  That's how I know I'd better follow directions and go over.. wherever.  So she pointed and I followed her just like she was my GPS.  We arrived at two huge cardboard boxes that contained seedless watermelons.  Oh, side note: lately we've purchased water melons in both California and Indiana that were labeled "Seedless" but once I cut them open they were FULL of black seeds.  Has anyone else had that happen?  I'm trying to figure out what's with this.. Conspiracy???  Maybe.  Anyway, Bonnie pointed to a melon and told me to "pick it up Daddy, pick it up."  I picked it up and was getting ready to put it in the cart but she said NO!!  She pointed to the seat right next to her and said, "put it here Daddy, put it here."  Again, I know the drill so I complied.

It was then that Bonnie looked at me, put her head down on he melon and hugged it while telling me it was her "melon friend" (see picture below)

So this is what rural life has done to Bonnie.  It has made her appreciate her food more and has broadened her social skills to the point where they know NO bounds.  I wasn't sure how to address this with Bonnie and, quite frankly, was starting to re-evaluate my parenting skills.  I thought about searching for a child psychologist nearby and a million other things.  But just as I was about to do the Google search I looked over to my left and there was a lady with two boys in a shopping cart who had just picked up a honeydew and a cantaloup and told her boys... "Play with your friends and let mama do some shopping..."  Whew!!!

I love rural life.

:-)

--Kevin