Family Reprise

Clare had to work a Saturday, per the requirements of her fancy job at NU.  With her husband the college football coach in season, she would have gone home to an empty apartment.  Instead, she spent the evening with her parents.

Talk about old times.  I helped her scrape two decals off her car, and she helped me fix the lawnmower.  I’d always wanted a classic car but balked out of fear I lacked what it takes to be a real gearhead.  So, instead I own a classic flip-handle mower, bought a month after the PT Cruiser in the spring of 2002.  After seventeen years, stuff starts to break.  I’ll replace just about everything short of the motor.  A replacement goes for $260.

After shop was dinner, and after dinner Italian ice at Gina’s on Roosevelt Road.  Of course, we talked baseball, Daniel Palka and Bill Walton, AJ Reed even; the White Sox took Reed off the 40-man roster.  After Gina’s was the Sox game, with “The Good Place” creator Michael Schur taking the place of Walton alongside Jason Benetti in the broadcast booth.  For anyone keeping count, a nerdy baseball fan joins an ex-NBA star as better-suited announcers than any female in the land.

Clare left long before the Sox coughed up a three-run lead to lose, 6-5.  But it’s good to know your grown-up kid will still spend time with you.  We must have done something right.