Channeling My Inner JSF Jr.

 

If you don't know who (or what I am talking about), those are my dad's initials and today I definitely showed that I am his daughter.

Let me backtrack a little.  My dad has been on my mind A LOT recently.  Both of my parents have, but my dad more than my mom.  We are at that time of year that used to be one of my favorites...summer.  I'm trying to keep it as one of my favorites, but it's been challenging recently.  My parents' anniversary (it would have been their 60th) was right before Memorial Day (https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2024/05/60.html).  Then there was Memorial Day, the unofficial start of the summer season and a time when I would visit my parents at the shore.  Follow that up by the anniversary of my brother's death and then MY birthday. (It was not an easy one, for the first time EVER I just wasn't really feeling it )  We follow that up with my father's birthday in two days,  Father's Day, the official beginning of summer, the 1st anniversary of my father's death, Independence Day and then the 2nd anniversary of my mother's death.  It's A LOT to handle emotionally.  And I've been a bit (?!) emotional recently.  (That's putting it mildly as my husband would confirm.)

My husband and I hadn't been to the shore house in a couple of weeks. And I felt the need to go down.  For One, both of my parents still get a good deal of junk mail and I don't like the (physical) mailbox to get too full.  (Although it's a LARGE box and a lot of junk can fit in it)  Another reason was that one of our security cameras had gone off line.  Because we have several strategically placed, I wasn't worried.  (Stuff happens right?)  However, I did want to go down and see what was what.  I would have liked to have come down for my birthday and stayed the weekend, but...my son was going to a music festival in the city and I had been volunteered to pick "the gang" up at the end of the night at the train station.  (They probably could have caught a bus home from there, but I knew, despite what my son told me, that it was going to be late and the bus schedule isn't as consistent at that hour of the night as it is during daylight hours.  Then, today (Sunday), I had (reluctantly) scheduled myself to be a lay reader at church.  (Not that I don't like the "job," but if it's a sunny day at the beach versus lay reading in church, guess what's going to win?)  So a weekend at the shore was not in the cards.

HOWEVER,  I am resourceful.  I asked my husband if he wouldn't mind coming down after church and staying down until Monday evening.  (I was supposed to be in the office on Tuesday and he had an appointment.  Because I didn't think I could deal with being in the office on my father's birthday, at least this year, I took half a day off.  So no office for me until Wednesday of this week.)  My husband agreed...my son decided to stay up North.  (He's still recovering from the music festival.)

So we drove down early this afternoon.  Traffic wasn't too horrible.  (I swear traffic on the GSP is never "good")  We made two quick stops before pulling onto our street and seeing a big red pick up truck parked in front of our house.  You might be wondering why that would be a big deal and it wouldn't be if it were at our house up North.  (And where my neighbor frequently parks his big black pick up truck in front of my house because another one of his vehicles is parked in front  of his house and his driveway is full of other cars that belong to members of his family.)  However, "down the shore," or at least where I am, there are no driveways and there is no front lawn.  Instead, there are stones and that's what you use as your driveway.  So I was unable to get my car onto my property because it was blocked by a big red pick up truck.  

I have said numerous times to neighbors down here (particularly one good friend), that if they need more space for their cars to feel free to use the space in front of my house.  This was not one of my friends or neighbors.  It was clearly someone who was going to work locally.  (Their windows were rolled down and it was obvious that it was used for work purposes.)  I didn't know who it belonged to and I was a little annoyed.  (Okay, more than a little.)

I parked alongside the property.  (Thank goodness that my neighbor was not home and using that spot.)  We brought our things inside.  I managed to get the mail.  (Which was not as easy as it could have been as the truck was parked right there.)  Then, before I had lunch (and I was HUNGRY), before I unpacked my belongings, before I did ANYTHING, I went a grabbed a pad of paper and a pen (because my parents had LOTS of pads of papers and lots of pens and I have yet to get rid of everything yet).  With a pen in hand, I proved to be my father's daughter.  I wrote a "nice" (somewhat passive aggressive) note:  "PLEASE do not block my drive/property entrance.  Thank you for your consideration."  I did not sign it.  (Although the note pad did have my father's name on it.)  And then I took it and put it on the driver's side windshield, under the wiper so that it would not blow away (it is really windy down here ) and so that there was no way it would have been missed.  If you knew my father, you know this is a classic JSF Jr. move.  I AM my father's daughter  

While we were having lunch, I noticed that our other neighbor was having some work down on their dock.  (Contractors working on a Sunday?  I swear it's true!)  Two men were screwing down some planks and hammering others in place.  After about 20 or so minutes, they stopped and when I looked out front the red truck had disappeared.  However, there were still tools out on the dock, so I knew they weren't done for the day.  (Guess they wanted lunch too.)

They did return 20-30 minutes later.  But guess what?  There is no truck in front of MY house. 

(Although I have yet to move my car.)  Dad would be proud.